Foreword
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India in 2019 is home to a fifth of the world’s youth, with 65 million of its total population below the age of 25; presenting the question of how relevant our ancient traditions are to the modern Indian population. With this issue of the India Perspectives magazine, we look at how a 5,000-year-old civilisation understands traditions and a culture that has been passed down through the generations.
During these months, the world turned its attention towards India as Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping for the second India-China Informal summit in Mamallapuram and Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, for the fifth round of Inter-Governmental consultations. Both these meetings are new and innovative formats that have been implemented recently and serve as an example of India’s reinvigorated approach towards strengthening diplomatic ties across the globe. We also travel to Bangkok as the East-Asian nations converge for the 14th East Asia Summit, to understand how our eastern partnerships affect India’s global image. We then head to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi for a two-day visit.
As Hindi cinema has always had a very relevant outlook of contemporary trends, we travel to Goa for the 50th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) which also focussed on the development of Indian regional films, filmmaking in the country and also recognised some of the most deserving cinematic productions from across the world. We then catch up with Ayushmann Khurrana, the National Award winning actor who has revatilised Bollywood with his movies that aim to connect and address with present-day problems and the people who deal with them.
Be it traditional schools of Yoga or localised art forms still practiced with immense pride in the nation’s remotest corners or even the numerous festivals that celebrate the magnificent heritage of India’s vibrant past; the relevance of our culture in the 21st century is self-explanatory, to say the least. India’s literary pop-star, author Amish also shares his thoughts on the subject.
We then travel to the Trans-Himalayan region of Spiti and experience first hand, the resolute perseverance of a culture that has survived the test of time and has today become the perfect example of brotherhood, diversity and integrity. On our way back, we halt at various iconic destinations to witness the many-hued cultural mosaic of the country exhibited during some of the most colourful cultural festivals for our photo feature.
