Although food that we consume at home in well-marked sessions during the day, everyday, and at places outside our homes on various occasions is to primarily assuage hunger, one cannot but agree with the fact that it is our eyes that get the first chance to savour the dishes, to be followed by our fingers, guided by the sense of touch and further by our nose, guided by the sense of smell. The tongue, with its taste buds, housed in the mouth, not only gets to access food last but also has the final say on its appeal to the beneficiary. Taking cue from the foregoing sequence of happenings, virtually in a matter of a few seconds, one is prompted to cite the analogy of the sequence in which we commonly experience when it comes to learn about various sides to the identity of persons that we bump into for the first time, such as when we begin a long journey after settling in the allotted seat in the Railway compartment. The first parameter as it were to initialise the process of identification is, unarguably, the co-passenger’s attire. The spoken tongue and, to a considerable extent, name fall into their natural slot of the sequence.

The issue of the land’s people at large taking pride in identifying themselves as Indian first and by other terms such as Kannadiga, Tamilian, Bengali, Punjabi, Malayali, South Indian, North Indian and so on subsequently has been debated extensively on various platforms as well as in restricted circles leaving most of us clueless on the merit or otherwise of choosing our identity one way or the other.

Many public speakers take fascination to eloquently inform their listeners that Ayurveda and Yoga are India’s greatest gifts to the world at large, a view that has gained wide currency as even those who have only heard the speakers boastfully echo the aforementioned India’s glorification. The more informed and the elite among the speakers make it a point to add (a)  Spiritual component of the philosophy attributed to the land’s scholars of a distant past, (b) Customs and traditions that are part of the rich heritage that successive generations have sustained over centuries, (c) Texts that scores of unknown rishis have scripted enlightening the readers on leading ideal life and so on.

In the context of the foregoing preamble, debating the issue of identity for every citizen in the country declared as secular, particularly in open forums, which has apparently gone out of hand, needs to be put back on track. The land’s intelligentsia, with mass acceptance of their calibre to interpret the land’s spirituality and culture (literature, music and philosophy) can be the change-makers balancing spirituality and secular outlook of the land’s diaspora.