In the cold of a January morning in New Delhi, a marigold garland was gently placed around my neck.
It was a small gesture. But it felt ceremonial -- almost initiatory.
I had arrived in India as part of a Familiarization Visit organized by India's Ministry of External Affairs (their 'Foreign Ministry') for journalists from Central and West Africa and Oceania. From Liberia, there were two of us: myself, and Mrs. Christiana Winnie S. Jimmy, Managing Editor of The Inquirer newspaper. We came representing not just our newsrooms, but our country -- its questions, its aspirations, its possibilities.
Over the course of January 12-23, 2026, India unfolded before us -- vast, layered, disciplined, exuberant. It was not merely a study tour of institutions. It was a confrontation with a civilization that has learned how to carry its past into the future without apology.
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And somewhere along that journey, something long dormant within me stirred awake.
Delhi in Winter: Ceremony and Confidence
New Delhi in January is brisk -- crisp air, muted sun, mornings that demand a jacket. Yet for a megacity of more than 20 million people, it is surprisingly green. Wide boulevards lined with trees, expansive lawns, public spaces that breathe.
We were hosted at The Oberoi New Delhi, where hospitality is choreographed with quiet precision. Service is not hurried. Cuisine is not merely consumed -- it is curated. Indian cuisine, I quickly realized, is not a monolith. It is a federation of flavors: North Indian gravies rich with cardamom and clove; South Indian rice dishes fragrant with curry leaves; delicate breads; spices layered so intricately that no single note dominates.
In Liberia, we understand the power of food. Our Jollof Rice -- yes, Liberian Jollof -- carries its own reputational pride across West Africa. In India, cuisine has been exported as culture. It is diplomacy served warm.
At the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), we were introduced to the philosophy behind this export of identity. India's diaspora -- more than 30 million globally, including 3.5 million across Africa -- carries language, music, textiles, rituals and cuisine into foreign lands. Culture becomes continuity.
"What distinguishes us? Our culture," an official told us.
India prints newspapers daily in over 100 languages. It produces films in more than 30 languages -- not for novelty, but because they are commercially viable. More than 300 classical and folk dances flourish across its regions. Over 3,000 weaving patterns emerge from its cultural communities.
This is not fragmentation. It is orchestration.
As rehearsals intensified ahead of the 77th Republic Day celebrations at India Gate, we witnessed nationalism expressed not through exclusion, but through pageantry -- military discipline interwoven with cultural display. Ancient wisdom, modern statecraft.
And woven through many conversations was the Sanskrit phrase: Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam -- "The world is one family." It is more than poetry. It is policy.
The Taj Mahal, more a pilgrimage site than a monument
Then came the journey to Agra and the Taj Mahal.
We have all seen it in photographs. But photographs do not capture the stillness.
The Taj Mahal is often described as a monument built by a grieving emperor for his beloved wife. That is historically true. But what struck me was something else: it is a pilgrimage site -- particularly for women.
I watched as women arrived dressed as if attending a wedding. Bright fabrics. Carefully arranged scarves. Jewelry catching the sunlight. They posed before the marble edifice not casually, but ceremonially. Meanwhile, men -- even those accompanying their beautifully dressed female partners -- seemed perfectly content in t-shirts and jeans.
I kid you not.
The Taj Mahal is the world's most photographed tourist site, but it is also something deeper -- a theatre of romance, memory and aspiration. It is living heritage. Love has become architecture. Architecture has become economy. The place receives more than 50,000 visitors every day, according to the most conservative estimates. Most days, there is an entrance fee. On free days, the number of visitors can easily double.
Culture, when preserved and presented well, generates pilgrimage.
What would happen if Liberia curated its own pilgrimage sites with such intentionality? Our beaches, our sacred forests, our music festivals, our culinary traditions -- are they not worthy of structured reverence?
Mumbai: Culture as Infrastructure
If Delhi felt ceremonial, Mumbai felt kinetic.
Warm January air replaced the northern chill. The skyline rose with financial ambition. We stayed at the ITC Grand Central, surrounded by architecture that tells stories of colonial history, Bollywood glamour and corporate modernity.
Our visit to the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre was revealing. It is one of the most significant private institutions dedicated to preserving Indian cultural traditions -- dance, theatre, textiles, music. But it is also an economic engine: home to one of the largest private theatres in the world, capable of hosting international productions, conventions, weddings, auto shows. It also boasts of the largest passenger elevator in the world, with a capacity of nearly 100 persons.
Culture here is not decorative. It is infrastructural.
India does not treat heritage as sentimental baggage. It builds grand facilities to house it. It monetizes it responsibly. It exports it confidently.
The Architecture of Economic Power
India's cultural confidence is reinforced by institutional muscle.
At the Export-Import Bank of India, we examined how export financing underwrites diplomatic reach. Lines of Credit fund projects from IT parks to stadiums to textile plants across Africa and beyond. Trade policy is aligned with foreign policy.
At the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, we learned about India's 14,500 Industrial Training Institutions. Skills development is treated as a national security priority. Citizens can move between vocational training and higher education without stigma. Human capital is not an afterthought; it is strategy.
Then came one of the most consequential engagements: the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has transformed digital transactions -- low-cost, interoperable, sovereign. Through NIPL, India now assists other nations in building similar digital public infrastructure.
Here was civilization meeting code.
In a world where many African economies depend on foreign-owned digital payment rails, India has built its own and is exporting the blueprint.
A Personal Reckoning
Throughout the visit, our host, Amit Raghav of the Ministry of External Affairs, along with Chandresh Singh and Ujjwal Giri, ensured that logistics ran seamlessly. But beyond coordination, there was intention: India wanted us to see the full arc -- culture, commerce, technology, diplomacy.
And it worked.
I have long advocated for Liberian arts and culture. I have argued that our music -- including the origins of African highlife music traced to Liberia -- our cuisine, our textiles, our storytelling traditions, are not minor notes in the national orchestra. Yet in recent years, that advocacy had quieted within me.
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India awakened it again.
Liberia sits on immense cultural wealth. Our Jollof Rice carries its own West African pride. Our people -- our most valuable natural resource -- embody traditions that have survived war, migration and globalization. But survival alone is not enough. Without intentional preservation and export, culture risks dilution, distortion -- even extinction.
India demonstrates that identity and innovation are not opposites. A country can be the world's most populous democracy and still teach 300 dances. It can build digital payment systems that rival global giants while printing newspapers daily in 100 languages.
It can be ancient and cutting-edge at the same time.
The Lesson for Liberia
This journey was expansive. It was immersive. But above all, it was consequential.
India's example suggests that culture is not a luxury to be entertained after economic growth. It is a driver of growth. Cuisine becomes industry. Dance becomes export. Textiles become branding. Hospitality becomes diplomacy. Fintech becomes sovereignty.
For Liberia, the question is not whether we possess culture. We do.
The question is whether we will preserve it, institutionalize it, and export it with confidence.
As the marigold garland rested on my shoulders that first morning in Delhi, I did not yet know that I was being reminded of something essential: a nation that forgets its cultural core may grow economically, but it will drift spiritually.
India has chosen not to drift. Needless to say, both countries have a lot in common -- and India's cultural power could no doubt inspire Liberia's cultural and heritage trajectory.
