With the times being accused of modernization, there is a lot of talk about not forgetting our roots and staying true to our culture. A culture that has been dictating to us for centuries about our diets, our relationships, our relationships and our rights. Even today, my grandfather asks me about the caste and the religion of a person every time I mention the name of a friend. There are also a number of friends and acquaintances who have not been able to marry their boyfriends/girlfriends owing to community differences. A number of people who wouldn't dare to eat an egg in front of their families are expert cooks of B.L.Ts and Spaghetti with Meatballs. And another whole sample set who have the best taste in cocktails, beer or wine and food pairings and are the assigned bartenders for every house party I attend, but have to clean their house spotless and devoid of any empty bottles when their families come to visit.
The pressure subjected by 'staying true to our culture' is essentially demanding people to live double lives, instigating violence, and birthing not just distrust but hate.
We might even say that culture has reached a point when it outweighs its pros with its cons.
We live in an age where intellect and common sense is taking a back seat while radical bigotry roams freely on the streets under the pretext of protecting our culture. There have been multiple instances of threat and killings under the same pretext as well.
The prerogative for humans to engage in activities which can be remotely routed back to "culture" often comes at the cost of relationships and decides the extent to which one would be accepted in the society. The other day, I overheard someone say that a man on drugs is more acceptable in the society than a woman who is a cigarette smoker. These cultures don't just vary across religions and countries, but across cities barely a few hundred kilometers away which seems rather ludicrous in the age of multimedia and lo' and behold, the internet.
The "culture" gives rise to sexism, bigotry, casteism, violence, and a whole list of criminal activities otherwise, including but not limited to honor killing.
This said, there's always a whole new argument about governance and the law protecting perpetrators of said crime. In the above statement, we are referring to the same government which makes its laws based on popular vote rather than actually thinking about what's right or wrong.
Honor killing is a crime but marital rape isn't recognized. Vilification of men under the accusation of rape is instant without investigation and paternal leaves are rare. And this doesn't even cover the recent activities of radical killings and the spree of bans which is nothing but an indicative of intolerance; all under the excuse of protecting our culture.
The government since independence has spoken about the upliftment of minorities. There is a clarification required here. Which minorities are being referred to? Caste based? Religion based? Why are we limited to these though? What about the minorities of thought? Being minorities, shouldn't they be uplifted rather than targeted.
And as I said before, we may have very well reached a point where the very idea of culture outweighs its pros with its cons. And when an institution as such becomes harmful rather than useful, it should be done away with.
The pressure subjected by 'staying true to our culture' is essentially demanding people to live double lives, instigating violence, and birthing not just distrust but hate.
We might even say that culture has reached a point when it outweighs its pros with its cons.
We live in an age where intellect and common sense is taking a back seat while radical bigotry roams freely on the streets under the pretext of protecting our culture. There have been multiple instances of threat and killings under the same pretext as well.
The prerogative for humans to engage in activities which can be remotely routed back to "culture" often comes at the cost of relationships and decides the extent to which one would be accepted in the society. The other day, I overheard someone say that a man on drugs is more acceptable in the society than a woman who is a cigarette smoker. These cultures don't just vary across religions and countries, but across cities barely a few hundred kilometers away which seems rather ludicrous in the age of multimedia and lo' and behold, the internet.
The "culture" gives rise to sexism, bigotry, casteism, violence, and a whole list of criminal activities otherwise, including but not limited to honor killing.
This said, there's always a whole new argument about governance and the law protecting perpetrators of said crime. In the above statement, we are referring to the same government which makes its laws based on popular vote rather than actually thinking about what's right or wrong.
Honor killing is a crime but marital rape isn't recognized. Vilification of men under the accusation of rape is instant without investigation and paternal leaves are rare. And this doesn't even cover the recent activities of radical killings and the spree of bans which is nothing but an indicative of intolerance; all under the excuse of protecting our culture.
The government since independence has spoken about the upliftment of minorities. There is a clarification required here. Which minorities are being referred to? Caste based? Religion based? Why are we limited to these though? What about the minorities of thought? Being minorities, shouldn't they be uplifted rather than targeted.
And as I said before, we may have very well reached a point where the very idea of culture outweighs its pros with its cons. And when an institution as such becomes harmful rather than useful, it should be done away with.
