Modern age 'BLIND FAITH'

                                          

                                                             I find it so amusing to see how people prefer and use english specially American english to show their superiority over others. It makes them feel that they are making an impression over others, as fluency in english means how modern, educated and elite they are. It imparts them with confidence for some reason. Thats well and good. The part that saddens me is that when people try to show disrespect towards and make fun of their mother tongue or regional language. Why is it that if you cannot use or do not prefer speaking english where its actually not required, people start looking down upon you as illeterate or backward? I have seen people making scornful gestures of''oh my god, your english is so poor?''. Why does it become a matter of embarassment or shame if you could not reply someone back in english?

                                                             Yesterday it so happened that someone asked me to write something for her while she dictated. The moment she saw I have written in hindi she got angry and said "Are you illeterate/backward, write in english." I was shocked. Its fine to use english but to not use other language infact your mother tongue for it would mean illeteracy was what I could not accept.

                                                              Its not the case just with language, its the same with clothes, food, education, medicines, home, lifestyle everything. I feel as if our whole thought process is just too convicted that WEST is the BEST and needs no test. Thats the mentality that is kind of default and omnipresent. Thats the veneration for anything from the west above anything from our own country. I find it so unnecessary and overrated.

                                                               I must say that all these actually means utter lack of pride within us for who we are and where we are. We are just born INDIAN. Rest all is mostly of the west. The only time we say(and probably not even feel) PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN is when India has won world cup in cricket or Anna Hazare has called for a nation wide uproar from youths against corruption. Otherwise most of us are just busy following the west blindly ,proudly and/or actually cursing and yelling at things/situations/system that we have in our country.

                                                                I know this thought process has percolated down to us from our ancestors. The Britishers made sure our self pride of being an Indian be broken down ruthlessly. Infact they managed to cripple our thought process and crush our self confidence and esteem just to prove that Indians were incapable of self government and that they needed the British Raj which is the supreme race and who are born to rule illiterates and hooligans like us.  Afterall India was the most profitable and docile country under British Raj. Even in those days English would be the language spoken in the meetings of Indian National Congress, such was the effect. Gandhi was the one who pointed out that Congress meeting speeches be delivered in regional languages and not in english. What Gandhi tried his countrymen to inculcate before achieving independence was to get back that lost pride of being an Indian. Perhaps that might have been one reason to start Swadeshi and Boycott movement to burn down and boycott everything that was western and be proud of being an Indian, but could not bring the desired change as was aimed.

                                                                Today situation is that parents teach their kids english as the first mandatory and avoid trivial lessons of mother tongue. It has to be buffet system in marriage functions and social gatherings even if for most of them its actually uncomfortable to stand and eat because traditional way of people sitting on the floor and food being served looks so cheap. Its bound to arrest our attention if some scientist from the west did some research and then say that the best time to sleep is from 10pm to 4 am and that 5-15 mins meditation relieves your stress or may be that fruits must be eaten empty stomach while the same would be annoying and false if it came from our elders or out of some saint. Doctors are to be consulted even when all are totally aware of the side effects of the long tera usage of allopathic medicines. If you dont know english bands and musicians and songs and sports persons, you are so backward and dumb. I have heard people using 'hindi' to mean insult/embarassment. For eg. 'English kyu nahi seekhte, har jagah apna HINDI karwa lete ho'.

                                                                 Things should be followed but definitely not blindly as is the case today. Perhaps this modern age blind faith only seems to spread deeper and faster because in the end it actually doesnt matter where you put your pride, it doesnt matter whats good or bad for you. What matters is whether one copies the west, live the way they live, live where they live, as far as possible in this one life. Clearly an irrational thought process in favour of modernity and against embarassment  by following the traditional means.