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Starting with the place where I was born, Chandigarh is one of the union territories of India. It has a special place in the India’s cultural history.  This place being the shared capital of the two Indian states namely Punjab and Haryana shares the common history from Punjab during the Indian Independence. After Punjab was divided between Pakistan and India, this city was born at the juncture of one of the worst nightmares in India. This place now would not only be the Indian-Punjab’s capital, but it would be the very model of a contemporary city that promises peace, democracy, and a new collective order free of harsh divisions.  

This place due the partition incident has traditional Punjabi culture that explains how the place impacted this place’s culture and vice versa with increasing urbanization, the general culture in Chandigarh is defined as a Cosmopolitan culture which is continuously changing. I am a Hindu due to this place’s multiculturalism as Chandigarh is a blend of people following Hinduism, Sikhism and Christianity with other religions. The majority of which are now Hindu’s. Moreover, due to the location of this place at the foot of the Himalayas, local communities developed it for agriculture purposes. Agriculture being one of the major occupations of the surrounding area of Chandigarh because of the availability of land, appropriate soil and agriculturally demanding climate, this region’s peripheral community produces crops like Wheat, Corn and Rice etc. While history informs us that perfect towns mostly remain on paper, Chandigarh – possibly one of the least probable – seems to have managed with grain. After the spread of Western Culture in India the local people’s lifestyle in this region was also struck by it, resulting in major opportunities for various outlets like Shopping, Food and Multinational companies to set up. 

The common language spoken here are Hindi and Punjabi. Since I have learned conversing in Punjabi from the community in Chandigarh, I also feel comfortable understanding some of my present Pakistani friends speaking Punjabi which shows how cultural language can help to clear out the differences made by religion. Furthermore the Sikh religion has impacted what I believe and value in many ways. Sikh culture’s traditional dress style for men includes formal clothing with a Turban on the head and for women includes Salwar-Suit.  Though people here are bound with cosmopolitan culture, but still this place is filled with Gurudwaras, Temples, Mosques etc. Communities are and have been following their respective religions in all parts of this region. The Sikh religion has impacted me in a positive way due to the fact that the main motto of this religion is “Sewa” or Helping others in need, which has been taught to me from my early childhood. My values and beliefs are influenced by this religion by believing in One God that is following Monotheism. Geographically I have influenced the world with these notions. This place is the first place where I was taught the meaning of religion which still is unclear from my side though this place has impacted my religious thinking or understanding. 

The city of Chandigarh was developed by a Swiss architect. It is a place of various creative infrastructures. It is a perfect example of globalization as a hybrid architectural culture. The amazing fact about this city is that it consists of more than 50 rectangular sectors and I always liked to imagine this city as a grid made by keeping in mind the structure of a Chessboard. The remarkably good monumental architecture and it’s consistency has given this city a special place not only in the country but the world. Moving on towards recreation, I have grown in this city under the greenery of parks and beautiful gardens. It is recognized as the greenest city with most amount of trees in the whole country. While the people in India are fond of watching Cricket and Field Hockey, Chandigarh is a famous place for the sport Cricket with an International Stadium built in its area. Due to which the maximum number of hours I have put in playing a sport is Cricket despite the fact that I am a Lawn Tennis player, which shows us how a Cultural complex in a place can affect the decisions made by the people.

Ladakh, a region situated in the state of Jammu & Kashmir of Northern India is the place where traveling by road is considered as one of the most adventurous experiences of an individual’s lifetime. This region of the Tibetean Plateau seems to be an improbable paradise. This area after immigration of people from Tibet has its historic culture overwhelmingly originated from Tibet which makes it unique in India. The villages inside these valleys among barren hills testify to a life of abundance rather than scarcity. Houses made of adobe and hand-carved wood lies in the region surrounded by fields of wheat, barley and vegetables. The people here have intimate understanding of using scarce natural resources in a creative manner and for centuries of their existence have provided themselves basic needs for their simple lifestyle.The lifestyle in Ladakh is imparted with immense stability and peacefulness, virtually having no crime and violence. The community of this place reflects friendly and helping values and radiates a feeling of abundance and satisfaction to the whole surrounding environment, that is, it’s defined as a place which exhibits a natural joie-de-vivre.

Ladakh has a rich and multicolored culture which focuses on the views and practices of Tibet’s dominant religion, the Mahayana Buddhism. I was always fascinated by the lessons and teachings of Gautam Buddha. This place gave me a direction to think about the word religion in a more peaceful manner. Ladakh following Buddhist values have Monasteries built in almost every sub-places. Since the traditional belief of Buddhism teaches people to take responsibility for their own lives and actions and meditate, children there are taught in Monasteries life giving lessons. Of which I also understood one of the universal truths stating – Everything in life is impermanent and always changing. Also, possessing things or persons in life doesn’t make you happy. The way this religion impacted me was to give me a free sense of living life in a more tranquil manner. The art culture of Ladakh is also interesting to watch as it includes paintings, collection of old antiques from Tibetian culture. 

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The society in Ladakh majorly participates in developing their Tourism Industry because of their Geographical location, astonishing cultural landscapes, scenery and environment. The local community also engage in the hospitality services for the people visiting. This also includes one more activity of making medicinal products, people in Ladakh have a high experience in making Traditional Chinese or Ayurvedic medicines which is then exported and used by the whole country. Majority of the people speak Tibetian, languages here also include Urdu and Balti. The traditional dishes of this place represents the unperishable food culture of Tibet including Chutagi (Dumpling Soup) which in general made me content, seeing how cultural identity in a place can persist with respecting and saving societies traditions that is cultural nationalism. Similarly, the ancestral sport of Ladakh have been Archery and Polo. Looking at the terrain near Himalayas some adventurous sport also includes Biking, Hiking, Trekking, Mountaineering, Camel Safari and Wild Water Rafting. 

The community likes to enjoy festivals, the men invariably in traditional dress and the women wearing their brightest brocade mantles and heaviest jewelry available. Ladakh’s individuals, the Buddhist community implicitly think in the impact of gods and spirits on the material world and do not conduct any significant activity without taking into account this impact. I was lucky to see the present Dalai Lama live at this place. “The lamas” or ladhakis are the essential intermediaries between the worlds of man and spirit. They not only perform the rites necessary to propitiate the gods, but also undertake the role of astrologers and oracles who can predict an auspicious time to start any particular work. After travelling to this place I contributed in shaping the Tourism Industry of this place which shows how we can impact a place’s developing culture in a positive fashion.

Leading to a place which is most special in my experience due to the fact that I have never been exposed to a foreign culture, Vancouver is one of the first places I have traveled outside India or my country making it the second country for me to have seen in the world. British Columbia’s culture blends a unique mix of European, Asian and First Nations people. Vancouver which is an ethnically-diverse city, culturally packed with the First Nations community and the West Coast Canadian history. 

Vancouver having a developed cosmopolitan culture has a wide vision for equality. This place is where I removed cultural barriers as their were no constraints against caste, religion, sex or color. I started communicating in a more professional way due to English being the most common conversing language. Major languages spoken in the community are English and French. Religion in the old times was majorly Christianity, rather the story now is quite interesting. After Canada took a step towards immigrants being able to enter in not so difficult manner, the increasing population of immigrants leads to variety of religions being practiced in this place. With the spread of globalization in the world, this place has modern culture expanded from the United States. The lifestyle of the people in this region is very fast paced with people busy in their working fields. Society in general has a broad minded thinking, building and spreading knowledge about very delicate topics of human culture like LGBTQ community information dissemination, equality not only on the basis of color but everything that is necessary for the human economy to advance. 

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Social habits of the community here is very engaging towards music, art and so on. For that reason being a guitar player I have made a group of friends to not only increase my practice on an instrument but gather in a social group to connect more with the outside world as my whole life had been closed around some of the harsh conditions of living in India. General public loves to eat non-vegetarian food here and party. On the contrary, me being a Pure Vegetarian was not easy to exist in a place like this. Again, due to the broad mindfulness of society I got exposed to the world where some people prefer veganism probably due to the fact that lactose intolerance disease has been spread in this area widely, helping me to continue what I follow on. Obviously coming to this culture society will force you to eat non-vegetarian food or one would be in a condition to have no other option. In truth I have tried eating it and it just doesn’t taste pure to me. The biggest thing to take away from this experience is that I can stick to my decision, no one is there to force me and personally I feel there couldn’t have been a better place to come for this scenario.

The weather in this place is never extreme hot or cold for a long time which again makes this place tempting for outside people to come to. Specifically Vancouover hilly region resembles with the surrounding area of Chandigarh in India so sometimes I feel very pleasant while going for trek or a walk. General Community is a huge fan of Ice Hockey in the whole Canada and loves to go on hiking trails due to the geographical topography. The most interesting thing about the culture of Vancouver is that you can celebrate any kind of activity or festival with changing geographical locations within the reachable distance which also makes it a great tourism area. 

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After being comfortable in the new environment, I realized that from this place I have impacted the world most of all due to the fact that I created new connections in a different and developed society which helped me to impact the world in a strong and efficient manner.