There was a time when Indian culture was highly respected and had its prominence but what about now why we are ashamed of our culture? Why are we ashamed of our own values? It's how we Indians have become or we are aping the western culture just because it is a modern way of living.
From many years we will realize what a huge blunder we as a nation have done as we even can’t preserve our own culture. What’s the point of showing the world that we are Indians and embedded with Indian values!! It’s just an exaggeration not an inclination towards our culture.
The Influence of British culture
Since the British conquered our country and established colonial rule it has been observed that Indians do have a strong impact on British culture from the 19th century. Whether their clothing, their food, and standard of living.
For example, Indians have a habit of eating their food with their hands until the British introduced their cutlery in the culture and mocked how Indians eat. This was the starting point where we disliked our culture and our habits.
They destroyed our education system and introduced their way of teaching which still prevails in our country which is more than worse. Talking about fashion and clothing, how the British introduced skirts and gowns which we Indians found very amusing and adopted very quickly.
The younger generation hardly wears Indian attire or occasionally. Two hundred years of British rule has made Indians copy and ape the western culture.
They forced us to adopt the English language as they felt that Hindi or any Indian language is less as compared to English and mocked us for the same. We have inherited so much that half of the time we speak English in our homes.
Sharing my story, once teachers in my school contested a competition where students were asked to speak English at their homes and they will provide them a batch which I found very weird as they were indirectly telling students that English is better than any language. We have started becoming westernized and leaving our Indian style.
The Impacts of Cinema
Cinema is an important medium of communication. People look through the cinema. It’s not the people of the country but all over the world. People adapt what the cinema displays. Take an example of Hum Aapke Hain Kaun where they changed the whole concept of Indian weddings.
Every function they displayed was like an occasion. It changed the perspective of weddings which led to an increase in big fat Indian weddings.
Nowadays people spend a lot of money on weddings, sometimes it is over budget. Indian cinema plays a dominant role in the minds of people. In recent years Indian cinema has largely adopted western culture.
We can observe how they behave, how they dress, and their way of speaking. They mostly prefer to speak in English and work in Hindi cinema which is ironic. Indian cinema has completely adopted the western way due to which they are neglecting their Indian culture and values.
Actors are becoming more and more western by copying them. It does impact people as they do copy these actors and become more like them. People try to copy western outfits and become more like them.
If we go to places like Mumbai, which is a cosmopolitan city, people there mostly communicate in English; they don’t prefer to speak in Hindi or Marathi. Cinema reflects the people which is one of the causes of decline in our culture.
Positive Side
Talking about the positive side, some people still follow the Indian traditions and values if we take examples of non-resident Indians even if they stay in a foreign land they still like to follow the Indian culture.
In fact, there are Indian communities that organize Indian festivities to keep their culture alive. There are families in India who still don’t forget their roots and follow Indian culture. They still prefer to live in joint families and make their children learn to sustain it.
Conclusion
We live in a world where people speak different languages and have their own culture but they don’t forget their own roots so why should we? If a person from Turkey, Spain, France can embrace their own culture and are very proud of it, why should we as Indians be ashamed of our culture?!! Let’s take an initiative as an individual to sustain our culture as it provides us with our individuality.
Written by Ananya Birla
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