If you are a young woman or the father of a grown-up unmarried daughter, you should rent 'Meet Joe Black' and watch. It's a well scripted movie, and the acting by Anthony Hopkins (one of my favorite actors) is superb!! Here is one of my favorite scenes in the movie. I love this scene. In this scene, Anthony Hopkins advises his daughter to find REAL LOVE, and disapproves her relationship with a very "successful" (by traditional measures) guy. Really a contrarian father figure!Watch it before you reead the post:-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EV3DKPo-4UJust a bit more background: Parrish is a very wealthy businessman. His only daughter Susan is considering getting married to a guy, Drew, that works for her Dad. Drew is a Harvard grad with an impeccable career record. He is everything (ambitious, smart, handsome, loyal) any dad would want in his son-in-law. But passionate and philosophical Parrish has other thoughts for his daughter. In an effort to make it more entertaining, I have come up with a crude, alternative, and a practical Indian version in RED just for fun. (Sorry for the confusing mixed up red and black text, but please try to take one pass reading only the black text from the movie, and second pass, if you are interested, read the RED text, father and daughter conversation in *real* world Now here is the scene in the movie...Parrish and Susan are in a chopper on their way to a function in NY I believe. (again read only BLACK text first all the way down.) PARRISH I know it's none of my business -- What are you talking about??!! Susan doesn't answer for a moment, then impulsively kisses her father on the cheek. Susan looks at her mom for help SUSAN No, it's none of your business. Dad, please I am a grown up Another moment. PARRISH Do you love Drew? WHat is this crap about love? I have already "arranged" a marriage for you SUSAN You mean like you loved Mom? Dad, you and Mom had an arranged marriage. See how well that has turned out?! PARRISH Forget about me and Mom -- are you going to marry him? Forget about me and Mom. You are going to marry the guy I picked. SUSAN Probably. No way A moment. PARRISH (smiles) Don't get carried away. I will kill you if you say another word about this guy SUSAN Uh oh -- PARRISH Susan, you're a hell of a woman.You've got a great career, you're beautiful -- SUSAN And I'm your daughter and no man will ever be good enough for me. PARRISH Well, I wasn't going to say that -- Well, the guy I picked has all the qualifications to be your husband SUSAN What were you going to say? What about the guy I love? PARRISH Listen, I'm crazy about the guy -- He's smart, he's aggressive, he could carry Parrish Communications into the 21st century and me along with it. The guy you love is an idiot, just a BCom degree, He belongs to a lower caste. Their family background is horrible. They own liquor businesses. you say "but he loves me"? SUSAN So what's wrong with that? PARRISH That's for me. I'm talking about you. It's not so much what you say about Drew, it's what you don't say. SUSAN You're not listening -- PARRISH Oh yes, I am. Not an ounce of excitement, not a whisper of a thrill, this relationship has all the passion of a pair of titmice. No responsibilities, nothing. What about family reputation? They don't have any land or any other assets SUSAN Don't get dirty, Dad -- PARRISH Well, it worries me. I want you to get swept away. I want you to levitate. I want you to sing with rapture and dance like a dervish. Well, it worries me. I want you to think about your future with him. How is he going to feed you with a BCom degree? They don't even have a car. Our social status is much higher SUSAN That's all? But I am happy with him. He loves me PARRISH Be deliriously happy. Or at least leave yourself open to be. Love is alll bullshit. Be practical. Money is what will keep a relationship going SUSAN 'Be deliriously happy'. I'm going to do my upmost -- Money keeps us happy?!! Dad?!! He smiles. He frowns, PARRISH I know it's a cornball thing but love is passion, obsession, someone you can't live without. If you don't start with that, what areyou going to end up with? I say fall head over heels. Find someone you can love like crazy and who'll love you the same way back. And how do you find him? Forget your head and listen to your heart. I'm not hearing any heart. (a moment) Run the risk, if you get hurt, you'll come back. Because, the truth is there is no sense living your life without this. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love -- well, you haven't lived a life at all. You have to try. Because if you haven't tried, you haven't lived. What you guys have is not love. It's infatuation. Guy gives you attention, and the woman thinks it's the end of the world. This fantasy will not last. Six months into marriage, the thrill ride is over, and the reality sets in. This is your first time, but the world has seen this a billion times. Here is what I want you to understand. Marriage is more a responsibility than a fun ride. Get over it! You will understand it 20 years down the road when your daughter comes home and proposes to be with a loser that wants to feed her and take care of her with love. It is important to marry a guy that is financially responsible and has career prospects. Love will happen automatically! SUSAN Bravo. Bravo PARRISH Aw, you're tough. Don't act tough SUSAN I'm sorry. But give it to me again. The short version. Dad I cannot do what you are asking me to do PARRISH Stay open. Who knows? Lightning could strike. That's it, you are grounded. Lock her up. You are not leaving the house!
Sunday, May 23, 2010
"I want you to sing with rapture and dance like a dervish"
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Fence Eating The Crop (Part 1)
When I was growing up as a kid my sisters and I hated my brother immensely. I perceived him as a mean and selfish person that looked out for only his own interests. When my dad brought gifts and eateries-ice cream, cakes, etc., he assumed authority over distribution and gave himself a bigger share and even went to the extent of selling pieces of it to our cousins next door. Sometimes when the food item was his favorite he didn’t even bother sharing with others. I always wondered how one can be so cruel to his own siblings. I really thought he was very unfair and selfish. I wished my dad or someone in the family had done something to fix the dictator ruling my brother had imposed on us at home, and ensured that we all had got our fair share. I had always questioned (in my mind) my dad’s integrity in all of this. Not sure if my dad really didn’t know what was going on at home or if he was in an indirect way supporting the monopoly game at home.
Now I am a 47 year old and my situation hasn’t changed a bit, only the players have. Corporations and Media have taken over the role of my brother, the Govt. is playing my dad and 5.9 billion of my fellow humans are suffering the fate my sisters and I did 35 years ago. Only difference is the current scenario is global in magnitude.
The key difference between the situation during my childhood days and the situation now is that we (sisters and I) knew ‘who’ was exploiting ‘what’ was rightfully ours but now it is very well disguised. Truth is definitely out there though if you want to see it. It doesn’t take intellect or passion to see the ‘exploited’ as well as the ‘exploiter’ in the current scenario.
Not clear yet? Here is what is going on with our social situation. Every human (philosophically speaking every living being, but we won’t go there for now) born on this planet is given ownership of certain assets. As a citizen of ‘a’ country you are entitled to a part ownership, however small that may be, of all the Natural Resources and Public Assets (land, parks, beaches, etc) your country possesses. For example, if your daughter is born tomorrow in Nigeria, she automatically will be a part owner of the Resources (petroleum, natural gas, coal, etc) of Nigeria. Similarly sons and daughters born in India “can claim” ownership to the Resources and Public Assets (and also debt of course; I will get to this later) that India’s borders include. In other words, the Natural Resources and land that our planet possesses have been divided, though unequally for practical reasons, amongst all peoples via national borders. With this national inheritance ‘truly’ exercised you are only as rich/poor as the country that possesses these valuable Resources at the time of your birth (not including the parental inheritance obviously). That means, if you and TAMBAM’s wife deliver babies tonight, your newly born babies’ economic status excluding parental wealth is exactly the same. They will (should) have equal rights on all the Natural Resources and Assets your country/Govt owns. It is your child’s FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT and a RESPONSIBILITY in a democratic country to obligate her Govt to make use of her assets in a diligent manner to provide her with the basic necessities (food, water, electricity, transportation, etc) FIRST before handing out luxuries to TAMBAM’s son.
(TAMBAM – Tata, Ambani, Mallya, Birla, Amitabh, Mittal)
Monday, May 10, 2010
Is Sharukh Khan Socially Responsible?
(republishing an earlier post from 2008)
Hear me out before you send those abusive hate emails! Truth is Sharukh Khan is a great actor and a somewhat socially responsible person. I will tell you why I don’t give him full points in the social responsibility area. No it’s not because of the recent on screen smoking rift between him and some politician. I really believe film makers should be allowed freedom to bring full life to the characters, and it was unwise of the politician to make such a gesture. So I am definitely on Sharukh's side on this issue.
Now, I am slightly unhappy about our popular actors, including Sharukh, acting in TV commercials and posing for magazine advertisements. A truly passionate and great actor such as Sharukh should be challenged by the character he plays on screen. Where is the challenge in acting in a Pepsi commercial? I am not an actor but I still can gauge the level of skill one needs to act in TV commercials. Let me tell you this, you don’t need Sharukh Khan or Amitabh Bachan to bring life to a TV commercial character. I don’t think I need to really argue to establish the fact that our bollywood guys act in commercials for money. These actors are strategically picked as ambassadors to promote higher levels of consumption, whatever that may be. Needless to say it works out well for both parties, Pepsi as well as Sharukh, monetarily.
There are a lot of talented actors and models in the Industry that can make the commercial industry look more appealing. I for one find it very boring to see the same actors that we have seen for many many years on screen. Recent Airtel (no barriers one), Moto Yuva, etc are good examples of how refreshing commercials can be if they display new faces. These lowly paid new actors struggle to make it in the industry, and these big bollywood actors make it even more difficult for newbies to enter into the industry. Sometimes I find it easier to accept illegal action over unethical action. I would rather see a Taluk office clerk ask for a bribe than to see a big actor taking away the livelihood of an upcoming actor. As a big fan of Sharukh, I am disappointed that he is deviating from meaningful ways to make extra cash.
Okay I am going to answer the immediate questions that you might send my way:
1.Aren’t cricket players doing the same?
Answer: As of today I can accept sportsmen because their incomes are not as high as actors yet. But with IPL salaries the salary game is going to change soon and at some point in future when their incomes catch up with the actors I will exercise my right (as a citizen and a consumer) to impose on them the same burden that I am ‘trying’ to impose on actors today.
2.Would you not do the same if you had the opportunity? I bet you would.
Answer: No I would not. Test me out by making me a celebrity:-))
2.Isn’t that the nature of capitalism to allow people to earn to their potential?
Answer: Yes. Capitalism allows one to freely explore all financial alleys, but at the same time a Democratic nation such as ours allows us, the people, to question that free will of a capitalist. There is a difference between a private figure and a public figure. In an ideal world both figures should have a moral (or be obligated by the law) to live an ethical life. But we are not in an ideal world. However we at least live in a society where we can impose certain burdens on public figures. Sharukh Khan happens to be a public figure. He is who he is because of what we gave him. We made him a hero. So we have a right to demand (at least bring to his attention) from him things that make sense to us. That’s all we are doing…bringing to his attention what we think is right and where he has been misguided by the faltered systems. This is sort of like an emission check for celebrity conscience.
Now how do we put this request across sensibly? Let me forward a quote from my driver’s son…
“Mr Sharukh, I am a 25 yr old model living in a one bed room sharing with 4 others. I make 4000 rupees in a month if I am lucky. I sleep 4 hours a day so I can pursue my modeling career. As I understand there are several thousands just like me pursuing a career in modeling. It is only fair that you and other actors resign from modeling careers to allow aspiring models and actors such as me to pursue careers in the industry. I understand companies lure you and other actors with huge amounts of money, it will take a strong will and principle from you to say NO and to bring this positive change. Your hefty remuneration would be distributed amongst many of us to live a decent life. Please use all your power to influence other actors as well to bring this broader change in the industry. You will be giving much needed hope to many people like me by giving us an opportunity to pursue our careers and make a living in this industry. Thanks in advance!”
Sunday, May 9, 2010
"If I have to tell you what I need, you are not listening to me"
I am sure you have heard this before if you have ever been in a relationship with a woman. If you haven't, check the testosterone level in the woman you are with...because it's not natural for a woman to not say this periodically in our contemporary world.
From what I have observed...
Men use questions and simple statements to communicate:
Do you want to go to a movie?
Do you want to watch the game on TV?
I want to eat hamburgers for dinner tonight.
Are you upset today?
I am going to bed.
Can you get me that beer please?
Is it ok if I go hang out with my buddies?
But women use brain-teasers to communicate:
We haven't had a conversation in a long time, I mean a *real* conversation.
We haven't spent any *quality* time lately.
You don't *listen* to me when I speak.
Look at me and tell me, have I lost weight
You know it's ok if you want to spend some time away from me!
If I have to tell you what I need, you are not *listening* to me
See Goddess did not create a problem when she made women complicated. But she sure did when she made us men less intelligent than women are. Because it takes a lot of intelligence to answer a woman's questions, and even a lot more responding to her statements. Well, I am one of the blessed ones. After years of experience I have gained that intelligence to *appropriately* deal with the daily interaction at home.
This afternoon my wife came and asked me "what would you like to have? coffee or tea?". I quickly understood the question, and responded *appropriately*. Now, you are thinking, what is there to understand?, it's a simple question right? Well it is, if you are not a grown-up man, or/and want trouble in the house!
I said "coffee please" replying back to her, though I wanted tea. Because everyday we drink tea at home in the afternoon. Get it?!!
Cheers!
From what I have observed...
Men use questions and simple statements to communicate:
Do you want to go to a movie?
Do you want to watch the game on TV?
I want to eat hamburgers for dinner tonight.
Are you upset today?
I am going to bed.
Can you get me that beer please?
Is it ok if I go hang out with my buddies?
But women use brain-teasers to communicate:
We haven't had a conversation in a long time, I mean a *real* conversation.
We haven't spent any *quality* time lately.
You don't *listen* to me when I speak.
Look at me and tell me, have I lost weight
You know it's ok if you want to spend some time away from me!
If I have to tell you what I need, you are not *listening* to me
See Goddess did not create a problem when she made women complicated. But she sure did when she made us men less intelligent than women are. Because it takes a lot of intelligence to answer a woman's questions, and even a lot more responding to her statements. Well, I am one of the blessed ones. After years of experience I have gained that intelligence to *appropriately* deal with the daily interaction at home.
This afternoon my wife came and asked me "what would you like to have? coffee or tea?". I quickly understood the question, and responded *appropriately*. Now, you are thinking, what is there to understand?, it's a simple question right? Well it is, if you are not a grown-up man, or/and want trouble in the house!
I said "coffee please" replying back to her, though I wanted tea. Because everyday we drink tea at home in the afternoon. Get it?!!
Cheers!
Friday, May 7, 2010
Is India turning into a cheap imitation of America?
(India-centric Post)
I was at a social event last week in Bangalore where an "eclectic" group had gathered to celebrate the successful launch of yet another new automobile in India. The ambience and attire at the party was no different from what you would expect at any of these types of gatherings in India these days.
During my mix-and-meet walk-arounds I ran into a small group that was engaged in an all-agreeing conversation on how well India has been doing in catching up with the "developed" world. After brief, informal introductions, someone threw a question at me;"have you noticed these days our airports are as busy as any of the US airports. In peak hours I can see a flight taking off every minute from our Bangalore airport". Nodding with approval, another guy said "we are no less than any other country. In fact, Bombay is even faster, women are more westernized than the USA". I too nodded in agreement, to go with the flow though I didn’t quite understand what "faster" meant (at that time), that they were right.
I know I am not the only one that is sad and ashamed of what our beloved country has become. First question that comes to my mind is why are we always in a catch up mode with the West, especially when it comes to superficial things? Why are we desperately trying to imitate degenerated and insignificant pieces of American culture? Does eating X number of hamburgers and pizzas, wearing tank-tops and Tommy Hilfiger’s, discussing American sitcoms at workplaces, telling the neighbor that the son is dating a new woman this week, hanging pictures in bedrooms of pictures that we have seen in American movies, and especially ridiculing the lower-middle class make us worthy of an American stamp and a ‘westernized’ label on our foreheads?
What is Westernization or Americanization anyway? Apparently the word(s) means different things to different people in India. It means industrialized and technologically advanced to the business community, courteous and "civilized" co-existence to growth seeking people, richer and fancier life styles to the wealthy, sanskriti-less to the orthodox, vanity and glamour to the youth, superior culture to the ignorant and in-secured, and most of the above to the intellectual community. Fortunately our intellectual community understands the word better than anyone else. Unfortunately our media does not, as is represented by only our youth and the ignorant.
In our "westernizing" India, a student is considered "hipper" for hanging a ‘Raging Bull’ or ‘Scarface’ or even a one-hit-wonder Axel Rose poster than for hanging a Johnny Lever or Rehman or Mandolin Srinivasan poster in his bedroom. I wonder if the world were to never enter his bedroom and not find out whose poster he had hung on his walls his conscience would have attempted to hang on his walls pictures of whom he knew and enjoyed well than to hang unknown pictures to seek the image that the world he thinks is seeking from him.
Our behavioral patterns seem to have changed drastically since the introduction of American TV in India. We are emulating what is perceived to be American on American channels. We eat what Americans eat, watch what Americans watch, play what Americans play, even imitate the accents of Americans. Are we that desperate to be American? I remember not too long ago when we were not exposed to American sports on TV, clapping with right hand on the left, folk dancing, and drumming teen-maar in our stadiums celebrating the game. Now we imitate American stadium activity: Flags on faces, clapping with left on right, waves, "we will rock you" songs, high-fives in our stadiums, and half naked Caucasian cheerleaders. Have we really lost our sense of originality? What happened to our own unique styles of celebrating the game?
What about tattoos? These "skin-markings" were indigenous to India, but they never could ignite the interest of our image conscious youth in India until Aerosmith and Guns and Roses emerged on our TV sets. These tattoos that were considered "villagy" and "backward" for thousands of years are now a common decor on our skins.
Apparently ‘aping the West’ cliché is not limited to our youth as was demonstrated recently by an informal study conducted on an elite group of individuals in India. (I could not authenticate this story but I will share this exactly as I was told). From what I *heard*, a group of highly educated (in terms of college degrees!) and highly successful people in the industry were chosen to be part of a food-tasting event. First they were interviewed on a paper to find out what their favorite foods were, later they were blind-folded and fed cuisines from various countries with devices attached to their brains to observe the patterns. To the participants’ disbelief, American food ranked 9th out of a total of 10 according to the brain activity while most had put down on the paper that they enjoyed American food the most. Studies like these make you really wonder if we would have started eating hamburgers(beef) and other types of meats and junk food items if they had been African instead of American.
Now let me play devil’s advocate and give you a half-glass is half-full scenario. Imitating, though cheap and unoriginal, seems to have had some positive effects on our culture too. The proliferation of Yoga, as can be seen via mushrooming yoga centers in India, can be highly attributed to recent American interest in Yoga. What 2000 years of ancient wisdom, experience and Gurukuls could not sell, Madonna was able to in one trip to India. Thanks to Americans and their way of commercializing the art forms, Yoga has gone main-stream in India. What was considered an exclusively brahmin and lower-middle class art form has now become a hip "aerobic" and healthy activity. Thanks to capitalism, Yoga is now sold in pounds and kilos in India. There is nothing wrong with this scenario... right? End easily justifies the means...does it?
What really sold us into Yoga? Is it really our sudden interest to get healthier or is it the obsession to copy what Americans do? Answer is obvious. And the message too to our marketing teams in India--To keep Yoga businesses healthy and running in India, ensure that the Americans stay interested in Yoga, because if America loses interest in Yoga, we would too. Perhaps, and I sincerely hope, some day classical music in India will be bestowed upon with the same luck that Yoga had had in the recent past and will make it big in its native country. All it needs is a little nudge of awareness to our media that America has already gone gung-ho with our sangeetham!
For brevity's sake, I will not venture into more examples of cheap imitation that is in our faces everyday. It’s a shame that we embarked upon this path of "aping the west" in the quest to be "westernized". What India is embracing right now is a double whammy! We are ignorantly thriving to strike a perfect balance between bad and bad. Every culture has good and bad qualities. American culture too offers a lot of wonderful things as our culture does to qualitatively enrich our lives. But sadly these American culture’s positive traits have not been brought to Indians’ attention by our media, perhaps because there is no monetary benefit to Corporates.
With the liberty the blogging world gives me if I could collectively judge/generalize masses of people, Americans are the most honest, open-minded and tolerant in the world today (well, I have lived in America for 24 years and I am entitled to an opinion!). And this ought to be learnt (or at least be imitated!) by us and integrated into our culture. I could not have been a better person today if I had lived in any other country but in the US. I love America for the people, and the opportunity she gives one to succeed in career and life. One of the best qualities of Americans is their ability to learn and improve from their mistakes. The result of this is clearly evident in the systems they have developed and the progress their societies have made in the last 300+ years. On the contrary our striking quality is copying mistakes and fixes as well. The ability to self-think and self-correct is completely missing in our culture. There is a lot that Indians can and need to learn from America and American culture. But that does not mean there is good in everything America offers and India has nothing to learn from. To evolve in a better fashion we (peoples of all nations) need to learn positive traits from one another. In order to do that we need to first identify and keep away from negative traits of all cultures. In other words we all need to be a little smarter in copying. Ignorantly copying/imitating leads to the degradation of the existing.
It is expected that all cultures, including a supposedly stubborn but exhibitedly fragile culture such as ours, will assimilate some unwanted changes due to global economic policies. But we, the people, can demonstrate vigilance by embracing good from outside and retaining what’s already good on our own. Otherwise we would risk not only losing our identity but also transforming this colorful diverse-cultured world into a pale mono-cultured world.
I was at a social event last week in Bangalore where an "eclectic" group had gathered to celebrate the successful launch of yet another new automobile in India. The ambience and attire at the party was no different from what you would expect at any of these types of gatherings in India these days.
During my mix-and-meet walk-arounds I ran into a small group that was engaged in an all-agreeing conversation on how well India has been doing in catching up with the "developed" world. After brief, informal introductions, someone threw a question at me;"have you noticed these days our airports are as busy as any of the US airports. In peak hours I can see a flight taking off every minute from our Bangalore airport". Nodding with approval, another guy said "we are no less than any other country. In fact, Bombay is even faster, women are more westernized than the USA". I too nodded in agreement, to go with the flow though I didn’t quite understand what "faster" meant (at that time), that they were right.
I know I am not the only one that is sad and ashamed of what our beloved country has become. First question that comes to my mind is why are we always in a catch up mode with the West, especially when it comes to superficial things? Why are we desperately trying to imitate degenerated and insignificant pieces of American culture? Does eating X number of hamburgers and pizzas, wearing tank-tops and Tommy Hilfiger’s, discussing American sitcoms at workplaces, telling the neighbor that the son is dating a new woman this week, hanging pictures in bedrooms of pictures that we have seen in American movies, and especially ridiculing the lower-middle class make us worthy of an American stamp and a ‘westernized’ label on our foreheads?
What is Westernization or Americanization anyway? Apparently the word(s) means different things to different people in India. It means industrialized and technologically advanced to the business community, courteous and "civilized" co-existence to growth seeking people, richer and fancier life styles to the wealthy, sanskriti-less to the orthodox, vanity and glamour to the youth, superior culture to the ignorant and in-secured, and most of the above to the intellectual community. Fortunately our intellectual community understands the word better than anyone else. Unfortunately our media does not, as is represented by only our youth and the ignorant.
In our "westernizing" India, a student is considered "hipper" for hanging a ‘Raging Bull’ or ‘Scarface’ or even a one-hit-wonder Axel Rose poster than for hanging a Johnny Lever or Rehman or Mandolin Srinivasan poster in his bedroom. I wonder if the world were to never enter his bedroom and not find out whose poster he had hung on his walls his conscience would have attempted to hang on his walls pictures of whom he knew and enjoyed well than to hang unknown pictures to seek the image that the world he thinks is seeking from him.
Our behavioral patterns seem to have changed drastically since the introduction of American TV in India. We are emulating what is perceived to be American on American channels. We eat what Americans eat, watch what Americans watch, play what Americans play, even imitate the accents of Americans. Are we that desperate to be American? I remember not too long ago when we were not exposed to American sports on TV, clapping with right hand on the left, folk dancing, and drumming teen-maar in our stadiums celebrating the game. Now we imitate American stadium activity: Flags on faces, clapping with left on right, waves, "we will rock you" songs, high-fives in our stadiums, and half naked Caucasian cheerleaders. Have we really lost our sense of originality? What happened to our own unique styles of celebrating the game?
What about tattoos? These "skin-markings" were indigenous to India, but they never could ignite the interest of our image conscious youth in India until Aerosmith and Guns and Roses emerged on our TV sets. These tattoos that were considered "villagy" and "backward" for thousands of years are now a common decor on our skins.
Apparently ‘aping the West’ cliché is not limited to our youth as was demonstrated recently by an informal study conducted on an elite group of individuals in India. (I could not authenticate this story but I will share this exactly as I was told). From what I *heard*, a group of highly educated (in terms of college degrees!) and highly successful people in the industry were chosen to be part of a food-tasting event. First they were interviewed on a paper to find out what their favorite foods were, later they were blind-folded and fed cuisines from various countries with devices attached to their brains to observe the patterns. To the participants’ disbelief, American food ranked 9th out of a total of 10 according to the brain activity while most had put down on the paper that they enjoyed American food the most. Studies like these make you really wonder if we would have started eating hamburgers(beef) and other types of meats and junk food items if they had been African instead of American.
Now let me play devil’s advocate and give you a half-glass is half-full scenario. Imitating, though cheap and unoriginal, seems to have had some positive effects on our culture too. The proliferation of Yoga, as can be seen via mushrooming yoga centers in India, can be highly attributed to recent American interest in Yoga. What 2000 years of ancient wisdom, experience and Gurukuls could not sell, Madonna was able to in one trip to India. Thanks to Americans and their way of commercializing the art forms, Yoga has gone main-stream in India. What was considered an exclusively brahmin and lower-middle class art form has now become a hip "aerobic" and healthy activity. Thanks to capitalism, Yoga is now sold in pounds and kilos in India. There is nothing wrong with this scenario... right? End easily justifies the means...does it?
What really sold us into Yoga? Is it really our sudden interest to get healthier or is it the obsession to copy what Americans do? Answer is obvious. And the message too to our marketing teams in India--To keep Yoga businesses healthy and running in India, ensure that the Americans stay interested in Yoga, because if America loses interest in Yoga, we would too. Perhaps, and I sincerely hope, some day classical music in India will be bestowed upon with the same luck that Yoga had had in the recent past and will make it big in its native country. All it needs is a little nudge of awareness to our media that America has already gone gung-ho with our sangeetham!
For brevity's sake, I will not venture into more examples of cheap imitation that is in our faces everyday. It’s a shame that we embarked upon this path of "aping the west" in the quest to be "westernized". What India is embracing right now is a double whammy! We are ignorantly thriving to strike a perfect balance between bad and bad. Every culture has good and bad qualities. American culture too offers a lot of wonderful things as our culture does to qualitatively enrich our lives. But sadly these American culture’s positive traits have not been brought to Indians’ attention by our media, perhaps because there is no monetary benefit to Corporates.
With the liberty the blogging world gives me if I could collectively judge/generalize masses of people, Americans are the most honest, open-minded and tolerant in the world today (well, I have lived in America for 24 years and I am entitled to an opinion!). And this ought to be learnt (or at least be imitated!) by us and integrated into our culture. I could not have been a better person today if I had lived in any other country but in the US. I love America for the people, and the opportunity she gives one to succeed in career and life. One of the best qualities of Americans is their ability to learn and improve from their mistakes. The result of this is clearly evident in the systems they have developed and the progress their societies have made in the last 300+ years. On the contrary our striking quality is copying mistakes and fixes as well. The ability to self-think and self-correct is completely missing in our culture. There is a lot that Indians can and need to learn from America and American culture. But that does not mean there is good in everything America offers and India has nothing to learn from. To evolve in a better fashion we (peoples of all nations) need to learn positive traits from one another. In order to do that we need to first identify and keep away from negative traits of all cultures. In other words we all need to be a little smarter in copying. Ignorantly copying/imitating leads to the degradation of the existing.
It is expected that all cultures, including a supposedly stubborn but exhibitedly fragile culture such as ours, will assimilate some unwanted changes due to global economic policies. But we, the people, can demonstrate vigilance by embracing good from outside and retaining what’s already good on our own. Otherwise we would risk not only losing our identity but also transforming this colorful diverse-cultured world into a pale mono-cultured world.
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