Throwing in my two-paisa worth. Actually, I think it is very important to try to answer what constitutes Indian culture not just because we are trying to make a point towards the Mutaliks and the Modis of India. They are fringe elements and it is easy to prove them 'wrong' from a number of different angles. As is rightly pointed out, they are wrong just considering the fact that India is a secular democracy (atleast in principle) and the Ram Sene or any other group has no rights to impose their view on others by violent means. But the question of indian culture is an important question from the point of view of what the average Indian thinks. None of us (I say that based on my own CBSE based high school education) are given a formal education on what constitutes Indian culture even though most schools have prayer sessions and informally keep inculcating it in us (without really defining it). No one points out that India as a country didn't exist till 1947. Also no one points out that Hinduism is not one religion but is just a collection of different practices that the British gave a name for for the sake of convenience. Why am I ranting about all this? Thats because from talking to many of my friends and acquaintences about this very topic, I get the picture that there is no consensus opinion as to what constitutes Indian culture but there seems to be a general perception that there IS a consensus view. That is cognitive dissonance. Where does that come from? It is one of the things that I think explains why we don't have a clear national identity. Thats just my opinion.
Best, Raja. On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 1:44 PM, Kiran K Karthikeyan < [email protected]> wrote: > > Shoba (who lurks on silk) has a point. Exactly what is "Indian culture"? > > I am equally puzzled by the subsidiary question of "what is India?" (for > > the moment, we will ignore the otherwise equally important issue of > > "what is culture?" while we address the above two...) > > > > Thoughts? > > I think we've already given in to the Mutaliks if we find ourselves > trying to answer that question. The question is not what defines > Indian culture, but what gives you the right to impose your > interpretation (or your sub-culture) of it on others. > > Every culture goes through a shock when interacting with other > cultures. And why most of us find it so difficult to answer that > question is because the Indian urban centres are now a meeting point > of many cultures (not just the "western" variety), and the urbane have > successfully integrated what they find attractive in the cultures it > encounters. > > I went through something similar, being from Cochin in Kerala and then > transplanted into the US at the age of 11/12. I went to school there > for 4 years and then came back to Cochin. A day before leaving, one of > my teachers from school came to my house and told me that I was an > American kid and he encouraged me to stay on somehow which was of > course impossible. I hated coming back here at the time and I rebelled > for a good year on return. But gradually as I made friends, went to > engineering college, I realized that I was pretty much the same even > before I left for the US. Living there has definitely changed me, but > not made me a different person. Even if I stayed on in India, I would > have grown up to the something similar. > > And so comes my reasoning that Mutalik and his goons are a passing > phenomenon. It happens in every culture. I faced it for the first two > years in the US because of their inherent fear of something unknown > (the only 4 Indians in my school were second generation immigrants) > manifested as anger and hate which is raging in the likes of Mutalik. > I was made fun of, beat up quite a few times, and my only friends were > a Costa Rican (who couldn't speak much english) and a Puerto Rican who > loved video games and wanted to be a Ninja. The only reason we were > friends was because they were also victims of the same treatment. But > it eventually stopped when they understood enough about me and I about > them that a common ground was established. And my last two years I had > the most fun I've had in my life till then. > > Culture, like religion is personal and nobody should have to defend > theirs against anybody else's. And the moment you start, you've > already admitted defeat. > > Kiran > >
