Indian culture - another perspective

Culture is essentially one's way of life. Which is why my parents' culture is not necessarily mine, though it contains a good deal of what they practise / believe in. Thus, Indian culture is the Indian way of life. To state the obvious, it has changed - and how! - over the centuries, a good case in point being the way we celebrate Deepavali (worshipful / meditative versus boisterous), or the way we greet people nowadays ("hello" versus "namaste" - the latter having spiritual overtones and hence zealously avoided).

On a related note, I find it endlessly tiring to tolerate people who think sticking to one's "culture" in a foreign land is the same as visiting temples and observing festivals like Deepavali in the traditional way. Even the Manu Shastra says that it's wise to adapt to the changing ways of society, at least to the extent that we find reasonable.