Losing the Little Cultures
The greatest challenge before independent India was one of keeping the nation together. 'Unity in diversity' became the catchphrase. Public speeches, school books, newspapers and the radio - all conveyed the same message. Irrespective of caste, creed or religion we are all one - Indians.
Slowly as the county is getting smaller keeping pace with the shrinking world, this dream is nearing fruition. But where are those little cultures disappearing? The dominant culture is slowly assimilating all others in its vicinity. The peculiar lifestyles have adopted a pan-Indian look. Earthy dialects are shrouded into silence in the cities and slowly fading from the countryside with each passing generation. The anglicised creole is the new lingua franca.
We all are fast becoming like each other, we all are becoming one - Indians. The passport will declare the citizenship, religion and mother tongue - need to be answered while filling up forms in this secular nation. But who are we beyond that? You may know, your daughter might also know, but will she be able to understand?
4 Comments:
it is not that we ARE becoming ... we WERE always one ...
still road is long as far as eliminating diff due to castes is concerned...
And still, we give so much thrust on caste, creed, relegion. It is indeed ironic.
Fast becoming like each other at the same time hating each other.
That apart, I, sometime, find this debate on preserving cultures just crap.
You might have heard that a lot of anthropologist and NGOs are working to ''preserve'' premitive tribes in the Andamans.
Either declare that they are not humans or let them have right to join mainstream.
To ''preserve'' their cultures and then study the evolution of homo sapiens on them is like using humans as Guniea pigs!
a thoughtful post. it's sad, but we can't help it. urbanization is taking our originality away from us.
Perhaps that's why they say culture (the process of growth)can not be a like water in a pond...it's like flowing water, always changing with time and space...but again the questinong arrises, "while we are changing with time, are we growing?"...if yes why they are not visible in the picture?
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