Hindus Heart Christmas

With occassional idle time, I tend to wonder where I was at some given point in the past compared to the present. Where was I last year? 5 years ago? 10 years ago?

Sometime this contemplation is about more than just where I was physically —- it usually surrounds exploration of where my thinking was in the past compared to the present. Comparison of personal progress along the years is important to me too. I can’t stand the feeling of personal stagnation. It drives me up the wall to consider the possibility that I’m not progressing year over year in certain aspects of life.

Thinking about what I was listening to at some point in the past is a fun one too. I tend to associate meaningful music with meaninful events. The unique landscapes and imagery of foreign travel makes for living music videos when coupled with great listening.

In the Winter of 1995, I was listening to a lot of records from Chapel Hill, NC. Dillon Fence in particular was in heavy rotation during my visit to the UK and India in November and December of that same year. Dillon Fence’s “Any Other Way” is forever associated with the train ride from London to Edinburgh, but specifically the Firth Of Forth.

Though I made my first trip to India at 6 yrs. old, this was my first international trip by myself. I stopped in Scotland along the way to India to visit my dear friend Kelby Hutcheson in Edinburgh. We ended up roaming around the UK for a couple of weeks and spent Thanksgiving in London with a bunch of other very smart people who were in the UK for their junior year abroad.

I made my way to India from the UK to visit relatives, some of which I hadn’t seen in over 15 years. It’s strange being a first generation anything when your relatives are so far away. In today’s day of common and frequent travel, long distances are no longer a barrier to maintaining imporant familial connections.

I remember specifically thinking how strange it was to hear Indians singing Christmas carols. Christians are a minority in India compared to Hindus. The CIA World Factbook says that just over 2% of the population claims Christianity as their relgion, according to a 2001 census. “Jingle Bells” with an Indian accented chorus is something to hear in light of this!

The spread of Christianity in India is a subject for another day because the motives are insidious and the result is appalling, but the overwhelming and noticeable appearance of harmonious living amongst the major religions in South India was obvious. Sure, it’s not the same in all parts of India, but at this particular moment it seemed as if it couldn’t get any better.

Dusty streets, off-key singing of Indian accented carols, and weathered old Christmas decorations made me realize that world could get along if they wanted to — all that people have to do was do nothing.

That was the attitude of my relatives, who are Hindu, when I asked them questions about the carolers and Christmas. They were very nonchalant about the whole thing as unique as it was for me to witness.

Avva-Thatha