Apart from Bollywood, there are many other factors which binds us like
Our national language Hindi, Sports, Dance, Music, Yoga, Cultural activities, Arts, Food, Tourism, Schools (Hostels), Gurukuls, Inter School/College/State competitions, NCC, etc
Job migration - Armed forces/ Defense, SPG, NSG, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Railways postings, Gov.t postings, MNC postings, Officers Training academy, PG Accomodations
PSU postings (HAL, BEL, ISRO, BEML, BHEL, ISPAT, GAIL, DRDO, Etc) There are more than 500 Public Sector companies across India.
IT travel & posting, Science, Technology, Talent migration, Educational Migration bring other cultures together
Trade Exchange of Water, Energy, Food essentials, Fruits, Fishery, Meat, Ores (Metals) & many other resources connect people & states.
Different region dress, clothing, designs & style adaptation brings unity
Online discussion forums & chat rooms help people exchange views on upgrading knowledge, imparting skills, discussing cultures
Indian schools overseas, Non Resident Indians & Indian origin people overseas always come together at Indian get together, socialise & discuss their roots, native practices & culture
Spiritual leaders & organizations like Art of Living, Isha Foundation, Brahma Kumaris, Dalai Lama, Deepak Chopra, etc.
Apart from Hindi, English is another common language used to communicate & connect between different states.
Another factor is inter state, inter religion, inter caste marriages, which is a major player to extinguish differences & hatred.
Above everything, a major factor which nobody would deny is Alcohol, family/ friend get together, Pubs, Discos & weekend parties. 2 Pegs of any two people from any region or language will instantly bond together
We have Inter State Council who takes care of inter state activities. We have Zonal cultural centers like
- Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre
- North Central Zone Cultural Centre
- North East Zone Cultural Centre
- North Zone Cultural Centre
- South Central Zone Cultural Centre
- South Zone Cultural Centre
- West Zone Cultural Centre
We also have entities like National Inst of Entrepreneurship & Small Business Development (Skill development), Social Justice for oppressed (Which gives justice & enforces equality)
Bollywood is definitely one factor. But leaving cities in almost all non Hindi speaking states, there are several villages who don't understand Hindi. They are comfortable with their local language & there is a huge lot of population who don't have money to afford watching movies or afford TV.
One more very important binding force is our Festivals like Holi & Diwali which is celebrated by almost every Indian apart from Dusherra, Navratri, Janmashtmi, Ganesh Chaturthi, etc.
Holi, Diwali & Vaisakhi celebrated in Punjab by both Sikhs & Hindus. Vaisakhi is celebrated through out the country & is celebrated in Assam as Bihu in Karnataka as Ugadi & Tulu region as Bisu), Kerala Vishu, Tamil Nadu as Pongal.
On an average more than 60% of Indians can speak one or more Indian languages apart from their native Mother tongue.
http://www.saralstudy.com/food-dance-and-language-of-states-of-india-112.html
India is the birthplace of Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism & Sikhism which have foundational similarities due to which there is no big cultural difference or hatred. Though there can be certain practices & approaches which will be different in each of our region & religion, still all are culturally very similar. All culture & religion of the sub-continent teaches to watch your Karma & aim at attaining Dharma, rather than one particular God.
http://www.mapsofindia.com/culture/
The key to unity is in the acknowledgment and acceptance of differences.
According to Gandhi, prayer is a ‘longing of the soul.’ And when individual souls come together to pray—even when their languages or cultures or religions are different—they are longing for their God while also demonstrating peace, love, and unity with all of God’s children.
why is religion & mostly Islam
(as per statistics) causing so much dissension today? Instead of uniting, it is often a source of conflict even among the followers of the same faith. It's because they have trouble accepting others beliefs & practices. They feel only their religion is right, so others practices are invalid & Kuffr, when our religions strive for equal relations. So like everywhere we have trouble with Muslims in India, as the feeling is if they adapt any of our customs or practices they will become Kafir or a Hindu. Even other religions like Christianity, Jews, Parsis blend & participate in each others practices here. So the key is adapting to the custom of the land.
In general, I think the differences or clashes has nothing to do with religion. It has everything to do with human interpretation, which may be driven by many factors other than faith. It is either that people make religion relevant by being inclusive or make it irrelevant by being dogmatic. I think there is too much of the latter today.
It is all very well, to aspire to ''unity''. But unity is an overrated, undefined ideal, and division is a fact of life. So long as we obey the law, respect fundamental human rights and ''live and let live'', it should not matter what our respective beliefs are.
We lose our hostile sense of ''them'' by getting to know people different from ourselves. They are no longer ''them'', but ''us''. Beyond our different religious beliefs and nationalities, imagine a common human identity sacred to us all. Accepting that, we would hold each other's values as sacred as our own.
