Search This Blog

Friday, October 5, 2007

The Logic & Politicisation of Myth, Culture & Truth

In this beautiful world of ours, there lived many legendary philosophers and great individuals who thought and contributed for the betterment of the entire human kind – regardless of caste, creed and regions. Their thought process was always influenced by the magnitude of the impact of the effects of their thought and not by the narrow aspects like religions and regions….!!!

India is unquestionably one among the ancient civilizations in this world with rich cultural heritage and strong philosophical base. This makes us proud to be Indians and at the same time warns us about the responsibility on how to carry ourselves in this world. It demands us to practise what we have imbibed from our ancestors and it demands a very high tolerance level towards any discrimination and untoward instances, so that we become an example for this modern world too…..

However, how many of us can claim to be this role model and show the path to our younger generations? Answer is very much known to each of us and it is high time to analyse and assess ourselves about our inherent tolerant levels. There is a dire need of a strong analysis on what we are? And what we should be? and not on what we were ? or what we had been…..?!!

I had travelled across the country and had an opportunity to observe our highly diverse culture, very close and specific…

Be it ‘Durga Puja’ in Guwahati & Kolkatta or ‘Ganesh Chaturthi’ in Mumbai & Hyderabad, or ‘Holi’ in New Delhi & Hyderabad or ‘Diwali’ in Coimbatore & Lucknow or ‘Onam or Vishu’ in Thiruvananthapuram & Palakkad….

All are the same…except some small variations, rest everything is same…..Same excitement, same enthusiasm….!! However, in this frenzy of excitement we are ignoring certain value erosions in the process…!! One of my friends from England (He actually hails from Athens, but settled in England), who happened to be well read and has pretty good knowledge about our heritage and culture (May be more than some of our ASI officials) had opened my eyes on the issue.

Across India, during the festivals ( Be it Holi, Ganesh Nimajjan, Durga Puja etc. ), the processions take place and people dance in frenzy and shouts slogans to praise the lord….Understandable….But how would anybody justify people drinking alcohol in public and the organizers supply alcohol in public during these processions….??? In no epics anybody has referred to this kind of celebration and display, rather these celebrations have always been described as an act of sanctity, (i.e.) sanctity of mind, body and thought…!!! When my friend pointed out the mockery of ‘belief’ even by those so called ‘Moral Police’, I felt ashamed of these irresponsible display by our people. When somebody make a film on existed evil of ancient India, there is a huge hue and cry about it. But, these mockeries of belief are done by the same species of people and it is very difficult to digest such actions by the true citizens of India.

I had also seen exception to these common trends and understand that there is hope, still prevailing in the end of this cave of ignorance & hypocrisy.

The first instance was when a group of ‘Rajasthani’ dancers were displaying the traditional dance during ‘HOLI’ at Hyderabad. They were traveling in a van going from one Rajasthani house hold to another one and performing the dance. It was mind boggling and inspiring…..No forcing of colours, no mixing of chemicals with water & eggs, no shouts and above all no drinks…!!! They came in group, performed the dance with a backlore of folk music, applied ‘Tilak’ on the foreheads of the surrounding people and parted sweets and ‘Prasad’ and very calmly left the place to the next destination.

The second instance is during ‘Ganesh Puja’ in Hyderabad, where they used to keep the idol and conduct ‘Bhajans’ every day and do the ‘visarjan ‘ in the end without making a big noise about the entire phenomenon. This bold display to follow truly traditional and holy festivals should be appreciated and encouraged…These acts are extinct species and if not recognized by the society, it will vanish very fast. Each one of us as a responsible Indian who owes lot to our culture, tradition and the knowledge passed on to us by this great land, should do something to appreciate such initiatives to keep up the dignity and sanctity of our culture and tradition ever alive….!!! Through your comments, you can suggest me the logical steps and plans from your end in this regard.

I would like to conclude with a related aspect about the development….It is neither wise nor scientific nor an act of intellect (Unlike the social perception or myth in India) to just discard the past and do some project, which would have borne in the brains of some individual beaurocrats, who don’t have any social obligation as the species rarely feel they are accountable and they overlook at the ecological and emotional imbalances and impact to the society by and large…!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is nice to see ur articles...plz keep writing...!!!

Anonymous said...

Vinod Kumar to me
show details 7 Oct

Social and moral responsibility is a far cry in our great nation..we have a long way to go..and smetimes we also contribute to the madness. I would like to belive that things are changing and maybe in the next few decades, we would be a greater nation .. that is being wishful..

VK