The kaleidoscope of life

What a weird comparison life and a kaleidoscope. As a part of my summer internship I got an opportunity to spend 20 days in Gujarat (was doing my market research there). I was all alone for 20 odd days with nothing much do other than travel for 12 hours a day and 2 hours of interviewing. As I was a making my way through Gujarat it occurred to me how people vary from region to region with a drastic change in beliefs , mannerism , language , culture …….. The people there lived a life very difficult to associate to, can you imagine food without onions and spices (leave alone non-veg) or going to bed at 8:00pm to wake up at 5:00am in the morning (I’m not exaggerating its true). Even the work life there was pretty different unlike us office hours were from 9:00am to 5:00 pm sharp with a 2 hour lunch break (Yeah that’s right 2 hours for lunch).
Facts state that while traveling in India every 180kms there is a change in the language people speak the food they eat …. I mean the works. That’s where the kaleidoscope comes with a slight rotation in the kaleidoscope the whole design changes with very little resemblance to the earlier view; even though it’s the same kaleidoscope you are holding things appear different. Similarly it’s the same with us human beings, we change , whether we like it or not it is inevitable, we call this change using various terms like settling in or maturity or experience or finding your feet . It makes me wonder does a person who spent 20 years of his life in a certain way change or adjust (if you will) to a totally new situation within no time, well as far as I go I did experience some change in me, the first few days I had a hard time adjusting to the food and the work life but as days passed I realized that it had become a sort of a routine for me be it eating food dripping with ghee or waking up at 5:00am . So I guess you do change , but one question still remains all the changes I talked about were the changes in living habits and it is a know fact that humans are very good at adapting to the surroundings (no wonder the race still lives) , what about mental mindset of an individual of a person ? Say, if I were to stay there for 6 months would I start thinking like them or have beliefs similar to theirs? Well frankly speaking I’m no Sigmund Freud. However let me tell you one, thing most of my beliefs and practices are in line with the way I have been brought up and educated, similarly my current mindset can be attributed to my past experiences in life.
The point I’m trying to make through this is that change is an inevitable phenomenon but at the same time it’s an extremely slow process. More over this change is going to takes place irrespective of the place you stay in or the food you eat (however there is a certain amount influence). On personal accounts let me say, that I too have noticed a certain amount of change in me, I’m not the same guy I was in undergrad college or the high school or for that matter I will not be same guy 10 years down the line …. Only time will decide what I end up as.
Looking at the rotating kaleidoscope

-Innocent Bystander