This post is a response to the post http://manukhajuria.blogspot.com/2009/06/why-is-modernization-confused-with.html that attempts to highlight the difference between the concepts of westernization and modernization often confused as one & the comments on the same post .
I am glad that many of us do acknowledge that we have a serious problem in front of us. But its bizarre that we confront this problem with helplessness. With this post/response I make a humble attempt to understand what has led to all this and what could possibly be the some of the corrective measures.
Hangup of colonialism / Brown sahib mentality. This country has witnessed 200 yrs of colonial rule. The worst thing colonialism does is that it destroys the self esteem of colonized nation. It tells the colonized that if you have to move ahead you need to think, dress and eat like the white sahib. This inevitably breeds a feeling of self - loathing and contempt among the colonized about their own culture and country men esp. among the elite. In this mad race what tends to be forgotten is that modernization and westernization are two different concepts. You can modernize but you do not need to westernize. Aping the west without critically analyzing its strengths and weaknesses would most of the times lead to the negative side of it.
For instance, the western family system is breaking up at a rapid pace causing social upheavals in the west. Putting in perspective, this is a disaster for the society in longer run. On the other hand our family system has been the life blood of our age old culture.
The Indian Infotainment industry has been from a long time trying the best it can to imitate the west in projecting woman as a beautiful animal. The ramifications of such a brainless and dangerous obsession would be lethal to our society.
If we group people born post independence according to decade of their birth(any other time span could also be used), we can say that the brown sahib mentality has grown stronger with every generation. This has lead to a distinctly visible and pervasive disconnect between people of any two different generations in terms of how they perceive human relationships, culture and society. But when the kids / individuals born in and after 80s are compared to their predecessors the disconnect seen is huge and it continues to expand at an obscenely explosive rate. This is because the kids born in 80s and after wards unlike their predecessors have been exposed to the forces of globalization, cable TV and more recently cellular telephony and Internet at the stage of their lives when the edifice of the cultural identity and values ought to be built and ingrained into the character of an individual. These forces by shaking up vigorously that edifice if at all it exist(s/ed) have put the collective cultural identity at stake.
This I believe has been due to the appalling conduct of the two important institutions.
Firstly and most importantly the institution of family (esp. elders / parents) has failed to deliver upto the challenge posed.
Parents today willingly provide their kids with gaming consoles, cellular phones and uncensored 24X7 exposure to cable TV and Internet . As a results kids and parents are spending less time together. Kids are not communicating well on normal issues with their parents forget lectures on values. What elders+parents forget is that when they went through the same stage of their lives, family system was closely tied and the these forces(cable TV, Internet e.t.c) were not present. Traditionally, the value system and the family system have been nourishing and supporting each other just as the two parts of a tree one underneath the earth and one above it do. This has changed , w hich makes it absolutely necessary for them to make an extra effort, take an extra step forward that their parents/elders were not required to take in order to educate their younger ones about the great lineage and cultural values that they themselves have inherited. If the present ones want their kids to assimilate whats good in the world and reject whats bad holding onto their own feet even after being hammered by the hostile forces of this globalized world, the young ones need to armed properly for that.
Sadly, THIS HAS NOT HAPPENED.
The second institution to fail is the institution of governance in our country. When one takes into account the economic forces into play, the institution of governance is the one that has the responsibility and more significantly and pragmatically speaking the power and resources required to protect the cultural, social and scientific assets from any attempt aimed at undermining them.
Rice & Yoga patent issue. The responsibility of the govt. is paramount in ensuring that our cultural assets are not undermined at any cost. There's an interesting pt. about yoga though I want to mention here, about how successful have been the efforts of person called Swami Ramdev who has been working tirelessly to educate the people of India about the merits of adopting an ayurvedic lifestyle following strict exercise and diet regimen. Many surveys have proved that the sale of soft/cola drinks have been hit the hardest by the appeals he has made to people against these unhealthy drinks. This demonstrates that if the zeal to educate masses intersects with the ability to substantiate the benefits of techniques that we have inherited which are thought to be otherwise backward and dehati(pendu in my mother tongue), the two can have the potential to pull people towards them.
kulhad Vs Plastic Glasses/Disposables . What we cannot and should not forget is that for any economic saleable entity to be successful, it has to be backed by a sound business model be it kulad or the plastic glass. I don't expect kulhad to replace plastic cups as of now. The plastic cup is cheaper, easily available and easy to carry. It is necessary to keep in mind that the plastic cup has acquired the attributes that give it the economic edge as a result of the cutting - edge research in western universities over the last decades backed by funding worth thousands of dollars. Nonetheless I have no doubt that the kulhad can be made a competitive economic product that can very well out compete the plastic cups. If our govt. could sponsor research programs to improve our centuries old earthenware and devise a sound economic model for them and also influence the industry to fund the same, I am supremely confident that the kulhads can challenge the plastic wares very well.
Nimbu Pani & Samosa Vs Coke & Pizza. I would argue that the day nimbu pani is packaged attractively, advertised properly and sold hygienically in the premier eating places it can beat coke 10:1. Same is the case with samosa and pav bhaji. Infact the day McDonald, KFC e.t.c. realize that ethnic dishes / drinks can earn them more money than their flagship offers , they would not show any hesitation to improvise them , get them patented and brand them as their own.
Reliance Fresh Vs local Dukandar / Sabjiwala. I think the Indian customer esp. the one from middle class does act wisely most of the time and it is this kind of customer that these super stores have to woo to keep their business running or flourishing. I doubt how many of such customers enter Reliance fresh / Food bazaar to enjoy the Air Con environment and ape their NRI cousins to use carts rather than jholas. If a super store offers goods/consumables which weigh less on the price & quality meter than the one sold by the local businessman, its is definitely going to drive itself out of business. So the winner among the super store and the local smaller business establishment would be one who scores higher on the price and quality meter.
I would conclude by saying that our ability to withstand these western influences will be function of the degree of pro activeness the society shows in educating and passing on the cultural heritage onto its younger generation, the commitment on part of the govt. to safeguard and promote the cultural assets of our country & our ability and ingenuity in creating sound and competitive business models to support our desi products.
Thanks for having the patience to read till here.
I am glad that many of us do acknowledge that we have a serious problem in front of us. But its bizarre that we confront this problem with helplessness. With this post/response I make a humble attempt to understand what has led to all this and what could possibly be the some of the corrective measures.
Hangup of colonialism / Brown sahib mentality. This country has witnessed 200 yrs of colonial rule. The worst thing colonialism does is that it destroys the self esteem of colonized nation. It tells the colonized that if you have to move ahead you need to think, dress and eat like the white sahib. This inevitably breeds a feeling of self - loathing and contempt among the colonized about their own culture and country men esp. among the elite. In this mad race what tends to be forgotten is that modernization and westernization are two different concepts. You can modernize but you do not need to westernize. Aping the west without critically analyzing its strengths and weaknesses would most of the times lead to the negative side of it.
For instance, the western family system is breaking up at a rapid pace causing social upheavals in the west. Putting in perspective, this is a disaster for the society in longer run. On the other hand our family system has been the life blood of our age old culture.
The Indian Infotainment industry has been from a long time trying the best it can to imitate the west in projecting woman as a beautiful animal. The ramifications of such a brainless and dangerous obsession would be lethal to our society.
If we group people born post independence according to decade of their birth(any other time span could also be used), we can say that the brown sahib mentality has grown stronger with every generation. This has lead to a distinctly visible and pervasive disconnect between people of any two different generations in terms of how they perceive human relationships, culture and society. But when the kids / individuals born in and after 80s are compared to their predecessors the disconnect seen is huge and it continues to expand at an obscenely explosive rate. This is because the kids born in 80s and after wards unlike their predecessors have been exposed to the forces of globalization, cable TV and more recently cellular telephony and Internet at the stage of their lives when the edifice of the cultural identity and values ought to be built and ingrained into the character of an individual. These forces by shaking up vigorously that edifice if at all it exist(s/ed) have put the collective cultural identity at stake.
This I believe has been due to the appalling conduct of the two important institutions.
Firstly and most importantly the institution of family (esp. elders / parents) has failed to deliver upto the challenge posed.
Parents today willingly provide their kids with gaming consoles, cellular phones and uncensored 24X7 exposure to cable TV and Internet . As a results kids and parents are spending less time together. Kids are not communicating well on normal issues with their parents forget lectures on values. What elders+parents forget is that when they went through the same stage of their lives, family system was closely tied and the these forces(cable TV, Internet e.t.c) were not present. Traditionally, the value system and the family system have been nourishing and supporting each other just as the two parts of a tree one underneath the earth and one above it do. This has changed , w hich makes it absolutely necessary for them to make an extra effort, take an extra step forward that their parents/elders were not required to take in order to educate their younger ones about the great lineage and cultural values that they themselves have inherited. If the present ones want their kids to assimilate whats good in the world and reject whats bad holding onto their own feet even after being hammered by the hostile forces of this globalized world, the young ones need to armed properly for that.
Sadly, THIS HAS NOT HAPPENED.
The second institution to fail is the institution of governance in our country. When one takes into account the economic forces into play, the institution of governance is the one that has the responsibility and more significantly and pragmatically speaking the power and resources required to protect the cultural, social and scientific assets from any attempt aimed at undermining them.
Rice & Yoga patent issue. The responsibility of the govt. is paramount in ensuring that our cultural assets are not undermined at any cost. There's an interesting pt. about yoga though I want to mention here, about how successful have been the efforts of person called Swami Ramdev who has been working tirelessly to educate the people of India about the merits of adopting an ayurvedic lifestyle following strict exercise and diet regimen. Many surveys have proved that the sale of soft/cola drinks have been hit the hardest by the appeals he has made to people against these unhealthy drinks. This demonstrates that if the zeal to educate masses intersects with the ability to substantiate the benefits of techniques that we have inherited which are thought to be otherwise backward and dehati(pendu in my mother tongue), the two can have the potential to pull people towards them.
kulhad Vs Plastic Glasses/Disposables . What we cannot and should not forget is that for any economic saleable entity to be successful, it has to be backed by a sound business model be it kulad or the plastic glass. I don't expect kulhad to replace plastic cups as of now. The plastic cup is cheaper, easily available and easy to carry. It is necessary to keep in mind that the plastic cup has acquired the attributes that give it the economic edge as a result of the cutting - edge research in western universities over the last decades backed by funding worth thousands of dollars. Nonetheless I have no doubt that the kulhad can be made a competitive economic product that can very well out compete the plastic cups. If our govt. could sponsor research programs to improve our centuries old earthenware and devise a sound economic model for them and also influence the industry to fund the same, I am supremely confident that the kulhads can challenge the plastic wares very well.
Nimbu Pani & Samosa Vs Coke & Pizza. I would argue that the day nimbu pani is packaged attractively, advertised properly and sold hygienically in the premier eating places it can beat coke 10:1. Same is the case with samosa and pav bhaji. Infact the day McDonald, KFC e.t.c. realize that ethnic dishes / drinks can earn them more money than their flagship offers , they would not show any hesitation to improvise them , get them patented and brand them as their own.
Reliance Fresh Vs local Dukandar / Sabjiwala. I think the Indian customer esp. the one from middle class does act wisely most of the time and it is this kind of customer that these super stores have to woo to keep their business running or flourishing. I doubt how many of such customers enter Reliance fresh / Food bazaar to enjoy the Air Con environment and ape their NRI cousins to use carts rather than jholas. If a super store offers goods/consumables which weigh less on the price & quality meter than the one sold by the local businessman, its is definitely going to drive itself out of business. So the winner among the super store and the local smaller business establishment would be one who scores higher on the price and quality meter.
I would conclude by saying that our ability to withstand these western influences will be function of the degree of pro activeness the society shows in educating and passing on the cultural heritage onto its younger generation, the commitment on part of the govt. to safeguard and promote the cultural assets of our country & our ability and ingenuity in creating sound and competitive business models to support our desi products.
Thanks for having the patience to read till here.
