Is Indian Culture Losing Out with Progress and Development

The other day while shopping at a store in our neighbourhood it made me think about our rich culture. India does have a very rich heritage and culture of its own. But with progress, this is very difficult to define. I mean the word Progress that I’m talking about.

The thought of writing on this topic was all because of what I saw before my eyes. I was there in the store walking down and looking at the different items I wanted for my need. I had the bag in hand and as I handpicked the things I put them in the bag. There were very few people.

One thing that caught my eye on entering was a little girl sitting on the counter with a bottle of water. I thought her to be the child of the person who was doing the billing job but he looked more like a boy just out of his teens. So the child, probably about 3-4 years, couldn’t be his child. Soon a woman’s voice spread around the place saying, “N don’t drink any more water”.

I finished up with my shopping and came to the counter to pay. The child was sitting shaking the bottle of water and the mother making comments from somewhere in the shop. I knew for sure she would drop the bottle on someone. I had to wait as the lady had placed her things for billing and had gone to search for more items she wanted. After waiting at the counter for more than ten minutes my patience started giving way to anger. Just then a lady in shorts came up with a packet and handed it over at the counter where her billing was half done. By this time the cheeky kid with beady eyes and a mischievous smile spilled water on the counter. The man could not tell anything because he was very young or maybe the lady would react...after all such ladies give a bad name to the whole female fraternity.

This lady did not have the least sense in her and went on talking with the child in English while the child was talking in Hindi. Maybe the complex that was in her. After the billing was done she took more time to look into her handbag for her credit card. Later, after paying she took more time to check the list before she could budge. All this time she made the child sit on the counter. Later she left. It hardly took a couple of minutes to get my computerised billing done and after paying I was on my way.

This incident made me think how we are losing our very Own Culture. I think as I was draped in a sari the lady thought me to be an illiterate out-dated woman, no match for her hot pants she wore. In India there are so many languages and if I’m not wrong we all have a mother tongue...a language we speak at home and with the people who belong to our particular states.

What’s the necessity of speaking in English to a child who cannot understand the language except understanding the tone of the mother?

As for showing off credit cards and branded handbags is something many ladies like to.

And for sure I found that she has given birth to this child but her showiness was stumped out by the behaviour of the child.

At home she must be eating the typical Indian food but when these ladies go out to restaurants they prefer Pizzas and Burgers and what not to show off their status.

I am a person who is for advancement and development but not at the cost of losing our culture which is our heritage.

A lady in a sari can be highly educated, doing a good job. If she doesn’t do the Angrezi gitir pitir before the people doesn’t mean she doesn’t know English. She may be soft and docile and may hand over cash at the counter, doesn’t mean she doesn’t have one or many credit cards with her. Her diamond studded ear-rings, finger ring and pendant maybe real diamonds which may seem as false stones to the novice.

Beware, such simplicity can fool anyone but that’s how some are keeping our culture alive before the world. They are proud to be identified with their country.