Though the metropolitan towns and big• cities have changed their faces, the mental make up of the inhabitants still remains the same. Even there we see very little orno free mixing of people from various regions and from various strata of society. The people remain divided and there is hardly any communication either on cultural level or on emotional level. People from different states live in isolation from the local people. Inspite of getting the oppor¬unity to know each other they hardly take advantage of it. They come together at work places, but there also, their contact with each other is very formal and superficial. There is no inter-group mixing and mostly they remain foreigners to each other! As lone of the cine songs says, "When our own people become foreigners to us, the age also con¬spires against us!" The younger generation level or on emotional level. People from different states live in isolation from the local people. Inspite of getting the oppor¬unity to know each other they hardly take advantage of it. They come together at work places, but there also, their contact with each other is very formal and superficial. There is no inter-group mixing and mostly they remain foreigners to each other! As lone of the cine songs says, "When our own people become foreigners to us, the age also con¬spires against us!" The younger generation also is deprived of the opportunity of mak¬ing contact with each other due to medium schools. Generally the language used as medium of instruction isolates one group from another. At the time of festivals and other celebrations group spirit prevails. We generally reduce our great men to our own size and this has become more notice¬able after the formation of linguistic states! We do not forget our caste, community, religion or region. In Maharashtra, we see the sad sight of Mahatma Phule day being celebrated by a non-brahmin group and Dr. Ambedkar day being celebrated by the neo¬Budhists and untouchables more enthusias¬tically than any other group and Lokmanya Tilak being honoured by only a section of the people. Christmas and the Prophet's birthday are also celebrated in the religious, dogmatic way. Nadhabba becomes the business of Kannadigas and the Durga Puja is open to Bengalis. Subramanya day is observed in predominately Tamil area and Ras is in view for Gujaratis. Whenever special efforts are made to bring them togetherit is very formal and a made up thing. Unless a platform is created where people of diverse identities can mix informally and oftener, their formal coming together will not help integration. Generally we find that whenever and wherever the doors are open only for a certain group, that group always tries to pose itself as a separate entity and will always harp on a note of separation and try to show how it is superior to other groups and how differ¬ent it is from others. On the other hand if there is a mixed audience care will always be taken to search for things common and this creates a common bond of interest in the groups. People suggest inter-language, inter-caste and inter-religious and even international marriages as a panacea for most of the parochial ills, but such marriages take place where there is opportunity for freely coming together and knowing each other. Such inter marriages are hardly arranged marriages. So on many counts such a cultural platform or an Antar Bharati Biradari is a must for India.
People should decide to come together at least once in a month on a previously fixed day. They can fix a topic for discussion or arrange some programme of cultural events. They can even meet over a cup of tea. When once people start coming together broad spectrum of activities will be open to them. The programmes will vary according to the dynamism of the participants and local conditions. Film and cultural shows can also form part of the programme.