INDIA----A country of southern Asia covering most of the Indian subcontinent. Aryans from the northwest invaded c. 1500 BC, pushing Dravidian and other peoples to the south. Most of India was unified by the emperor Asoka in the 3rd century BC. It experienced a golden age in the 4th and 5th centuries AD before being invaded c. 1000 by Muslims and later by the Mongol conqueror Baber, who established the Mogul empire (1526–1857). Various European powers established trading posts in the 16th and 17th centuries, with the British assuming authority over India in 1857. In the 20th century, India gained its independence from Great Britain (1947) following a campaign of civil disobedience led by the pacifist Mohandas Gandhi. 
Its concomitant partition into the separate countries of India and Pakistan resulted in a tumultuous migration of Muslims to Pakistan and Hindus and Sikhs to India in which approximately one million people died. New Delhi is the capital and Mumbai (Bombay) the largest city. Population: 1,130,000,000.
India is the world's second most populous nation (after China). Its ethnic composition is complex, but two major strains predominate: the Aryan, in the north, and the Dravidian, in the south. India is a land of great cultural diversity, as is evidenced by the enormous number of different languages spoken throughout the country. Although Hindi (spoken in the north) and English (the language of politics and commerce) are used officially, more than 1,500 languages and dialects are spoken. The Indian constitution recognizes 15 regional languages (Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu). Ten of the major states of India are generally organized along linguistic lines.
Although the constitution forbids the practice of “untouchability,” and legislation has been used to reserve quotas for former untouchables (and also for tribal peoples) in the legislatures, in education, and in the public services, the caste system continues to be influential. About 80% of ,the population is Hindu, and 14% is Muslim. Other significant religions include Christians, Sikhs and Buddhists. There is no state religion. The holy cities of India attract pilgrims from throughout the East: Varanasi (formerly Benares), Allahabad, Puri, and Nashik are religious centers for the Hindus; Amritsar is the holy city of the Sikhs; and Satrunjaya Hill near Palitana is sacred to the Jains.
therefore, among all these varied cultures that have evolved from course of time,as is evident from the above facts and figures,its very hard for a common man to point to a specific ethnic group which can solely represent indian culture as a whole.thus the man is left with a gloomy and blank-confused picture of his indian culture.
what any common man can conclude from the above details is that Indian culture may be regarded as an amalgamated form of all the cultures that indians have inherited from their fore fathers.it is something that one can sense from within and not something that is being grinded into him.after going through a brief history of india,one gets filled with feelings of awe and some mixed emotions.these emotions ultimately give rise to a sense of patronage and respect for the country.in the endeavour to show respect to our heritage,we develop certain principles for ourselves that do not bind upon any other person.these principles or set of rules that we practice on our sweetwill is what i call -----'my culture'.
jan.24 mangalore incident must have urged many to raise questions regarding indian culture....
does indian culture put some bar on clothing?does it produce the yardstick to measure 'decent' and 'indecent ' mannerism?does it restrict women from enjoying their life in their way?how much does our culture allow us to do?does our indian culture and sentiment get violated if we 
take alcohol,hang out in pubs,nurture mallculture,move our feet in western tune,or roam about with our girlfriends hand in hand?is it our responsibility to ensure that every indians should abide by the norms set by our age old culture?if yes, then what are those values...norms...rules....or watevr we may call it?
answers to all these questions lie deep within all of us.
westernisation is what india like developing countries are now going through.time is becoming more precious day by day.with such hectic schedules people look up to the weekends for a span of relaxation and recreation.few of them go to pubs.shed off their burdens amidst the noises and clatters....while few sit back on their couch at home and watch movies....
both of their causes are well justified.now few self appointed reformists wake up from their slumber one morning.and find things happening around them is not right--'vulgar' demolishing our culture.send some 'reformers'(those who appears to be goons to other) to drag people (women) back to the dazzled indian culture by the use of brawn.plundering and 'talibanisation' continues for some days.intervention of some political leaders and few responsible ministers like renuka chowdhury draw a ceasefire....and things go under veils of some poor knowledge,misunderstandigs,irrational activities and misinterpretaions of facts leaving behind a handful of youths with another handful of questions.
but these can never be the way.as i have told earlier ... our citizens are old enough.mature citizens those who are aware of indian history,who are willing to show respect to the country will always perform according to their own set of rules to safeguard their culture,whether any one ask them to or not.'limit' is a relative term.our citizens will set their own limit coz they have their full fundamental right to do so.but people who use violence or carry on propaganda,acting as social goondas and committing all unsocial activities,beating up ladies are actually the one who are demolishing our culture. they must remember tht hindu culture where durga is reverred as goddess,bestow them with no such right to insult women 'on street'.
to make people aware of indian heritage is a good cause.but that should never be carried out publicly,under any political banner,by means of violence....and people those who do such things must remember that our say always remain unheeded if we use arms to make them listen and can never reach out to the persons we are trying to.
to me culture is a word that individuals must respect and perform according to it as far as possible...
