Greatness challenged

/*Maybe some fans of Indian culture wouldn’t like it*/

Since childhood we have been fed upon a steady diet of greatness of Indian culture, values, beliefs, sanskars etc. Some of them are good, but is it all that great, or even somewhere as close as what is taught to us?

For example we worship Goddess Laxmi, the Goddess of wealth and are taught to believe that we must respect wealth. We even celebrate Laxmi Puja which is the biggest festival among Hindus. Yet, people continue to avoid taxes and show utter disregard for the rules and obviously with a belief that “sab chalta hai”

People over here are so obsessed with marriage that if at a certain age and that point of time you don’t want to fall for it, you are frowned upon and looked down upon. And most of the time it is the elders in the family who take such decision, and the approval of the one actually getting married is merely a token or somewhat sort of a puppet. And if at a certain age you are not married or not planning to get married, and then be prepared for a millions of questions and another million words of advice (euphemism for an attempt to brainwash!)

Parents dote upon children and claim to do anything for them. Often they claim no discrimination. Yet in most of the parts of India we see foeticide being rampant an the dwindling sex ratio, which all ultimately boils down to economics and some concepts like budhaape ka sahara and many such discriminatory phrases, often from the ones who claim to be sort of torchbearers of equality. The same child who is doted upon (often!) is often seen as burden to get married off quickly.

People often crib about restrictions imposed in every walk of life by family and/or religion and/or society, and yet they follow them ‘cribbingly’ and expect others to. And the vicious cycle continues. More often than not, they are based upon some obscure fundas which the followers don’t understand and yet blindly followed. If someone tries to challenge any custom or restiction, he is again brainwashed/ enlightened about sanskars/ emotionally blackmailed/ threatened so that he falls in the line.

They often go for pilgrimage or an occasional visit to religious places, usually where Gods have supposed to have accomplished some great deeds and indulge themselves in all forms of sycophancy to get some due/undue favors from Gods. Yet, immediately outside it they can be seen heaving a sigh of relief and words like “karna padta hai”, or abusing someone or doing things which they wouldn’t have inside the temple premises or close to it in front the eyes of the lord. And in the end people love to boast about their devotion.

Despite our so-called-greatness we still practice caste system and are often so finicky about it. Often people are alien to concept like talking with or getting along with a person of other caste. Often we hear cases of lower caste members not being allowed in the temple or such stories. Maybe, things like inter caste marriage might be unthinkable to many.

Few years ago I went to visit a distant relative. One of my good friends lived in that city and once he came to visit me. The first question asked after his name was his caste. Though it may not have been a big deal, but I was still somewhat embarrassed!

These don’t represent all of us, but still in a large part of the country, many of these are still followed. Few maybe out of volition, but usually most are out of compulsion. Yet we claim to be the superior to most of the cultures and hardly wish to challenge the status quo. And ultimately most of us fall in the trap of “typical ness of life”