By: Fatima Shakir

India, you have probably heard of it, second most populated country, one of the world’s fastest-growing economies and the land of the most interesting food in the world. But there’s probably a lot of things you don’t know. For example, did you know that India introduced the aspect of shampoo to the world? Among many facts about India, this one is the biggest source of amazement. The first-ever shampoo was used by locals in India. Dried Indian gooseberry mixed with many other herbs was used to wash hair, a recipe that is still used in the country today. The word ‘shampoo’ is derived from the Hindi word, champo.

India is amazing, and not just because that’s where shampoo came from. India is a culturally diverse and interesting country. The country occupies the greater part of South Asia. Its capital is New Delhi, built in the 20th century just south of the historic hub of Old Delhi to serve as India’s administrative center. Its government is a constitutional republic that represents a highly diverse population consisting of thousands of ethnic groups and likely hundreds of languages.

 India is home to numerous languages, including Sanskrit which is one of the oldest languages in the world. Other languages such as Hindi are commonly spoken throughout the Indian subcontinent, with regional variations. As India is a land of diversity, different types of languages are found across different places in India. Each area has its own languages and people love speaking their mother tongues. There are innumerable speakers as well as innumerable languages prevailing in India. The prominent languages in India besides English and Hindi are Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Urdu, Gujarati, Punjabi, and many more.

Apart from its many religions and sects, India is home to innumerable castes and tribes, as well as to more than a dozen major and hundreds of minor linguistic groups from several language families unrelated to one another. Religious minorities, including Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains, still account for a significant proportion of the population; collectively, their numbers exceed the populations of all countries except China. Because of the population diversity, there is immense variety in Indian culture. The Indian culture is a blend of various cultures belonging to diverse religions, castes, regions that follow their own tradition and culture.

One of the most culturally prevalent aspects of Indian societies is festivals. There are different types of festivals celebrated in India with joy and happiness. Different people celebrate different festivals as per their religion, caste and culture. People celebrate National festivals like Independence Day, Republic Day, and Gandhi Jayanti. They also celebrate religious festivals like Diwali, Holi, Durga Puja, Dussehra, Vasant Panchami, Eid, Guru Nanak Jayanti, Mahavir Jayanti, Buddha Purnima, Christmas, New Year, and many more. The young generation also celebrates Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Friendship day, etc. The various festivals show the vast variety of cultural diversity present in India.

The discussion on Indian culture would remain incomplete without discussing dance forms of India. India is a land of diverse dance forms. The most popular classical dance forms are Bharatnatyam, Kathakali, Kathak, Manipuri, etc. Folk dances are mainly performed in any occasion like birth of a child, festivals, harvesting seasons, wedding events, etc. The folk dances include Gaur Dance, Chhau Dance, Bihu Dance, Dumhal Dance, Padayani Dance, Dollu Kunitha Dance, Dandiya Dance, and many more. These are celebrated on different occasions by the people of India.

 Music is something that has existed from the beginnings of Indian culture. These are vital elements of Indian culture and a part of human life. There are different instruments like drums, cymbals, etc. Singing is common during festivities and celebrations. These musical instruments can produce different types of melodic sounds that are pleasant to hear and make the body calm. In the early ages, there were Kalidas, Surdas, Tulsidas, Kabir, etc. who were popular for their music and songs. The diversity of Indian culture is reflected in Indian music. There are different forms of music, such as ghazals, Shayari, folk music, and many more. There were many legends that created music in India like Ustad Bismillah Khan, Ustad Zakir Hussain, and Pandit Ravi Shankar, etc. They are great pioneers in their own field. Also, it is worth mentioning that, presently, the Indian music industry also has many musicians and singers like Sonu Nigam, Alka Yagnik, Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Abhijeet, Arijit Singh, etc.

Art, literature, theater, and film (including the world-famous Bollywood films), and architecture have flourished in India for centuries and they continue to flourish today. The Ramayana is one of the oldest known epic works of literature. India is full of talents in the field of art or architecture. Indian Art includes paintings, rangoli, plastic arts like pottery, and textile arts like woven silk, etc. From Ancient ages, paintings are a part of India art. Examples include paintings of Ajanta cave and the Paintings of the Ellora cave.

It seems that wherever you turn in India you will come across a site of historic, natural, or cultural importance. India is rich in heritage, and some of the main UNESCO world heritage sites in India are listed below:

• The Taj Mahal: Tourists flock from all over the world to see this resplendent seventeenth century mausoleum.
• The Great Himalayan National Park: This national park is situated at the base of the world’s tallest mountain.
• Agra Fort: The Yumana river flows serenely past this ancient fort in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
• The Elephant Caves: Deep inside these spooky caves you will find elegant statues and designs carved by the human hand.
• The Western Ghats: These mountains are renowned for their mysterious forests and their wildlife sanctuaries.

India is a diverse and beautiful land that is full of amazing people, places, and things. Visiting the country is like exploring a unique mix of modernity and traditions. It is big, beautiful, and beaming.

Compiled by

Fatima Shakir.

Every so often people will discourage you from following your dreams because they lack vision. You cannot get support from people who lack vision or who think in limited ways. They will never understand you because they stopped short of achieving their own dreams due to a limited vision. Just because they have not been able to achieve their dreams, they cannot conceptualize your dream coming into realization, neither can they imagine you doing great things. People who discourage you do not understand that you are unique and different.

They do not believe that you are endowed with massive potential to do great things and mount on to the summit of success.  When you see naysayers and cynical people discouraging you, do not get disturbed. It is because they are mediocre, myopic and they do not see beyond the horizon as you do. Create your own reality and keep focused and do not pay attention to negative talking. People who do not believe in themselves have no reason in believing you.

Another reason why people would discourage you is that they feel threatened by you. The better you do in life, the worse they feel about themselves. These people do not smile when they see you achieving your goals and walking in the avenues of success. They will start to consider you as a threat to their status and they do not want to be outshined by your performance in anything. 

When the achievements of your discouragers are juxtaposed with yours, they perceive that you are better than them in some way and their sense of self-worth is reduced. The ego of the discourager cannot allow itself to be levelled below you, that is when they will deliberately hold you back in order to protect their own fragile ego. You must not listen to uttered words of discouragement and never hold yourself back from being the best that you can be.

The most common reason for someone to stomp on your vision is jealousy. Your discouragers are people who can green with envy to see you achieving your goals. Just because they are jealousy, they are not impressed by everything about you.

They are jealous of your work ethics, jealous of your principles, jealous of your appearance, jealous of how happy you seem, and jealous of your success. That is the reason why they may not want to see you doing well in your endeavours. People who are jealousy badmouth you such that when you hear about it you will feel demoralized and subsequently discouraged.

Do not spend too much time with people who discourage you. They are energy suckers. Positivity and negativity are contagious. Work on something new, have your core work done as you commit to your passion.  Always bear in mind that, if critics are discouraging you, it is a true sign that you are doing something meaningful. Barking dogs are only concerned with vehicles that are moving. 

On April 23, 1910, Theodore Roosevelt who had in previous years just completed his term as United States President gave an indelible speech after the building of the Colosseum by the Romans in one of the special buildings in Paris. This concrete speech remains an inspiration to everyone with a mind to passionately do something in life despite criticism or challenges. Do not be discouraged or live in despondency. Roosevelt spoke deeply about the man in the arena.

He crowned his speech by these immortal words: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is disfigured by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs; who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who know great enthusiasms, great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory or defeat.” These words are worth re-reading. Do not be discouraged or ashamed to play your part and keep doing what you know you must do and live the life that you want. Let Roosevelt’s words be your call to action.

You stand in the arena of life daily which is normally characterized by critics and energy suckers. But there are many simple ways to avoid discouragement or criticism that is not constructive. You can ignore and seem like being nothing. Ships do not sink because of the water around them; ships sink because of the water that gets in them. Do not let what is happening negatively around you get inside to weigh you down.

Do not let discouragement or criticism dwindle down your passion and ambition. The struggle you are in today is developing the strength you need tomorrow. Importantly, practice a bold attitude of optimism. An optimist is more excited about everything he/she is passionate about doing. Teach yourself to see the other positive side of things, even with the small setbacks, adversities, frustrations, disappointments, and let-downs in daily experiences. Look for the lessons and trust things will work out.

Dream big and strongly believe that you will make it. As the challenges and obstacles increase, negative people will multiply their retrogressive advice influencing you to give up but you should not stop chasing your goals. Quitters are prized with nothing in the end. Never let anyone underestimate your capacity, tenacity and creativity.

Be a go-getter. Persist, persevere and keep hunting for ways to mount up to greatness. Remember all the great people in history, at one point in time they encountered criticism and discouragement but triumphed because they were defiant.

I always put emphasis on the power of prayer in my messages as I want to make it explicit about handling criticism and discouragement. Christians pray, therefore make sure you pray about your discouragement or when you feel criticized. God would love to hear from you. He is the best encourager. (Joshua 19)

Read the bible when you feel criticized or discouraged and hang out in scriptures like the Psalms which unravel many comforting, encouraging and hope reviving verses. Study the bible and you will discover that almost every biblical character faced discouragement. You will find out that you are not alone in the crevices of discouragement.

Listening to good music can really impact positive mood. Music comforts as well as encouraging, instilling you with zeal of doing whatever you feel passionate about.

In the journey of life, do not allow yourself to be discouraged by the nation’s economy or politics, joblessness, destitution, delayed marriage, loss of a loved one, unfulfilled dream, unwanted pregnancy, rejection, terminal disease, comparing and measuring yourself by others. Rather than getting discouraged, if you keep a positive outlook you will find working solutions to every challenging issue. I hope this message is encouraging and taking you through criticism and discouragement.

Gabriel Manyeruke is a Certified Educator, Author and Motivational Speaker.

Contact: 0774122288. Email: gmanyeruke089@gmail.com

MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY’S WITH MANDYRUE

“Life is what you make it,” I remember my primary school headmaster saying those words to us constantly at our school assembly. But I was young then and didn’t exactly grasp what he meant. It’s only with time now that I realize the full impact of his words. “Your life is your responsibility.”
No one else’s but yours!

Of course that’s obvious you might say. But though you might believe your destiny is in your hands. You might do little to show it or live up to the words. 
Well to ask simply, when things go wrong in your life do you tend to look for someone to blame? Oops. If that’s your tendency then you still have to grasp the fact that only you have full responsibility over your life. 
But yes its not easy to even think of such things at the start of the week like this. But don’t worry “when its a Monday, you just need some Motivation.”

Imagine being in the backseat of a taxi. Besides telling the driver where you are going, you don’t have much say over the route or speed he chooses to use. Even if you tell him to slow down, he might slow down for just a few minutes and then pick up speed again. However, when you move to the driver’s seat, you now have full responsibility for your journey. 
That’s the same with life. If you don’t take full responsibility for your own life, you will be driven by others and might not get to the end of your journey. This is your journey. Only you have full responsibility for it. This is the one journey you cannot hire a chauffeur.

You take responsibility for your life when you stop the tendency to blame others when things go wrong. Stop blaming your parents, the economy, or your education level for all the chaos in your life. Blaming others keeps making you a victim and thus you cannot change your destiny. So your parents raised you in abject poverty? Yes, that can be hard but now that you are older what are you doing to change that situation or you are still pointing fingers. Lose that mindset! Complaining will not get you anywhere. This is your life and though upbringing and background play a role, the final product is in your hands.

When you take full responsibility for your life you become more happy and confident. Check out the article Happiness Is A Choice by MandyRue. Get it here wa.me/263779348080?text=happiness
Knowing that all that happens in your life is because of yourself keeps you focused. 
Stop blaming others, yes the economy is bad but personally, what are you doing to change the situation in your own life, not a country?
Stop complaining trying to play the victim all the time, life is not a pity game. No one has responsibility for any chaos in your life. 
Take responsibility for your life today! Don’t live in the past or fret over tomorrow. 
And always remember “life is what YOU make it!”

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