On culture preservation

[Warning: Long post.]

All cultures at all times have been characterized by certain levels of fluidity. Cultures get formed, evolve, meet other cultures in constructive and destructive ways; some of them erode and die. But all these are gradual processes. It's not typically the case that there is a culture flourishing at some point, and dies a sudden death some years later.

If newer generations of Indians are increasingly growing culturally unaware [1], distant or westernized, or are perceived as such, there are more reasons to that than meet the eye. Let us list some:

• Increasingly exclusive definitions of culture
• Intolerance, Coercion and/or self-righteousness of sections of society, in various forms
• The general indifference of society as a whole in building/preserving an inclusive cultural context for its own and the future generations
• A general difficult in accessing the various elements of culture for people
• A tendency to ignore new forms and ways in which culture gets fostered
  

More often than not, when there is big talk and action about preserving culture, it has got to do with either religion or customs (dress habits, lifestyle etc.). Sometimes, language too. These are the elements of culture that people generally want to preserve. There is, for example, not much hue and cry that youth does not care much for books (regional language or IWE or anything); or for classical music [2], despite that being such a rich and widely revered form; folk arts, anyone? Non. At least, not to the extent of pulling together morchas or beating up people. Attachment to religion too is about the routine physical customs and rituals. The general unawareness about mythology, metaphysics, vedanta, again, respected all over the world, is not something that seems to concern many. They are part of our culture? Aren't they? Further, we had a fairly good tradition of mathematics. How about that now? Why is it that science in general is not part of any debate on culture? We do need a scientific culture. A culture of innovation and discovery. Don't we?

By the prevalent narrow definitions, many people like me are probably culturally unaware because we don't care much about religions and customs, and have a somewhat, well, unacceptable lifestyle. This despite the fact that we know quite a bit about things like Indian literature, music, and contribute in our limited ways to science and technology. But in the presence of such exclusive, squeezed up definitions, is it any wonder that a lot of people grow averse to "culture"?

The family and the society is generally intolerant to deviations from perceived normality. It is very hard to have meaningful debates. (Pseudo) Stereotypes are created quickly and dealt with severely. Sections of societies are coercive and violent, and there is no chance of rational debate with them. On the other hand, there are sections of the society, consisting of learned people, that have embraced an inclusive culture, are open to civil debate, yet are too self-righteous for one. They too don't take too long to proclaim depravity on the part of people who happen to have a different view. For example, some writer friends of my family who come down hard upon me, whenever I talk in support of free trade; or when I say that we cannot impose a particular language upon people, however much it pains us to see its usage going down. Again, these are huge deterrents that can easily put off the less passionate.

While the lack of rational debates in the family and the society is a big problem, the general apathy of the family and the society towards elements of (inclusive) culture is equally dangerous. Like I said, it's not that people suddenly stopped being aware of their culture. Family and societal conditioning play a part in the development of a person. Here, I want to take the examples of two of my nephews. (Just to make a point; no judgements intended.) There is this nephew of mine, about 10-12, who's your average kid: doing homework, getting marks, playing video games, watching TV, being stubborn and demanding, and being.. er.. largely listless. Not that the kid is dull, he's quite good at school. I've never seen him invent a game (he'd rather get his parents to buy a toy), never seen him read a book, play an outdoor game, talk about a story in Panchatantra, or do anything creative. What I do see is his parents running behind him to do his homework and score well. (Last year, the kid started a "falling suddenly and fainting" routine to ward off their pressure, much to our dismay!) I've not seen a single book in their house. Never seen the parents taking the kid to any culture related activity like a play (there are a lot of plays targeting kids too), or a concert. His access to culture is limited.

There's this other nephew of mine, 3 or 4, and the kid is a riot! It doesn't take much to get him involved. You start a story and he develops it himself just be observing the things around him. He can make a toy of anything that he gets in the fashion of Kung Fu masters. He's constantly prodded by his parents and grandparents. With enthusiasm and patience, new stories are told, new things are shown. Among the kids in my close circles, this one stands out. If I have to bet my money on which one will potentially grow to be culturally aware (in the broadest sense), I'd chose this kid.

To be sure, I am not theorizing anything. I am not implying definite causalities. There are numerous factors that determine a person's development including the traits one is born with. I am only suggesting that conditioning helps. I am also unhappy with the trends in general. We complain that our kids watch TV and play video games. But we don't care enough to include parks, open spaces, playgrounds and trees in our urban plans, along with malls. (And then shout that malls spoil our culture!) We don't care to make the outdoors safe to children. Is it odd that the newer localities in Bangalore are less green and er.. less cultural, in a manner of speaking? No. Because we cannot afford to save space for parks, public libraries or open-air auditoriums. The opportunity cost of investing in culture is just too high!

Due to all these reasons and more, there's a difficulty in accessing -- in a general sense -- elements of our culture. It's far easier to access "western culture" in many ways. Some of my friends who have good taste in cinema, and know a lot about world cinema, don't know much about good Indian cinema of old. Part of the reason for this is that it is easier to access the former, especially in this age where a major source of information for many is the Internet. The same applies to books, encyclopedic articles and so on.

While the virtues of visiting a pub are easy to access and verify, those of going to a concert might not be. The news has not reached me, or it is too far from where I live, and anyway no one will come with me if I go there. Again, this is just another way of looking at things. There are a lot of people who go out of their way to practice one, other or both lifestyles.

Finally, culture finds new ways and forms. Things are not as bleak as they appears. The Internet, for example, is facilitating immense new possibilities. Getting local information is becoming increasingly easier. Although there is nothing substantial to base this on, I think there is a revival of interest in Indian classical music because of the sheer ease of access on the Internet. Similarly, many Kannada language blogs (surely, other language blogs too) get added every day. Indeed there is a great amount of quality writing on the Internet by ordinary folks. Although we are still not good at public discussions, we seem to be doing that well on the Internet. A lot more people are more actively involved in expressing themselves, which is also a form of cultural revival. Social activism -- not only the undergarment type, but also, say, the use bicycles propaganda type. But this aspect is often ignored in the big talks of saving culture.
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[1] This post is based on the premise that newer generations of Indians are culturally unaware etc..
[2] Again, whether one should or should not care for these elements of culture is not my concern. Only that if we are talking about culture, I'd like it to be about an all inclusive culture.