ARE PRESENT DAY INDIANS REALLY CULTURED?

We Indians pride ourselves about our great culture which goes back to thousands of years. Our culture might have been great earlier but what are we doing today?

Culture is nothing but a collection of various habits that have accrued out of interpersonal relationships in a particular society over a period of time.

In a civilized society it is imperative that each citizen respects the rights of the others as well as recognize his obligations to the society. The present day average Indian adheres to neither of these tenets.

Respect for the rights of others is a very important factor that organizes the society into an effective and harmonious group. When an individual respects the rights of others, the others would respect his rights also, making any happening smooth and purposeful.

Our present day society recognizes only one right and that is the right of the self over everything else. When a queue is formed for some purpose (It may be for anything) one finds some smart alecks trying to surreptitiously circumvent the queue out of turn so that their work gets done. That such a deed is improper when so many other people are waiting for their turn does not even enter their brain. All they know is their work had to be got done and they are prepared to violate everything for their benefit. In fact this is the crux, the root cause of all corruption in our society. These very people would say that our society is deteriorating in ethics and something has to be done. They do not realize (or perhaps do not want to) that they are the perpetrators of this decline and conveniently blame the politicians (these come from their ranks only) for all the society’s ills.

Amazingly enough, this tendency of violating the queue is appreciated by many people in the society. Those guys who perform their task by any means are called go getters by the society and are appreciated. That is why brokers (touts) abound in our country and one finds the Neera Radia’s in great demand. Poor Gandhi who believed that means are more important than the ends would be turning in his grave looking at the present day India.

I had never stepped out of India but people who have gone abroad specially the US and Europe (not the erstwhile communist nations but all the democracies) tell me that in those countries each citizen is fully aware of the rights of the self as well as that of the others and the law functions effectively. Therefore, living there for people is much simpler and one need not be a manipulator for achieving success.

I specially remember one instance a gentleman known to me narrated. He visited his son in the US and that was his first visit there. While coming back from the US he took a flight that comes via Frankfurt. When he boarded in the US there were a good number of Europeans on the flight who would drop down in Europe. In the US when the Europeans were there the Indians were very orderly. As is the practice there the front seats were given to the old people and ladies and everything went well. But all the Europeans disembarked in Frankfurt and he found that Indians that were left were scrambling for better seats and they were not at all bothered about either the aged or anybody else. And all those people were educated. When our people behave in this manner can we call our culture great? If that incident has really happened as he narrated nothing can be more shameful.

Corruption is not accepting a bribe alone. When a person employs someone out of turn because he belonged to a particular region, religion or caste he is contributing to corruption and is therefore abetting the decline of the Indian culture. If this yardstick is applied, then how many Indians can claim to be clean? And how can we claim to have a great culture when funds meant for the poor are eaten by middlemen knowing that many people in India lack food and even drinking water and that they do not have a road to reach their village? I think ethical standards in the present day India have declined and there is no use blaming any particular section, it is our culture that is in decline and I do not at all feel proud about our present day culture.

Maybe we had a great culture hundreds of years ago but the present is much more important than History and the present day Indian culture does not appear good to me.