Lessons learned from India. | Sara Demkow | TEDxYouth@TBSWarsaw

[Music] my parents had a very unconventional attitude towards traveling every year we traveled to foreign exotic places in hopes of finding new adventures my mother hated the idea flag to a tropical country in order to sit all day long by the pool she always planned these exciting adventures that made my friends question whether I would come back in one piece we went to Namibia Botswana Zimbabwe Jordan Azerbaijan and many other countries that were not the typical tourist destinations however I'd like I won't have enough time to talk about all my experiences and all my adventures as we'd be sitting here all night long and still I don't think we'd be done with everything however I'd like to talk about a country that I visited this summer India as I said before I was used to different customs different cultures different traditions so why was India different why did I have so many thoughts and feelings about a country that a first glance wasn't so different from all the other countries that I've been to imagine this you fly for a whole day and a whole night with huge suitcases an enormous jet lag you get out your international airport you get an overpriced taxi you get out of the taxi and you find yourself in the biggest most enormous crowd you've ever been in the heat is unbearable you can barely breathe through your nose and the sound of honking cars is all you can hear the smell is even worse so I stood there in the middle of the crowd I look to the left I look to the right and I found that everyone was looking at me here I was in the middle of the world in the middle of India in the middle of everything all in and I cried and I thought I I thought I was used to all the heat and the crowds and everything in between but there I was in the middle of it all and and I found out something new about myself I believe that this is India she not only teaches you something new about yourself but also about the world the real world I stayed in India for a whole month and let me tell you this she's definitely not easy to understand she's someone that you either fall in love as as soon as you see her or someone that you hate and never want to see again for me it wasn't love at first sight I wanted to go back home as soon as I arrived I hated the fact that people were coming up to me and wanted to take pictures of me I hated the fact that I had to take my shoes off in buildings where the floor was completely covered in everything I was sad by the fact that people were living on the streets with nothing but a carton box but after some time I adapted and I saw a different side of India's a more beautiful one and I found that there are lessons that she wants to give to us now what you should know about India is that she's the home of many religions I've never in my life went to so many mosques Hindu Buddhist temples and Sikh shrines but what was beautiful about seeing these temples was seeing how India respected you no matter what no matter what religion you believed in no matter if you're a Buddhist or Muslim or whatever you were you'd be appreciated and accepted people are proud to be who they are and wanted everyone else to encourage everyone else to be just what they are they wanted to teach everyone about their religion as well as learn about others and I found that you but inspiring at the same time how why well how did I start thinking about all of this well I remember going to flying through that I'm Sarah a small village located in the Himalayan mountains not only is that i'm sanna the in the village of in the hometown of dalai lama but also it has a nine income and spiritual atmosphere to it I remember going down the streets of that Uppsala and finding that people were smiling up to me they came up to me when they saw me with the huge suitcases and took me to the hotel when we were lost they would take us to the destination not expect anything we returned people they were kind and and I had no words but this isn't why that I'm sort of stuck in my mind and not why I have a vivid picture of it the reason why is well let me get to that we decided we would visit the Dalai Lama temple a small temple located up north why well all the guides in the book said that we should visit the Dalai Lama temple so so we went we went inside we took our shoes off and then we saw a group of people sitting in a circle sitting on praying mats and chanting mantras or drinking tea eating bread and well we decided to tiptoe inside we sat down on the mat and of course we were offered a cup of tea and as we were sitting there we realized that the fact that everyone was eating and drinking wasn't the most surprising aspect of it all we looked around and we realized that there was Hindus and Buddhists and Muslims and and Sikhs and any kind of religion you wanted just like us gathered there learning about Buddhism no I remember feeling at one with the world seeing how people with such different views and such different spectrums could sit in a room and and want to learn about something else in themselves that was inspiring this got me thinking does this happen in our European world with refugee crisis and the constant battle with prejudice and xenophobia and discrimination I think this is one of main lessons that should be learned from India all right how many of us here think they spent enough time with their families raise up okay I seem all right well in India family is taking a top priority nothing about family how do I know this well another story and after a very very long tour huge tour of one of the cities we were invited to our tour guides house as we entered the house we have his mother his father his wife his grandchildren his children his sisters and later on his neighbors came around we all sat again in a circle while drinking tea and eating bread of course we talked about various matters we've talked about India's economic situation about poverty about corruption but we also talked about the community they live in they told me a story about how during the winters people from two villages away or just a block away would come up to their house in the same room as we were sitting and would tell each other stories by knitting and sewing and drinking to you of course and I was astonished wow I don't remember saying more than hello to my neighbors let alone remember the name and this all sounded serial well I think this is another example of a lesson that should be learned from India we seem to be isolated in this bubble where it's always schoolwork schoolwork schoolwork and we sometimes forget to look up from our phones and realize that hey we should spend more time with with our friends with our family overall India is a country that definitely is not easy understand as many sites to her she's beautiful unpredictable and scary at times but I think when traveling to a country so different from ours it's important to have an open mind to realize that there lessons learned India has taught me that we should appreciate diversity that we should be kind to one another and that in the end we should keep our friends and family close to our hearts well I think in the end it's important to travel since we are the future we should not be afraid of all of the world lessons that should be learned from each country thank you for your attention [Applause]

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 2,367,181

Rating: 4.9023509 out of 5

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Life, Adventure, Culture, Ideas

Id: HRBzRphZ3rQ

Length: 9min 21sec (561 seconds)

Published: Thu May 16 2019