India is very rich in its culture and tradition. The Indian culture is recognized as one of the ancient and intense cultures and the acknowledgment of western culture as the most advanced culture in the world, now its fantasized most of the youth of the nation and genuine fear among conservative Indians especially elders.
The history of Indian culture is over a thousand years old, it presents progression and delicate change with the great thread of integration, characterized in the assimilation power of culture and a unique example of unity in diversity.
These are not just words, but very appropriate to a country like India that is amazingly rich in culture and heritage.
India has a very diverse and strong heritage, culture, and tradition, but as the world is moving forward towards modernity, the youth of India is also grasping and evolving through it. On average, in a common household, every parent educates their children about their culture at an early age so they can take it further to the next generation.
Culture and tradition are deeply rooted in the core of the heart of every Indian they take it as a form of honor and pride. But for a new generation, many ancient culture and tradition rules are now old-fashioned, they are moving forward and evolving with time towards modernizing society. Our deep-rooted traditions and practices have loosened up their hold with the evolution of westernization.
In the continuous change of society, many new practices, traditions, and social practices were adopted and abandoned the certain traditional faiths and traditions dysfunctional of the society. There have been fundamental innovations in social conventions similar to marriage, family, and caste, generating new kinds of relationships in social life, religion, and so on.
Urbanization and westernization leave a powerful impact on the minds of the new generation. Our elders who lived their lives in the integrated environment and spent their early life in small cities and villages have now changed to modernized with more forward to the western culture where they give preference to luxuries life and segregation.
In the mythology-cultural life of the country, the countryside is always already a symbol for the urbanite’s vision of a society nourished with sufficient identity of culture and blood that warmth and deeply shared assumptions bind together its member. The key foundation of tradition is the joint family, and usually a patrilocal system; the joint family is just as semiotic a structure, it is a sign for a kinship system, with relations of trust, respect, and responsibility nourishing and guiding one at every step, an elongated familial atmosphere.
In our traditional culture taking care of our parents in their old age or the food habits of our grandparents are the most common and compulsory thing and I am sure most would agree that these traditions are worth preserving.
Today, if children abandoned their parents in old age shelters, it would be a great civilizational tragedy because our tradition is to respect our parents. But at the same time also, the responsibility of parents is not to be dictators or dominators; they must have to give space to youthful ideas and creative power, including the freedom to make mistakes.
In India, tradition is forever renewing itself. Traditions that become hardened automatically start failing their importance and die. Now people are more increasingly opposing the demerits and dysfunctional customs and rituals of society, people are much aware, and being modern may have many benefits the society. There was a time when people supported customs blindly and no questions were allowed to raise, elders or old school people used to say “this has been followed by us for generations”. The old traditions were followed continuously by fear of religion, definitely not because of honor or belief.
Nowadays, the new generation is moving forwards to raise questions before following any tradition blindly. If the tradition is impractical or irrational it is not followed. Abandon those traditions that do not make any sense and this is a better way to preserve traditions, to do things that make sense at different times. Not to be afraid by traditions and people who impose them but do them out of faith and respect.
At present time, some irrational costumes and beliefs are rejected by modern youth like the caste system that was strictly followed by the elders, this time the youth has completely neglected this custom, and the majority are denied this system, the young generation is completely comfortable doing things together in modern culture without asking the caste from each other.
In this era, marriages have also lost their importance. The concept of marriages is entirely becoming senseless, Marriages are increasingly breaking and our understanding and tolerance have not left.
It is very much visible from the rising number of divorce cases and the extra-marital affairs reported continuously. The practice of marriage is to observe the connection of the souls, People nowadays are more considerate of live-in relationships without taking any responsibility for each other.
Today, marriage has become a professional bond or a so-called practical decision and commitment to spend life without compromising and adjustment. Now at present time, it is not considered much about the value and unconditional love and cares for the partner that makes the relationship stronger. The most concerned are the new generation, which they find themselves stressed and isolated in this environment as there is no one to take care of them. The major ego issue in the Indian youth is also a result of modernization.
Modernization makes the youth so practical that they become isolated and disconnected from their loved ones, in this situation usually get into bad company or gain inappropriate habits like using intoxication, crime, etc.
The modern Indian youth now feel ashamed to speak in the native language and it is compulsory to speak English, French, German which is a sign of a standardized society.
The truth is that in several parts of life, we may be justified in praising the positive influence of modernization. While latest medical science, technology, methods of fighting natural disasters, modem methods of providing security from outside dangers to the country, and all. But India is practicing at the same time its traditional establishments, beliefs, and works for the welfare of the masses. Therefore, even after the impact of modernization of various ways, India will remain India. Indian culture will live and survive in decades to come.
According to modernity, this is a different story. We have taken many strides to move into a modern culture without completely knowing what causes our successful culture. Without knowing its motives, or the effort of people to achieve the result, we jump into the end purpose. As a result, we have received a lot of bad from modernity with few benefits.
A more conversational suggestion would have been to understand the culture, meet it with our culture and try to give only things that can be applied by us, in a civilized manner.
We must also preserve our own culture. Ignorance of our culture and tradition will impact our future generation. The prominent cause for expansion is always there but to prove our actual independence, we should accept our culture and present it to the world. Unless we learn to respect our culture, nobody else will.
