Westernisation??? I cant help disagreeing!
Manju’s post on ragging made me write this here………and Dev D movie….well, one thing I hated about that movie is drinking alchohol…..and like butterfly effect, though movie is made well…to me it was half cooked, though I loved Chandu’s role in the movie…….Why the hell should one drink alchohol out of limits when the girl dumps him or vice versa???It get to my nerves….this is def not westernisation, its our half knowledge interpretation!
Its not fun anymore….sometimes i see all the articles which keep saying abt y shud we be having opposition for westernisation…well….i cant agree completely….drinking…drugs….where are we getting all this from? I dont say its all western and all….but its def not our way of living…..they faced everything , broke things up and now are trying hard to get rid of …n we like a fox trying to imitate a tiger , are following what we see in movies, or what we think of westernism…..we r not even getting westernised!
Let me ask you something, a westerner who watches bollywood movies when sees you says, u guys have lot of fun i know i have seen the films….how many of you would break into laughter and say “Boss , they are movies, reel life not real life!” Then it should be the same case with Hollywood right?
Let me put this way, Well…they give independence at 14-16 yrs to their children and so are left to make their own living…..how do they do that? they go to universities? not many…..govt gives them certain grants to study…so few study and few fall into wrong ways….but its the philosophy of “Jo Karega wo Bharega” ….whoever fall into bad habits, would be struggling to maintain themselves……it doesnt seem odd at all coz both the kid and the parents know the fact that you earn your own bread and better!
So for a person , entering 20, he/she already has experience to deal with things, pay their own bills and managing themselves if not taking care! Everyone is responsible for their own self! Now let us come to our country! Here , no we dont do first part but kids try to be independent without being responsible……is it not that simple???
I dont mean to criticize my country and its people, ofcourse I dont want to….I love my country, its varied culture….but the thing I am talking about now is not something against patriotism, but its basic logic, applies to anyone and anything!!
So what we do is out of half knowledge……Parents bring their kids up in ultimate protection till 20 and suddenly, they are set free and children want to be more independent…..if daughter comes home late in night, and mom says it doesnt seem right beta, its seen as jaling the girl in 4 walls….Think again?? [exceptions exist, i am not talking abt them now]
If son comes drunk to home, the next day stays ill because of hangover and overdrinking…..father says its too much beta, its not good for health…..ohh it hurts his ego…son walks away in anguish and anger! or even sometimes talk back saying “Its not wrong when you do, but its wrong when I do” …Think again??
All I am trying to say is for god’s sake all this cannot be masked and taped as westernisation! Every culture and lifestyle have their own advantages and disadvantages! There is no comparision and there is nothing good and bad about it…..when you enjoy the pros, we should also be ready to face the cons! Trying to imitate something blindly and attributing the bad results to the source DOES NOT work! At the end of the day, who is at loss?
Smile.....an everlasting smile..... 
People say “westernization” because it is so easy to blame someone else. I teach undergrads here in my University. A lot of my students, even the young ones work part time, sometimes hold two or three not very high paying jobs to put them through univ- which by the way is pretty expensive. And they work hard in class too. I never saw this kind of working and studying when I was in under grad in India. I hope this kind of westernization certainly does catch on.
The first line says it all….its a blame thing thats around….and def, we cant eliminate that!
I agree with u here, that we have spoon feeding in a lot of stuff education wise and unless one gets exposed to things outside, i am afraid we dont tend to make much use of what knowledge we have…..
Yes Sahaja you are right, terming the bad things they do as ‘westernised culture’ is not fair.
🙂 very rightly said! 100% true. people here are like sponges are very keen in absorbing but unfortunately most of the negativities..
@ Ramya – Thank you 🙂 Its not fair!
@ Verby – true….and ya i was not talking abt only India, but in general this holds true…..y do we want to try things half the extent only?
Can’t agree with you more. I see a competitive imitation of all the bad things from the west, but why don’t we imitate the right things? Why haven’t we invented an Indian Open source Operating system? Why haven’t we come up with our own technology for the bucket excavation in coal mines?
Destination Infinity
Thanks DI , this makes me say that about imitating…..well, thats the way we learn…by watching others! so we cant eliminate that but def we need to show some sense in this process!
Shahaja- Good point about Westerners thinking that India is as depicted in Bollywood movies.
Same is true for us, I suppose, regarding Hollywood movies and our view of Western cultures.
Very true that for the most part Indians absorb western customs which are detrimental for us. And as you have pointed out, we also tend to see the benefits of western style of living- like greater personal freedon- but not the responsibilities.
My view is that every country evolves its own culture/ way of life, which is best for its development. If we adopt customs from other cultures we should adapt them so that they do not clash with our way of living. Blind imitation of other cultures benefit no one.
Thats true Manju…every country developed its own culture depending on whats best for that!!
I learnt a lot after I started travelling….i am drafting a post on this n wud post soon….
most of my posts are my views and this blogging is a wonderful platform to know about other views~
hmmm… a full fledged debate can be started on this and at the end we would not all agree upon one thing. But i do agree that all the wrongs going on in India can’t be termed as Western and not all good things are our culture.
Good point there, sahaja!! 🙂 And i am glad ki tera internet theek ho gaya!! 🙂
thanks Di….ya internet aagaya and was missing so much!
debate ya could be started….at the same time, just coz I am Indian i mentioned my country here but i think this applies generally to any other country!
I think all cultures constantly keep evolving taking things from one another…
I actually think culture is a hugely over rated term and causes useless debates and heartburns… eventually it even spirals down to violence…
some culture this !
Culture and violence! well its basically ignorance and stubborness to accept facts that cause violence!
well chitti.. who told u that u drink when u get frustrated.. its not so.. but if u really want to know why.. i suggest you try drinoing once.. wat say 😛
well i shud say u got me wrong boss!
this post mentioned drinking but is not based on that alone…..and its more abt Manju’s post when i read that I felt this!
well im more interested in drinking.. 😛
well chitti.. who told u that u drink when u get frustrated.. its not so.. but if u really want to know why.. i suggest you try drinking once.. wat say 😛
“I see a competitive imitation of all the bad things from the west, but why don’t we imitate the right things? ” says DI – well, it is just much easier to immitate bad things, that is it!! For good things one needs creativity, brains and heart. For bad things – really nothing special. It just works faster.
@Axinia: I think at a certain level we do want to become technically advanced like the west. The urge to learn is always there. That is the main reason people from here go to study in the western colleges. But after some time people seem to think that making money and more of it is their only aim in life! They tend to think that obtaining more money is the only result of all the research that happens in this world! The media helPs fuel this attitude. I really don’t know if that is a direct result of incompetance, but what irks me more is this attitude prevents us from being competent enough! It is great if their wards get more marks, but it does not matter if they mugged up a substandard educational content! It is great if their wards are in high paying jobs but does not matter if they don’t acquire any skills!
Destination Infinity
It is easier to choose the wrong things than the right ones… Is it westernisation? Drinking after being dumped? Well, as far I remember – people just probably say have you become Devdas or what drinking this way?! Drugs have also been here in India for ages too.
Every vice has been here. Some of them are more rampant in the west. They are trying to straighten their act. Giving importance to the family unit etc., while we Indians are going the wrong way again. Teen pregnancies, pre-marital sex, divorces, pubbing, loose morals – society just going to the dogs.
We don’t know to strike a balance. Take the good things from everywhere and learn having become exposed to global culture through whatever medium (cinema being the major one)
Having been there, I realised that not all parents let their children be once they are teenagers. They love being close to their parents. Divorce is not a norm there and the couples do work on everything. Exceptions to every case are always there. Not talking about them here. They do have different set of norms – but that is their culture.
I think I better stop here. My comment is getting way too long! 🙂 Sorry!!
Thanks Apar…when i read some posts even i tend to post long comments and this post emerged from one such occasion!
well…every vice has been there …i absolutely agree with that! and this thing which i mentioned i felt it could be applied anywhere…its just that I am Indian and now in UK that I could connect both!
I dont say western culture is good…its just that for the environment, place and lcoation we live, we developed our way of living and they developed theirs …..
Yes, Sahaja. While you cannot be blaming western culture for every negative trend, one needs to take into account that many among us simply copy others – only that part which is pleasurable but harmful to oneself, generally. That does not mean that there arent people who try to copy other people’s good, positive qualities or strengths. Unfortunately, these cases are few. Some of the deterioration within us is of our own making and cannot be blamed on western society, I do agree.
It is always easy to blame someone else for your mistakes so anything bad is westernized.:)
There is actually a reason behind it and that is people tend to pick the bad aspects of other culture like the Mall culture from West. Something similar to how westerners perceive India as filth. The good points goes unnoticed.
As all are saying, The “west” is just to blame!! As if Indians didn’t know what “somrasa” was before “western culture” came to India.
As far as I know drinking is very much a part and parcel of Indian culture. In fact liquor originated in all countries of the world independently, it is not like a mirchi or a vegetable or a seed which was carried!When a person sees a jean clad person drinking, its a western influence but if a dhoti clad person does it, then what is it? Its also drinking isn’t it! All this talk of western culture bringing drinking to India is not based on facts at all. what these hypocritical moral guardians hate is that westerners drink openly, while in India it is more of a subversive, secretive activity.
yes Nita…and thats what irritates me a lot….why do we hide things!!
if we are doing it, i hate if we hide…and if we are hiding it, we are doing something wrong atleast perceived to be wrong or we are ashamed to accept!! thats my take….
i dont feel bad if i see people drinking here coz, most of them are not addicted…as long as you dont overdo anything, it doesnt harm you!
They know what they are drinking, whats the alchohol content, how many pints of beer they could handle…how many glasses of wine they need to drink not to be drunk….[exceptions do exist too]….
i dont know if its same in india…and it was just my reaction of seeing Dev D and not the basis of this post….
I didnt seen the film Dev D but somehow got the gist of your post. I am always against drinking alcohol, but saying that many in our country were drunk now. As Nita has mentioned it has been with us for centuries in varied forms. Now people were interested in importing the same and having it. The 2 examples you have mentioned has made me think but the point is, we have changed a lot over 20 years and we lost our relationship ties. We are becoming a mere shadow of the past. A nice post Sahaja 🙂
hey.. liked this post a lot. very sensible. i ve written on the attrocities against women and moral policing. and i think yours is a very complementing idea. Will link this post if you dont mind
U r right Sahaja, there are many shortfalls here than we care or dare to admit. Its silly to blame the western culture entirely. Though there are somethings we have caught on from them in trying to be liberal. But again there were far more things that happened here in India too. Its not exactly rose tainted like many like to beleive.
Good post!