The 'Cultural' Difference

Anil Kapoor has literally done the unthinkable. He did something which probably no Indian can be accused of doing since 1947. Grovelling the feet of a white man. But racism apart, Anil Kapoor's act of reaching for the feet of Sir Anthony Hopkins to seek his blessings after the latter had the 'privelege' of announcing the Best Cast award to Slumdog Millionaire was hilarious (to say the least). But I am not going to wallow in fun. After all, people in India will argue that he did nothing wrong. Seeking blessings from an elder person is a part of Indian culture. Our Indian culture has many such practises, as this Gentleman would probably explain to you. " Ricky Ponting is a great Captain and our Indian culture is to kiss him" said the Mahatma revealing the underlying tenets of our culture. Similarly, Anil Kapoor would be excused for touching the feet of an elderly person. Of course, some Americans might argue that in the land of Lincoln no man shall fall at the feet of another. There might be a case filed against Anil Kapoor for violating the culture of US, just like the cases filed against Richard Gere by all self-righteous Indians. After all its not just India that has a violable culture.
Unfortunately, this would prompt Richard Gere to argue that he was practising the American culture of kissing in India with Shilpa Shetty even while our Gentleman was demonstrating the Indian culture of kissing all great captains. Its a very complex setup - the intermixing of values from different cultures.
The end line, fellow beings, is that as the world keeps shrinking we will witness more such acts of cultural violations and exhibitions depending on which side you are.