Off late there have been observations from a lot of agencies stating dramatic shifts in our cultural patterns which seemed impossible even 5 yrs ago. But what kind of shifts are they really talking about, are these mere cosmetic drifts in the face of a modern era or emerging fault lines in our culture.
To be fair we have had one of the richest, ancient and deep rooted cultures that has ever existed on the planet. A civilization which was far ahead of its time in comparision with modern Europe or the Americas and lead the world's progress in the fields of arts, science, mathematics for more than a millenia. It also progressively spawned a tightly knit culture and tradition which still stands tall despite several attempts by foreign invasions and conquests. But as every empire or corporation have their peak and then decline, the Indian civilization also declined steadily over the medival period. Interestingly the practices of the Hindu society had hardly changed course despite the decline ( barring the intelligent retort to Buddhism) and the oppression(invasions) it witnessed until great men like Rajaram Mohan Roy arrived on the scene. Though some changes occured the system at large continued to function the way it had. The reason why I put across this point is the system that we see today is hardly a reflection of the true(rather original) form of Hinduism that existed during its hey days. Did the elders of the religion reactively knit the religion together with inefficiencies and practices in order to give it an identity in the face of the muslim conquerors and later western invaders. Frankly the Indian society is a rare polity which has remained truly integral while other societies and civilizations have been washed away with guns, germs and steel (Inca, Mayan,Egyptian just to name a few).
As few people today realise culture and tradition is never static and always undergoes metamorphosis with time. The sour evidences can be seen on our prime time news coverages and blogs giving a strong cry for sticking to the past in the name of religion and purity. At the same time I dont mean to say every single bit must change (probably it must) but we need to move on with time and needs of today's fast paced world. I find it hard to digest the logic of saving our culture by sticking to archaic practices when the whole premise of a particular practice no longer holds good. Take the recent case of women getting manhandled in a pub in mangalore , lets not get into the argument of whether what the women did were right or not. The growing exposure to western culture has made us assimilate it bit by bit without even being aware of it which is good in a particular way. It needs no Keynes to tell what growth rate India had acheived during the Pre-Berlin wall era and at what rate its growing today after de-regulation, privatisation and globalization. Now its a very hard analogy and comparision to say will de-regulation of a society like ours will result in progressiveness, but logically a culture and society which accepts and welcomes new ideas and accomodates the same will move forward. The key point is whether society sees that engaging itself in meaningful debates can have an impact on its people and through out our history we have had many a men doing that. Using a shroud around its face in the name of culture puts the brakes on progressiveness more than anything else.
I believe society also behaves in perfect equilibrium where the players of the game should be allowed the freedom to choose the role they want to pick, after a lot of movement the players themselves would find their appropriate places only to be unsettled, unnerved by a new flattener.
