India is extreme
Upon first arriving in India I was shocked
By two things especially…
Point 1. New Delhi was freezing cold
The morning temperature was only 1 degree
How surprising
Other months, temperatures climbed above 40 degrees
India is an exotic land of extremes
Where Bangalore street artists decorate the pavement
A Bangalore street artist paints the pavement during the festival of Cow in India
Bringing color to the otherwise dirty street of India
The second thing that amazed me was this…
Point 2. New Delhi streets are filled with men
“Where are all the females?” I asked my local friend
With a typical Indian head wobble, I was told the shocking truth…
Parents often abort their babies when they discover it’s a female
Human beings are weird creatures
We believe the strangest ideas
Many Asian parents have this belief…
Males are more valuable than females
Wow
That got me thinking about beliefs in India
Point 3. Background cultural beliefs shape a persons life indelibly
The beliefs of Indian parents tightly control their children’s future
However, the beliefs of western parents often have less impact
I adopted the beliefs of my parents up to a point
At university, things changed
Nobody else in my family was creative
Neither mom or dad could draw a stick figure
My parents asked, “Where did this black sheep in the family come from?”
They were puzzled
Being surrounded by creative people at university, my ideas changed
Here’s what I discovered…
Point 4. Being amongst creative people with similar beliefs was exhilarating
For example, I became more courageous with my clothing
Regularly wearing shockingly bright colours
Turning away from my conservative background
New beliefs bought greater freedom
Predictably, I was labelled weird
But that’s fine
I simply love colour
And I’m happy to express it
Indians love color too
Happy Indian woman wearing a pink sari. A color that offsets her wonderful dark skin.
In fact, they have a “Holy Day” celebration in India when everyone throws color at each other
A strange belief
But great fun
Upon first discovering I was an artist, everything about creativity excited me
It still does
At university, I was overwhelmingly happy to be immersed in the freedom of art
My girlfriend felt frustrated saying
“Simon, why can’t you be normal?”
Growing older I’ve come to realize this…
Point 5. Nothing is normal
Especially in exotic India
Humans hold very odd beliefs
Beliefs that guide people through life
For example, Southern Indians have a festival of the cow
Where they pray to the cow as their special God
And place cow statues in shopping centres
Cow God statue in a shopping center during the festival of the cow in India.
On this day Indian women dress in spectacular colours
But do I believe the cow is a sacred God?
Or males are more valuable than females?
Of course not
However, there’s no judgment against a different belief system
Just incredible curiosity
Point 6. Curiosity fuels my creativity
I love to understand people and their different beliefs
Individuals are fascinating
Their colourful personalities are beautiful
Life is all about colour
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