Is Indian Culture a Sham ?

Now a days we have so many quotes and so many videos and so many articles coming up shaming the conservative culture of India. Most millennial, or many people in age category of 25- 40 have joined this bandwagon too. And the mode of protest or shamming is clicking the like buttons or forwarding some similar content among like minded people. Which is good in a way. At least we Indians have started voicing our opinions and being clear on what our likes and dislikes are. But where most of us fail is getting influenced too quickly and making a choice too soon and carving an opinion without pondering before calling religion, traditions, Indian society a sham .

Yes I don’t refuse in many ways we are conservative. For e.g. most parents in metropolitan cities give absolute freedom to boys, but if a boy chooses to marry a girl who loves and dresses up in Gothic style, same parents would raise eyebrows even if the girl is highly educated, same caste, a virgin and fits all other set benchmarks of being an eligible bride. The guy ultimately will need to make a decision which will be badly effecting his future life. The story for being a girl in Indian society is completely different. Everyone wants their daughter to be serene like a goddess and skillful like a super woman, she shouldn’t have any flaws whatsoever and should behold virtues of sacrificing, compromising, hardworking, motherly and devoted to family always, self-giving; vices like love, fun, her own happiness, sexual needs , she should curb at a very early age . Marriage is just one aspect of our conservative Indian culture which I have highlighted. There are many other blocks like choosing a profession, choice of a certain lifestyle like live in relation or staying single, academic performance, achievements in life, financial status etc etc many ways that shun the growth of intelligence.

But is it all bad we have?. Not really isn’t it. We all know and will agree there are so many beautiful things in our culture. Like bonding between teenage child and parent, which is very rare to see elsewhere. The respect we have and show towards our grandparent or any elderly stranger is uncommon in other parts of the world. Basically somewhere we most Indians are spiritually connected to humanity and have more empathy within us for others. And this qualities have been instilled within us from the same family culture and upbringing which we so easily sham.

Yes we need to change. We need to strike a balance somewhere. Lack of freedom and sudden exposure to modern thinking will lead to making wrong choices and kill the warmth of family love within them. Our society needs to change fast enough. We Indian are more emotional I believe, and that is our strength. We just need to channelize our emotions in right direction by stop being judgment of any person around us, by respecting the choices people make, by avoiding enforcing others to behave as per our principles. It isn’t easy but it’s not impossible either. Just try to understand your loved one more, don’t take them for granted!!