India is a country of many diversities. We speak different lang-uages, have various types of food, celebrate different festivals, practise different religions. But actually, if you think about it, we do many things that are similar except that we do them in different ways.

How do we explain Diversity?

• A little more than two hundred years ago or long before the train, aeroplane, bus or car became a part of our lives, people travelled from one part of the world to another, in ships, on horses or camels or on foot.
• Often, they went in search of new lands, or new places to settle in, or for people to trade with. And because it took so long to travel, once they got to a place, people stayed there, often for a long time.
• Many others left their homes because there were famines and drought and they could not get enough to eat.
• Some went in search of work while others left because there was a war. Sometimes, as they began to make their homes in new places, people began to change a little and at other times they managed to do things in the old ways. So their languages, food, In Jharkhand many adivasis say “johar” to greet each other music, religions became a mix of the old and the new, and out of this intermixing of cultures, came something new and different.
• The history of many places shows us how many different cultural influences have helped to shape life and culture there. Thus regions became very diverse because of their unique histories.
• Similarly diversity also comes about when people adapt their lives to the geographical area in which they live. For example living near the sea is quite different from living in a mountainous area.
• Not only do people have different clothing and eating habits, but even the kinds of work they do is different.
• In cities it is often easy to forget how closely people’s lives are tied to their physical surroundings. This is because in the city people seldom grow their own vegetables and grain. Instead they depend on the market to buy all the food and other goods that they need.

UNITY IN DIVERSITY

• India’s diversity has always been recognised as a source of its strength. When the British ruled India, women and men from different cultural, religious and regional backgrounds came together to oppose them.
• India’s freedom movement had thousands of people of different backgrounds in it. They worked together to decide joint actions, they went to jail together, and they found different ways to oppose the British. Interestingly the British thought they could divide Indians because they were so different, and then continue to rule them. But the people showed how they could be different and yet be united in their battle against the British.
• Songs and symbols that emerged during the freedom struggle serve as a constant reminder of our country’s rich tradition of respect for diversity.
• Do you know the story of the Indian flag? It was used as a symbol of protest against the British by people everywhere.
•  In his book The Discovery of India Jawaharlal Nehru says that Indian unity is not something imposed from the outside but rather, “It was something deeper and within its fold, the widest tolerance of belief and custom was practised and every variety acknowledged and even encouraged.” It was Nehru, who coined the phrase, “unity in diversity” to describe the country.