Friends I chose this topic because I would like each one of you to spare a thought on this. One could write on this for hours but this is what I could express by time bounding myself to just 30 minutes.
Globalization is a path towards an improved economy, a stable government, and may be even towards a peaceful democracy but it is definitely not a healer to the deteriorating culture in a history enriched nation. It is something which has to handled with care when implemented amongst the people who worship their culture and boast it to the entire world.
Nowadays, it is worth noting that the most simple and the precise logic followed by a country aspiring to stamp its authority gloablly, is by following the footsteps of the world leaders themselves. From my experience of almost 22 yrs in India, I am now aware of the little tit bits and the mentality of an Indian commoner. It is the truth which no one can deny, that we try to mimic the west from the things we wear in our personal life to the improvement targets we set for ourselves in our professional life. Let me highlight this claim here by presenting few common day issues which rock India day in and day out.
Obscenity onscreen and off screen is the hottest topic which the Indian media wants to get its hand on because in fact this has not been accepted by the Indian public yet. A kiss to express love onscreen, as done in Hollywood, if shown to the Indian public generates a roar in the entire country. Our culture limits these things by not allowing it to go public. People are not found showing their intimacy in this land of "Kamasutra". The newer generation abandons the restrictions laid by our culture and tries to act modern by immitating the west, in effect destroying the uniqueness established by our culture and disrespecting the elders who have guarded the Indian tradition for centuries. Gay rights is another such bomb which has exploded in India in the last year or so. Seeing the public becoming open minded in the west makes us think that we are bounding ourselves by not allowing our mind to broaden its horizon. But the fact remains that apart from the few who vote for this change, majority in India would hate to see a man hitting on another in a night club.
Americanisation has really taken its toll on the highly cherished Indian culture and continues to rock its backbone with every passing day.
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5 comments:
A rather abrupt ending....u cud not send ur message across
Good that you chose a topic that affects a lot of people but I am not sure that I agree with you over a lot of things.
Globalization no doubts has pros and cons.
No doubt it is very important for us save our own culture and tradition as it is one thing that helps us keep our identity alive but also we cannot just stick to old ideals blindly.
The one thing which i find is changing a lot these days is freedom of expression and that is something which is reflected as the base of all the points that you raised in this blog.
But I find it very reasonable for every human being to be able to express whatever (s)he wants.
think even blogs and media are way of expressing oneself and one has the liberty to say anything here.
When we appreciate things like this and use it to say whatever is in our hearts why should we take away the freedom of others for doing so.
@Dibyendu - true that it was rather an abrupt ending.. the reason being the time limit ;)
@Harsh - Freedom of expression is absolutely fine and a country like India cannot stand if you deprive them of this right. But I would like to explain one thing by giving you an example: The Aussie PM is paying no heed to the racist attacks on our Indian fellow students - result is this things go out of control. If you don't emphasize a law in your country which is for the betterment of the majority.. more and more people would then become lawbreakers... Just Imagine you being asked out by a guy !! or may be you catch your relative in an awkward position somewhere on the street.. Take one more example: We have made ourselves so much dependent on them, that we have considered our language inferior to theirs..and you must be knowing about the west European Countries -- no need to elaborate on that fact...These are few things which lead to bigger things like brain drain, our lagging behind inspite of us having the best of resources etc etc.. Sure, freedom of expression does a lot of benefit but it should rather enhance your culture and not degrade it...
I agree with Ricky here. Globalization is a method to improve the standard of living of the general people of India not to change our way of living. Some customs and way of life may look absurd to the youth who have developed a so called modern outlook of life but are not these customs that held the country together for thousands of years and we were seen as powerful nation in the world. The English knew this and they first tried to destroy our culture before trying to conquer India.
May be some things are ought to be learnt from other cultures and nations but blindly aping them with defiance to our own culture would only make us lose our identity and the stable childhoods which we enjoyed may never be known to our future generations.
Well the racial attacks and gay rights are completely different points. Just look at America which is one of the countries where racial discrimination is very harshly treated but at the same time they have complete freedom when it comes to sexual orientation.
Also it is not only globalization that we are talking about here but also it is about the freedom of expression.
Sexual orientation is not something a person choose for themselves. It is something which is congenital most of the times.
See when someone is having their happiness and are not hurting any one else in the process then why should we take away that from them just because some people may feel awkward? Why should a person be punished to stay alone is (s)he is like that from birth?
Regarding being hit by a guy in a pub or someplace is another issue. Think a lot of girls also sometimes feel awkward when a lot of guys hit on them continuously but why are we not talking about it.
Eve Teasing is a bigger problem then a guy being hit by other guy in which case you can just say that you are not interested.
I would just like to site an example here. Most of us must have seen the movie Swades. It very distinctly gives a clear message that whenever we are loosing in an argument we have made it a practice to use the shed of our culture and tradition but I think with time we need to adopt what is good for us while at the same time retaining whatever is important from the past.
Liking a different music say rock, which is definitely something from the west, doesn't mean that we stop respecting our parents and elders.
In our culture Love marriages are also looked at with great respect but in today's world will you say that it is a wrong thing to do and with time families have started accepting it for a fact which is definitely a change in culture. Will you label it as a degradation ?
I am not saying here that everything in the west is good but what I am trying to say is why not do things which keep us happy without spoiling things for others.
As long as we are sympathetic towards others adopting anything from any culture will never be a problem.
On other hand a more serious problem of globalization is the threat is causes to the local market of any place. As the multinationals and corporates penetrate the local market more and more people will loose their business specially in a country like India where most of the population is dependent on local communities. For example as Wall mart is coming to India, think what kind of threat does it throw to all the local stores. With reliance fresh outlets in a number of areas what will be the effect on local 'Sabzi walas'. This is definitely a bigger threat.
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