Crossing the Rubicon - Indian culture at crossroads

This is my first blog and is about the clash of cultures that is sweeping over India. Sandwiched between the conservative Indian culture and the mushrooming liberal western culture, India is today at the crossroads of a cultural invasion from the West. Should the Indians cross the rubicon in adopting the western culture? This blog of mine is devoted to discussing about the cultural compatibility(?) of this country with the Western notions of culture and the possibility of the Indians adopting the western culture.

Recently in an Indian city that does not boast of a great night life a la its more westernised siblings, a newspaper had published the photographs of scantily(by Indian standards) dressed women shot inside a club where people were dancing, thus provoking protests from the "social welfare" and "women's welfare" groups. The result was a huge set of restrictions imposed by the particular state Government on the business hours of clubs of that city. Of course there are other cities in India where life is more liberalised but still not at par with the West.

For those Europeans/Americans/urban Indians reading this, the restrictions imposed might seem ridiculous. After all why should there be such brouhaha for such a simple issue like the functioning of nightclubs. The answer for this may not be evident prima facie, but if we can delve into the problem we can find many surprising answers. That is precisely what this blog is all about.

First of all we should understand that the metropolises of today's India are how the cities of London, Paris or Rome would have been in the pre-Renaissance era. My personal view is that a society is only as developed as its women are. Rooted in conservatism, held back by dogmatic beliefs (though I don't want to pull the Church into this), characterised by the suppression of women as a social class etc. these cities of the erstwhile Europe were as bad or even worse than in India today. Though women in the west were slowly breaking off their chains, I strongly feel that the second world war despised by many, was the event that triggered the claim of women to be treated equally (due to the rising demand for women to join their fighting countrymen in the war) and finally established the "egalité" of the sexes in the West. This liberation of women also led to the explosion of sexuality in the West. People started to be more open and liberal towards the issue of sexuality as a whole. As a result the functioning of nightclubs, presence of bordellos (some of them with government support), homosexuality, transvestitism, transsexualism etc seem to be "natural" developments in an "enlightened" society.

Is it that Indians are typically very conservative? If you bother to turn back the pages of history, you will be surprised to note that India was a very liberal state in the ancient ages. This was the land that gave "Kama Sutra" (a treatise on sex) to the world at large. The world's oldest profession was thriving in this part of the world long before it spread out. Pre-marital sex was not considered taboo at one point of time. In fact it was glorified by the Hindu concept of Gandharva vivaha. While the Greeks were toying with the idea of homosexuality be it the mythological Achilles, the great Socrates or Alexander the Great, the common Indian had already gone through all these stages (Rig Veda in 1500 BC talks about homosexuality) and decided to practise monogamy (Rulers and aristocrats were exceptions) and fidelity was considered a virtue. Now you would have got the right picture that Indians had never been the laggards in the domain of sexuality but they have tried out various models long before the West had and found stability in the "heterosexuality-monogamy-fidelity" model. An additional reason for the supposed "cultural backwardness" of India is that they were separated by an iron wall from the Europeans till the Mughal emperors were in power. Even until 1947 when India got freedom, it was pretty much isolated from the rest of the world. As a result of this "closing up of India" an artificial cocoon of conservatory attitudes was spun around Indians. Just when the boat seemed to be in cruise control mode, the waves of liberalisation from the West came to rock the Indian ship.

The Indian now is completely confounded by what he sees. As the economy grows thereby spurring the material wealth of the average middle class Indian, he seems more inclined to tilt towards the West. Add to that the constant exposure to the West - be it the TV channels, Maxim, Playboy, personal/business trips to the West and you get a picture of how much an Indian is exposed to the western way of life. A few cities of India notably New Delhi, Bombay and Bangalore have moved rapidly towards the West thus creating a "cultural chasm" separating them from the rest of India. Here "relationships" have come to replace "marriages". Even in these cities there is that lowest class of proletarians who are still conservative. It is mainly the middle class that is seeing a sudden rise in incomes enough to qualify themselves as nouveau-riche who are in a dilemma as to their attitude towards the western culture.

Having thus got some reasonable background information on the issue let us now look at some of the factors that may favour or scupper the cultural transition of the Indians.

The following are a few factors that can favour the transition:

1. The major factor that will act in favour of the transition is religion. The majority of Indians are Hindus as of date (although the demography is fast changing) and Hinduism being a very tolerant religion means that though there might initially be protests from the hardliners, in the long term there shall not be any issue.
2. The economy of the country which seems to have only one way (up) to go is the next major driver of the transition. Ceteris paribus, a growing economy implies a growing working population, making the wallets of the Indians bulge. With due apologies to Keynes, the propensity to spend will increase with the increase in the paypackets at least in the Indian scenario. This ensures financial independence for everyone in the long run. This acts as an incentive for people to accumulate material wealth, ape western lifestyles etc. Already the philanthropic attitudes of most Indians have disappeared as they appear to be more hedonistic than ever in their history.
3. The United States of America which has taken over the world (Ask an Iranian kid what is McDonald's, Starbucks or Victoria's Secret and you will get the right answer) has its mission carved out. It has injected an idea that spending is the greatest virtue and personal integrity et sexuality is the least thing to be compromised en route a "great" life. Demographically India has around 65% of people below 30 and more than 50% of them have already been "americanised".
4. The last conservative generation would be gone in another 25 years. What was taboo to the Indian parent of 1980 is now the norm. This is going to continue the same way favouring the transition.

The following are the factors that can work against the transition:

1. The realisation that the Occidental is turning towards the Oriental after pursuing hedonistic targets for decades is something that might come to the Indian mind. Increasingly we see that the Westerners trying to adopt an Indian "voie-de-vie". Examples abound from the girls in the west taking oaths of abstinence till marriage, Britney Spears talking in favour of preserving her virginity till marriage etc. Whether these are to be followed or just hollow promises is yet to be clear.
2. The insecurity that arises from occasional flings, one-night-stands as depicted in the English movies (a la "Derailed") might act as a deterrent for those Indians on the verge of crossing the rubicon. The essential base of the Indian family system was the security that each spouse derives from the relationship which breaks down as soon as fidelity is under siege. So I feel that the Indian will think twice before taking the plunge.
3. There are always conservatives in every country. Even in USA we have the Republicans who are anti-abortion, anti-euthanasia, anti-............. So in case some event happens that can tip the scale in favour of these conservatives, then the average Indian will be convinced to stay on the Indian turf.

How the future might unfold in this clash of cultures depends mainly on the above factors though few other events might shape the things to come. All said and done, there will a few Indians who will remain conservative even in the case of a western sweep of India, if at all that happens. Equally likely are Indians who are americanised to such an extent that they have gone beyond the point of no return vis-à-vis their cultural affiliations. This blog is dedicated to the remaining those who are on the fringe of crossing but hesitant to completely turn back or move ahead. These fence-sitters, as they have in the history of many nations and revolutions, shall dictate the fate of this nation and its culture. Their sway shall decide the fate of the Indian culture.

Whatever decision that is going to be made, I feel, should be made without any influence of what others might think. Each Indian should think on his own before deciding to take the plunge. I am asserting this because Indians are easily influenced by what their neighbours do and adopt the so called "in thing" of the day. But in this case for one, he has to use his faculties perfectly, for this can transform his way of life. In addition to this micro effect there is also the bigger picture wherein the outlook of an entire nation towards life, will be metamorphosed permanently. So this nation as a whole is trodding delicately along the thin line between the Occidental and the Oriental with a nudge here another there towards either side. At last the time has come for the Indian to decide.

As said by Caesar long back "Alea iacta est" - The die is cast.

~ Arvind

Bouquets and brickbats welcome ;-)