Tagged: culture

Sex and the city


I love that serial. Its funny, its raunchy, and it has an attitude. Its faster than soaps, and its comedy is more than the Friends no brainers (though nothing beats Seinfeld where comedy is concerned). But I’ve yet to watch a whole lot of its episodes.

Anyways, what got me interested into the serial was its title naturally. And talking of sex and New York reminds me of an article I read in the New York Times magazine a couple of months back. It was about the sexual adventures/experiences of the typical american teen. It was shocking to the say the least, though not as unexpected I guess. For example, the article reported that in some US states by 5th grade most children have had oral sex; across the US this is true for most 8th graders. Similarly, by 10th grade most US kids have had some real good-old sexual encounters.

It scared me a bit to read of the sexual prowesses of american kids. I mean I’m an old fashioned kind of guy, and coming from India my prejudices are perhaps more pronounced. But I still feel that the sexual exposure of American kids is a bit too early on, don’t you think? Then I got thinking about the Indian society and the american society and societies in other cultures for that matter. History tells us that societies keep evolving over time; and that some of the highly preserved societies owed their uniquess, if you will, primarily to geographical separation. Take for example the Japanese Samurai or the Chinese Shaolin or many of the other East asian countries.

However, now that the world has truly become a small place as far as communication and transportation are concerned, I wonder how is it going to impact societies across the globe. The intermingling of ideas and cultures and races is much more pronounced today than it was say 50 years ago. It seems to me then, just as species evolve, societies will also evolve and gradually converge towards the “fittest” model in some sense. What scares me is that it seems to me that the world is convering towards the American society.

Now I must make it clear that I have nothing against the American society. On the contrary I think its one of the most transparent and consistent socities. However, I’m just not used to it, and so its a bit of a shaking news. A few days back The Times of India was carrying a multitude of front page headlines all about oral sex and prostitution in India. Even disregarding the fact that ToI has become more like a super-market tabloid, one cannot ignore the fact that more and more Indian kids and teenagers are experimenting with themselves, and their bodies and sex.

Not to say that increased sexual experience is the only distinguishing characteristic of American society. Its certainly the most prominent one; nevertheless even in other facets of Indian lifestyle one can see the American influence — be it the work culture, the purchasing power, attitude towards traveling and holidaying and in general having fun in life, insurance, financing — its everywhere. I have seen similar influences in other places as well — Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan to name a few.

The question, then, remains — what is going to be the convergent societal model across the globe in the decades to follow? Who will emerge as the winner? And though I’m not excited about admitting this, but to me it seems that the American model has a very very good chance. I’ll emphasize again that I have *nothing*, repeat //nothing// against the US or its culture; I just happen to like India culture better thats all. Like I said, I’m old fashioned :)

Independence Day


4th of July is coming up. What does Independence Day translate to a typical American citizen?

I haven’t been here for so long, but here’s what my perception is based upon my short stay here so far. For most Americans, its like a long weekend when you sit back and relax. Fathers take their sons out for camping. There are nice parades in towns, small and big and all the people come out and spend their afternoons in the city square. You see a lot of people wearing the US flag on their shirt/blouse labels. In general, it gives out a nice feel, and even though everyone doesn’t say out loud explicitly that they are celebrating their Independence, I do get the general feel that people are aware that it IS their independence that they are celebrating and not just another long weekend.

I’ve been lucky enough to stay in Indonesia long enough to get some idea of their idea of Independence Day celebrations. Infact, I’ve seen what Independence Day means to people living in the country side, suburbs, villages and such; which I feel is the true reflection of the reality — at times cities are like mirrors of the outside world (the US for example) and don’t really tell you the truth. So coming back to Indonesia, I was really impressed by their celebrations. They treat Independence Day the same way most North Indians treat Diwali. There is exuberance in the air, everyone starts getting worked up a month in advance. People clean their houses, they clean their streets; and believe it or not, they even clean their drains themselves if need be. Every house, every street is lined up with their flag. I don’t know how much of this is due to Indonesia’s communist history, but whatever the reason, it really warmed up my heart to see their attitude towards is. In the evening, there is some cultural programme with fire crackers etc. I mean its really really nice.

And how about us? What does Independence day mean for the Indians? For that matter, what does our National Anthem mean to us? does it mean anything at all? People’s definition of what “adequate” respect to the flag, to the country, to the anthem etc may differ, but I for one think that we’re lagging far far behind in that national spirit. Since we were little kids, our parents had always encouraged me and my sister to stand up whenver the National Anthem was playing on TV or some place else. As a result, the idea that someone would *not* stand up for the National Anthem itself was absolutely unthinkable to me.

Until I joined a hostel (in 10th grade) — it was a summer afternoon and everyone was watching a cricket match on the mess TV. As is usual, this ad with the National Anthem came up in one of the breaks, and out of pure instinct I immediately stood up. After a few seconds of utter quiet, I realized that everyone in the room was sitting down and just laughing their hearts out at me. I was embarassed, I felt ashamed, I felt like a “ganwar”… it was as if I didn’t know the rules of civilized society, and I had committed some crime.

Since then, I’ve always been confused. Sometimes to be a part of the crowd, I deliberate ignore and supress my “nationalist” feelings if one could say so. This attitude was even more prominent among the students at IIT. On each Republic day and Independence Day, we used to have a flag hoisting ceremony in each of the hostels and also in the main stadium. My first I spent sleeping off and got up at my usual time as if it was just another day.

But I kept feeling bad about it all through the year and the thought came coming back to me that could I not get up early just a few days in the year to be part of the flag hoisting atleast? I finally managed to pull myself into the flag hoisting (though I went without a bath all times) from my 3rd year onwards, and I was absolutely shocked at the sight. There were all these little school kids (which reminds me a lot of my early school days), there were a whole bunch of the faculty. Of the 5000 student population of IIT Kanpur, however, there were a meagre 50 or so who turned up. I was really appalled, and though I didn’t actively do anything about it (having been guilty of the same crime myself many times earlier) I did drag Nakul and some other friends the next year around. Somehow it felt nice after seeing the flag hoisting. What does India mean to us? I wonder.

Yuva


It happens with me everytime I watch a movie like Yuva. It happened with The Legend of Bhagat Singh, it happened with Sarfarosh and so on.

Basically, whenever I see such movies, I have an intense desire to do something crazy (but right) like the protagonists in these movies. Put everything behind the nation kind of stuff. But then I’m also a really selfish guy. Everytime I have such thoughts, I end up thinking about my family, and how they need me, and how I need them.

But thats not the whole story obviously. I’m also slightly cowardish in the sense that I really don’t want to get involve in anything dirty or corrupt, or that which involves beating/bashing up or things more sinister than that. Sometimes I feel India should have a rule like “everyone couple should devote a child to the nation”. Now I know thats a really extremist view, and I myself would be shocked as hell should something remotely like this happen in practice.

But I still think about it. I mean, just consider what would happen — we would have an army of young men and women completely dedicated to the country with nothing to distract them whatsoever. No family, no better halves, no fear, no shame. Just one goal, just one focus — the prosperity of our motherland.

So, here I am, with my dillemma. I love India, I really do. And I really want to do something for my country. Something that people can remember me by. Something great. On the other hand, I don’t want to get into politics, or deal with gangsters and mafia and gudas and other forms of corruption. At the same time, I want to be there for my family and spend enough time with them as well.

Its not really clear to me how all of this can possibly be managed all at once. A good solution, I guess, lies in teaching. Strike at the roots, build the nation bottom up approach. And you can do research as well, maybe with the DORD or something. That would be nice. But then somehow I’ve always been avoiding teaching, I feel its not really my forte. Then there’s also the economic stigma attached with teaching.

Confusion, confusion! Well, I hope one day I can find a good solution to this problem. Even an approximate solution would do I guess :)

More on the role of IITians


So continuing from where I left off yesterday. Here are some of my arguements against those who suggest that making all the IITians in India is a good idea:

– Firstly, there is absolutely **no guarantee** that such a thing would have helped India in any which way. I’m not claiming that its true the other way round. Not at all. Certainly, it might have put India in a much better position. But it **might not** have. Just allowing for that possibility refutes the idea. We have no way of predicting what course history might have taken had IITians been forced to stay back in India. But in the light of all that has happened, and the global brand that India enjoys today, I strongly feel that one certainly can’t claim that those who came to the US to make a living did anything **wrong**
– I tell people that its stupid to let an opportunity pass by. The United States used to be (and still is) the land of opportunity for many, all over the world, not just Indians. So if someone sees an opportunity to do business here in the US, I see nothing wrong in that. It doesn’t make sense to let that chance pass by (unless of course you have other priorities like your family or whatever, which is perfectly fine as well). To this people retort, “oh well, they were just cowards. they didn’t put up a fight”. To that, all I can say is look at your self, look around you, use some common sense. While its indeed inspiring and even heroic to fight adversities (in face of other “easier” options), the vast majority of us do not really pursue those kinds of options. And naturally so, because it doesn’t make sense. Just think about it — would you ever leave a so-called “easy way out” to choose a harder path, in normal circumstances? I wouldn’t, and I’m sure not many of you would either. Not that its a good thing or a bad thing, just that it doesn’t happen in practice. Its a reality
– Then there’s the issue of patriotism and feeling of “being” an India. I don’t know even a minor fraction of NRI’s personally, so I won’t be stupid enough to make any claims about their feelings towards India. However, I strongly urge others to do the same. Of the NRIs that I know, they are some of the most “Indian” people I’ve ever met. There are urban legends of how the typical NRI forgets all about India, keeps cribbing about the shortcomings back home, and love, admires and heartily accepts his new “foreign” home. How true is that? I don’t really know. What I do know is that a) most (but not all, mind you) NRIs that I know are just as passionate about India as the rest of us; b) this might be a more serious problem though in the sense that I think our education system is lacking in motivating this feeling of nationalism (and I think school education has a really profound impact on such things); and c) that this problem needs to be tackled bottom up, that is back home. just holding back someone in India is not going to help
– But perhaps, instead of arguing, we should stop and take a look around. Where does India stand now? What is its standing as a nation? What is its global brand image? I’m sure you all know the answers to all these questions. The last few years have seen an explosion in FDIs (foreign direct investments). Companies such as Wipro, Satyam, Infosys are giving international firms a run for their money. And not just IT — other sectors are picking up as well. Given that, you might want to think about how all this came about? I feel that the Indians who went out side and did a good job had a big part in all of this. Maybe not directly, but in small small ways the global brand that India has benefited a lot from the name that IITians earned abroad. No doubt, millions of others played their part as well. All I’m saying is that the IITians abroad had a **lot of impact** on India’s image.

I’m tired now. Have to finish a report. But perhaps I’ll get back to this again sometime.

On the role of IITians


Yesterday I got into an all-too-familiar argument with one of my roommates.

I just made a comment saying that I don’t approve when people make comments like “oh all the IITians should be made to stay back in India and then we would be doing great”. My roommate disagreed saying that he strongly felt that all IITians **should** stay back in India, and he was fairly convinced that this would have made India a much better place to live in.

I beg to differ.

I have so many points against that viewpoint that its almost difficult to list them all down. But I’ll try nonetheless.

Let me first state the common argument of supporters of this view, which would go something like this: well you know, the government is spending millions of dollars in training all these bright people. But all these IITians run off to foreign lands and “so called” greener pastures right after graduation or soon after. Its as if the whole motivation of getting into the IITs is to leave India. But they have no right to do so! After all the Indian government has invested in them, and it should get back adequate returns. Whats even worse, these smart folk go to the US and do research for them and make industries for them and create value for them. What are they doing for their country? This will be followed by a bunch of arbit figures (such as: the top 40% of NASA’s scientists are Indians, the topmost executives in a large number of US firms are Indians and so on) to demonstrate that indeed, the Indian executive holds water in the US. A lot of water. Thus, they will conclude with a triumphant smile, “there you go, they’ve eaten up India’s money and paying back the US for it!”

I’ve to take a shower now, so I’ll leave this here. But I’ll get back to it soon, to present my side of the case.