Mera Bharath Mahan
I have received a feedback about my blog for which I would like to answer. A dear colleague of mine, while appreciating the content, was quite upset about my reference to 'Indian culture'.
Thank you Kavita for giving me an idea for today's blog. Here I go.
I don't have anything against our Indian culture. But I see a lot of people using the term 'culture' superficially or loosely.
Why should we not abolish censorship? Why should we not have onscreen smooch? Because Indian culture is different. Why should woman be wearing saree and not trousers or jeans? Because of our culture. Why should we not celebrate Valentine's day? Why should we not wage war against Pakistan?
The answer to the above and many other questions are easily culture. What is culture? Is it our heritage? History? Religion? Life style? Social structure? I wonder.
The trouble arises only when this loose term is used to cover up our follies, inefficiencies and our historic mistakes.
How can we justify somebody not drinking Coke because they think it's against Indian culture? Or someone advocating against divorce?
And not just this. Every other act of enslavement against women is carried out in the name of our culture. Every other initiative for women empowerment is blocked in the name of our culture.
So anything we hate about the west is termed as against Indian culture and avoided. We need their investments, their infrastructure, their software orders but we will continue to ridicule their lifestyle.
I consider the people who rebuke the west and glorify our culture as mere jingoists and not serious thinkers. I have had such experinces in the past and hence that line.
Monday, February 28, 2005
About Me
- Name: Sridhar
- Location: New Delhi, India
Experienced professional in the L&D space, managing large eLearning development projects, implementing enterprise-wide learning systems, building, nurturing and mentoring large project teams and designing and developing outcome-based online learning interventions.
Previous Posts
- Indian BeautyI see people around me. They are driv...
- Sridhar Ko Gussa Kyon Ata HaiI read Mrs. Meena Kan...
- Emotional outburstI saw Motorcycle Diaries yesterd...
- BlackCast: Amitabh Bhacchan, Rani Mukherjee; Direc...
- Bangalore MazeI was in Bangalore last weekend. Las...
- Fitness & SanityI have started walking. I should b...
- Information Superhighway How do you manage people...
- Identity Last evening, I was caught in a rather i...
- Sensitivity If I twist your arm, you cry in pain....
- Eight questions * Why do I dislike Tamil films? *...
Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]
2 Comments:
lets see the other side of life. NRIs in the US and elsewhere, being a minority there, tend to cling to their so called religion and culture by imposing far more serious rules on their kids. For all their education and openness, a hindu cannot marry a muslim and horoscopes fly all over the place, we all go through the marriage market,
marriage costs are still borne by the girls side! sometimes i really wonder, is the boy being bought?
the society has constantly subdued women and never let them grow. i wont blame the men alone. Women subdue women, which is even sicker.
our society lives in fear. the older generation has never asked questions but has been taught through fear."dont ask just do"
has been the moto. and the younger generation demands answers but does not get it. hence the lack of respect to our way of life, to our upbringing, to our history, to our faith, to our religion, to our rituals...
why is it easier to follow the americans, because you dont have to think any more. you just let yourself go, madly dance to rock music whether you understand it or not... the truth never comes easy, you need to dwell in it, grow with it, understand it, realize it. and there is no spoon feeding along the way.
be it hindu mythology, vastu shastra or a simple homam/ temple ritual. everything has a meaning which has been diluted and lost along the way. there are few people keeping it alive, just that you and i dont know. thats the reason for lack of respect, and this is on a mass scale.
no one can be taught through fear, teaching through understanding brings in respect. culture is what we make of it, its not
what makes us. it helps us grow and understand ourselves. given the various kinds of people this country holds together, and the way we live in harmony, isnt it clear that part of our culture is tolerance and non violence.
we need to respect ourselves first, not sell ourselves to the white man. where is our self esteem. what you stated in your blog are internal issues with changing patterns in life.the bottom line is we are willing to sell our souls to green notes,and the same people come back here and scorn the life they led here for 20 years. this is the life i lead, i am happy with it. i rather live in a society with problems of adjustment than live the life of a minority in a racist environment where i am nothing , at best a brown man.
i am king here, and i will live like one. Culture is to live a life a particular way, not to buy bronze and terracota and take it back to the US.
28 February 2005 at 10:50
As Kavita says, if culture is a particular way to live life, I shudder to think what my life would be if i had lived it the "particularly cultural way". I may not have been as educated as i am. My role may have been confined to the kitchen and catering to only the "needs" of my husband (and maybe in laws). My parents may have had to shell out dowry to find me a suitable groom....the list would go on and on be it religious, social, whatever....!
Living in only the past "glory" of our culture will not get us moving ahead. Its about breaking the barriers of conditioning in the name of culture. We need to remember that everything created or learned or manifested was relevant to a particular time in the history of society. That may or may not matter in todays world. This does not mean disregarding completely the heritage or the accumulation of everything thats culture. Its for each of us to take the parts which will help us to be forward thinking people working towards a progressive nation.
Personally I dont mind living life as a minority or "at best a brown person" rather than live in the illusion that I am king....its like the frog in the well story. And only just look around you to see how many "brown" minority people are making waves in the global world.
It does not matter today whether we listen to mindless rock music or Indian classical; whether we smooch on screen or not or whether we wear sarees or jeans. These are petty things. Lets focus on how we can instead eliminate bride burning, child marriage, illiteracy, castism, untouchability ; all which is so much an inherent part of our culture. That is how we can respect ourselves and not "sell" ourselves to anybody. It is our responsibility to earn respect. Not take it out from the past. Its not the music, booze or the language one speaks. The world is shrinking. The "global'' man who is both proud of his culture and yet open to what the world has to offer is the one who will survive!
OK folks, time for me to sign off..i need to go and buy that bronze and terracota to match with my ethnic mirror worked cushions and kadhi curtains :))!!
P.S: With dues apologies to Sridhar who finds discussing culture 'unpassionate"
1 March 2005 at 08:24
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home