‘Language gives us our identity’

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: Eric Weiner in his Geography of Bliss wonders what makes Iceland one of the happiest countries on earth. For a country that’s dark and extremely cold for nearly half the year and affectionately called the Ice-Cube, its people live by the credo ‘sunny-side up’. Last year the nation of just 3,00,000 people topped the UN’s human development index. Known for its scenic beauty — erupting volcanoes, hot-water springs, glaciers and of course, magnificent views of Aurora Borealis, it’s a traveller’s paradise. The European nation hit the headlines in the mid-eighties when its capital city Reykjavik hosted the Reagan-Gorbachev meeting (now being made into a film by Ridley Scott) and again in 2005 when it granted chess legend Bobby Fischer citizenship—- both events perhaps indicating its unique position in global geo-politics. The geographical distance between India and Iceland may be great, but the two nations have been growing closer otherwise, with the opening of Iceland’s embassy in New Delhi two years back. India too plans to set up its embassy in Reykjavik later this year. Quite a few Icelandic companies in the field of pharma, plastics and software have operations in India, with Reykjavik-based generic drug manufacturer Actavis employing more than 600 people in India. The island nation also has one of the largest fishing fleet in the world, with fish a staple in Icelandic cuisine through centuries. Banasree Purkayastha spoke with Iceland’s ambassador to India Gunnar Palsson about what makes the Ice-Cube one of the coolest places on earth, in more ways than one. Some excerpts:

A democracy for over a 1000 years

While India is the world’s largest democracy, Iceland claims to be the oldest one, having established its national legislature (Althingi) as early as 930 AD. Since we are a small country with a fairly homogenous population, our democratic institutions have not, of course, been tested by the kind of diversity that you have in India. Oldest democracy or not, I think Iceland stands to learn a great deal from the way India has been able to resolve differences and maintain its commitment to democracy.

Cultural links between India and Iceland