Our world.
It's been more than a year I suppose since I've been bit by the bug of international chat, the fascination of the world beyond and of the people beyond. I have had many an interesting encounter in this little initiative. It was an extremely interesting and exciting journey knowing how people around the world are different and yet so similar. This may seem a bit childish for someone who has travelled and has international friends. But I am among the majority in India who hardly ever see a non Indian in real life let alone know one.
Meeting people from around the world was an interesting mix of similarities in thinking and living to dissimilarities that glared back. I could go on about this but the real subject of the post is something else. It is something the struck me recently, while talking to someone perhaps.
It was the realization of the dimensions of my world. The title as well as the post doesn't talk about the whole wide world as we know it. It is about our own worlds that we make and live with in our minds. It is the extent of the whole world that we are actually bothered with or to be honest think of our world. The fact is that most of us would be only considering the people we know and the places we go regularly to, to be our whole world. Some may have more than an eye on the whole country. Some may be concerned on some level by some major happenings in Hollywood perhaps.
The definition of how much concern is to be considered enough to include it in our world is arbitrary. As with many other things, the mind can lie to oneself. Being as it is, the final call on what our world includes can only be decided by ourselves. Interestingly, there would be many similarities in people's idea of their worlds everywhere. Take for example, North Korea would hardly be a part of anyone's world except for people of Korea and the U.S. Administration. A few more would ever consider many parts of Africa a part of our world. How many would even know anything about Romania or Bulgaria? I didn't. (Psst: Indian films and culture is pretty big in Bulgaria).
I thought of myself as not being that much of an ignorant person actually and did think I was as clued in on major happenings around the world as was possible for me. But I recently realised that I was wrong. I realised how for most parts of my life even though I wanted to know as much about the world beyond, it was always only that, a world beyond. It was never really a part of my world. Most would not even consider many parts of India as a part of their world. It can be said, well why should anyone? Point taken. There is really no reason to expand your knowledge of the world or to expand your understanding about the world you live in. And it would be a bit harsh to call anyone who doesnt care about anything or anyone beyond his own life ignorant. But, the fact is, it is ignorance. Considering the vastness and richness of our world, it does seem a pity that we are bothered about such a minuscule part of it. It is almost impossible to actually have the whole world as a part of your world and extremely idealistic some would say, but idealism isn't always abad thing to think about.
I wish I could explain what expanding your world entails but I can't. It just is a realization of those places as your world and bothered as much about them as you are about your own actual world. This is one thing in which I think Indians in a large way are unfortunate. Our pathetic record and condition as an international travel destination has in a large way kept a lot of us unknown to the world beyond breeding ignorance. A person in New York or London with as much interest or disinterest about the whole world as a normal Indian would still know more about the world thanks to the fact that a huge portion of the world is in his world.
I am no one to say how important this is, but I do feel bad for not being a citizen of the world.....yet. :)
Meeting people from around the world was an interesting mix of similarities in thinking and living to dissimilarities that glared back. I could go on about this but the real subject of the post is something else. It is something the struck me recently, while talking to someone perhaps.
It was the realization of the dimensions of my world. The title as well as the post doesn't talk about the whole wide world as we know it. It is about our own worlds that we make and live with in our minds. It is the extent of the whole world that we are actually bothered with or to be honest think of our world. The fact is that most of us would be only considering the people we know and the places we go regularly to, to be our whole world. Some may have more than an eye on the whole country. Some may be concerned on some level by some major happenings in Hollywood perhaps.
The definition of how much concern is to be considered enough to include it in our world is arbitrary. As with many other things, the mind can lie to oneself. Being as it is, the final call on what our world includes can only be decided by ourselves. Interestingly, there would be many similarities in people's idea of their worlds everywhere. Take for example, North Korea would hardly be a part of anyone's world except for people of Korea and the U.S. Administration. A few more would ever consider many parts of Africa a part of our world. How many would even know anything about Romania or Bulgaria? I didn't. (Psst: Indian films and culture is pretty big in Bulgaria).
I thought of myself as not being that much of an ignorant person actually and did think I was as clued in on major happenings around the world as was possible for me. But I recently realised that I was wrong. I realised how for most parts of my life even though I wanted to know as much about the world beyond, it was always only that, a world beyond. It was never really a part of my world. Most would not even consider many parts of India as a part of their world. It can be said, well why should anyone? Point taken. There is really no reason to expand your knowledge of the world or to expand your understanding about the world you live in. And it would be a bit harsh to call anyone who doesnt care about anything or anyone beyond his own life ignorant. But, the fact is, it is ignorance. Considering the vastness and richness of our world, it does seem a pity that we are bothered about such a minuscule part of it. It is almost impossible to actually have the whole world as a part of your world and extremely idealistic some would say, but idealism isn't always abad thing to think about.
I wish I could explain what expanding your world entails but I can't. It just is a realization of those places as your world and bothered as much about them as you are about your own actual world. This is one thing in which I think Indians in a large way are unfortunate. Our pathetic record and condition as an international travel destination has in a large way kept a lot of us unknown to the world beyond breeding ignorance. A person in New York or London with as much interest or disinterest about the whole world as a normal Indian would still know more about the world thanks to the fact that a huge portion of the world is in his world.
I am no one to say how important this is, but I do feel bad for not being a citizen of the world.....yet. :)
Comments
:O
Joie, :O...Yeh galat fehmi kyunn???