A youth just out of his teens, on the streets, passed by me. His hair, coloured into shades of pale to deep brown in varying parts. His face with curvatures of hair carvings. His neck boasted of a strap metal chain. His outfit had nothing to do with the climate nor the weather that day, an over-coat on a bright sunny day, more to flaunt the tee inside. Well, that was not all, he did public service too, brooming-up the path he trotted, with his overflowing jean trousers. The reply he had to give me for this style of his presentation was that he was being 'modern'.
When I was in my lower classes learning what each word had to mean, I understood the word 'modern' meant keeping-up in pace with time and its changes. I, for once, thought school education had failed me. Then realized, it wasn't education that had failed me but it is the roots of the society which has.
Unfortunately to the society's eye, not only keeping in pace with time was being modern; but also to keep in pace with the trends of the markets; mostly western, who find a huge target in us to sell their products. To sell the products that they make for their culture, they must first sell their culture to us. Only that would make us attracted to their products. Their culture comes to us disguised as Modernization.
Our culture which was civilized even when westerners were barbarians, is now pushed to psychological limits where it is made to feel it is inferior to some other counterparts. We, ultimately lose our culture and thus our identity. We turn puppets in the hands of the globalizers with every single step of sucking our culture and injecting theirs. We, eventually, unknowingly become a servant to their desires.
The bitter fact now is, it is hard to find a place in our society and culture where there isn't an external influence. From our native language to our daily way of life, we are adulterated. English, for a simple instance, forms a part of even the deep-rural parts of our country which is supposedly lacking in the basic communication channels. I wonder if one knows the translation to 'pen' in their respective languages. If any tamil folks out there think 'penna' is the tamil equivalent, then I am afraid, you are the ones who are most affected, rather 'deeply-penetrated' in the marketing terms of globalization.
If the world was ruled by the black people rather than the whites, Black would have been the colour you would like your child to be born in. The reason being, we perceive what is good by what we are preached is good.
'Kayalvizhi', a name carrying its culture's imprints, isn't a name worth to be coined for a child from a tamil household anymore, as that would mean the child would be looked down by the western culture which is the domineering influence right now. This is evidence enough to show that we have put to shame our culture which deserves Kingly honour. If this grows to be the common case, we would have conceded that we will turn the way our bosses like us to see, digging our pride in a deep dark-pit.
My worry is, we do all this in the name of making us modern. My pain is, our people don't take pride in our culture. The little fact is that your own culture can contribute to creating modernity. My finding is, the more ethnicity you bring in to your way of life, the more modern you get. The more you trace the grassroots of your culture the more confident you feel about yourself and your way of life. That yields modernity in thoughts and that only makes you a modern person. The only thing different about the origin of each culture is the geography of its civilization. Thus, nothing better than your own culture can teach you the best way to lead a life in that particular geography. Thereby, I see absolutely no reason for any superiority issues with culture, language, religion and the tensions surrounding it.
So let us get 'being modern' right. If you think, if you westernize in attire, go on malls and hit on burgers, you would be called a 'modern' person; then you are one of the most narrow-minded people going around. It is time you realize, Westernization and Modernization are two different things, of which you form the former's part. If you think you need to change with time, stop writing inland letters and get onto typing mails; then you are sensible in understanding what is modernity. One is ONLY MODERN if his thoughts are modern. For thoughts to be modern, the self-realization that culture doesn't come in the way of being modern, must be idealized. After all, modernity is a mental entity, not a physical one.
So, are you modern? Think and change the way you live.
To my modern readers,
Cheers and regards-nagappstheblogger.
When I was in my lower classes learning what each word had to mean, I understood the word 'modern' meant keeping-up in pace with time and its changes. I, for once, thought school education had failed me. Then realized, it wasn't education that had failed me but it is the roots of the society which has.
Unfortunately to the society's eye, not only keeping in pace with time was being modern; but also to keep in pace with the trends of the markets; mostly western, who find a huge target in us to sell their products. To sell the products that they make for their culture, they must first sell their culture to us. Only that would make us attracted to their products. Their culture comes to us disguised as Modernization.
Our culture which was civilized even when westerners were barbarians, is now pushed to psychological limits where it is made to feel it is inferior to some other counterparts. We, ultimately lose our culture and thus our identity. We turn puppets in the hands of the globalizers with every single step of sucking our culture and injecting theirs. We, eventually, unknowingly become a servant to their desires.
The bitter fact now is, it is hard to find a place in our society and culture where there isn't an external influence. From our native language to our daily way of life, we are adulterated. English, for a simple instance, forms a part of even the deep-rural parts of our country which is supposedly lacking in the basic communication channels. I wonder if one knows the translation to 'pen' in their respective languages. If any tamil folks out there think 'penna' is the tamil equivalent, then I am afraid, you are the ones who are most affected, rather 'deeply-penetrated' in the marketing terms of globalization.
If the world was ruled by the black people rather than the whites, Black would have been the colour you would like your child to be born in. The reason being, we perceive what is good by what we are preached is good.
'Kayalvizhi', a name carrying its culture's imprints, isn't a name worth to be coined for a child from a tamil household anymore, as that would mean the child would be looked down by the western culture which is the domineering influence right now. This is evidence enough to show that we have put to shame our culture which deserves Kingly honour. If this grows to be the common case, we would have conceded that we will turn the way our bosses like us to see, digging our pride in a deep dark-pit.
My worry is, we do all this in the name of making us modern. My pain is, our people don't take pride in our culture. The little fact is that your own culture can contribute to creating modernity. My finding is, the more ethnicity you bring in to your way of life, the more modern you get. The more you trace the grassroots of your culture the more confident you feel about yourself and your way of life. That yields modernity in thoughts and that only makes you a modern person. The only thing different about the origin of each culture is the geography of its civilization. Thus, nothing better than your own culture can teach you the best way to lead a life in that particular geography. Thereby, I see absolutely no reason for any superiority issues with culture, language, religion and the tensions surrounding it.
So let us get 'being modern' right. If you think, if you westernize in attire, go on malls and hit on burgers, you would be called a 'modern' person; then you are one of the most narrow-minded people going around. It is time you realize, Westernization and Modernization are two different things, of which you form the former's part. If you think you need to change with time, stop writing inland letters and get onto typing mails; then you are sensible in understanding what is modernity. One is ONLY MODERN if his thoughts are modern. For thoughts to be modern, the self-realization that culture doesn't come in the way of being modern, must be idealized. After all, modernity is a mental entity, not a physical one.
So, are you modern? Think and change the way you live.
To my modern readers,
Cheers and regards-nagappstheblogger.
