Two years ago, I would have never thought that I would ever be completely obsessed with a culture that originates from halfway across the globe. As I grew up, I never really thought much of the Eastern hemisphere. I have always known and been taught that part of the world as being mostly poor, but never would I have guessed how rich in culture it was.
I grew up in a small village in France in the suburbs of Paris and moved to the United States when I was only 10 years old. Only after a 10-hour flight was I exposed to many different cultures. I was amazed by the diversity that only one place could hold. Living here, I could’ve become obsessed with the culture of a Latin American person, a Korean or even a North American, as I clearly had the choice, but it was an Indian whose culture I fell in love with.
The very moment I fell in love with Indian culture was when I was hanging out at my best friend’s house. We had decided to watch a Hindi movie that night because my best friend knew that other cultures interested me. We watched the famous Hindi movie, "Khabi Khushi Khabi Gham" from 2001, starring Shahrukh Khan. You might think that I fell in love with Shahrukh Khan’s famous boyish charms that he is famously known internationally for, but that wasn’t it. Even though I thought he was very charming, it was the saris that first got my attention. I became fascinated by the bright colors, the bangles, the embroidery and the way Indian girls wore them. After that movie, I started watching more Hindi movies on my own just to see saris. I looked them up online all the time. Then after a few movies, I started looking up certain actors and became obsessed with them, Shahrukh Khan more precisely, and few others. After the actors, I simply fell in love with everything that there was about their movies: the saris, the actors, the plot, the scenery, the music, the dances, the language, and the cheesiness. Every movie was a musical. It attracts me like a magnet, and now, all I think about doing in my free time is watching a Bollywood movie. Indian culture is in about everything that I do nowadays. It’s what I watch, listen to, sing (sometimes) and talk about. It surrounds me 24/7.
From this obsession, I have developed a dream: I would like to go India. I can’t even describe how badly I would like to go there. Have you ever had that feeling where you just feel like you really need to do something no matter how crazy, impossible, stupid, unrealistic, or unimaginable it is? As if you had to do it right this minute? This is exactly how I feel about India.
The reason why I want to go there is because I know movies show us the perfect reality we want to see or the perfect reality that directors (the movie industry) want us to see and hide the whole picture. The only thing I remember being taught about India from my Social Studies classes is that it is one of the poorest countries in the world and the second most populated. I don’t want to see India and learn about India through a screen and moving pictures. I don't want to learn about it sitting at a desk and listening to someone lecturing. I want to go there and see India for myself. I want to have my own opinion, my own judgment. I want to see it with my own eyes. I want to experience India. I want to live India.
Many have told me, “it’s not safe," “you might catch a disease" or “you might get robbed there." To those people, if you always worry about something happening to you, how do you get anything done? How do you get anywhere? There’s always a consequence, whether positive or negative, in everything that you do. What is the difference with going to India? There are billions of people living in India. How do you think they live? How do you think they survive? If they can do it, then so will I. I understand that I need to take precautions, but your reasons shouldn’t stop me from going. Think of all the good consequences coming out of my trip. I would get to see a completely different country, with a different culture and in a different language.
Even if I go there tomorrow or in a week, a month, a year, a decade, or even before I die, there’s no one stopping me from going.
One day, I will go.
