Some people say that nostalgia is over rated. I agree. There is no use dwelling in the past. But I differ on one argument. That the past creates the present. This cannot be untrue. When a civilization ends, the history it leaves behind connects the future to itself.
Today- there was a show in the TV that spoke about the thousands of years of tradition that India beholds. The spirituality and the rituals associated with the spiritual quest that Indians undertake- towards the salvation of their 'souls'- made me wonder about an entirely different world that these people live in. On the one hand, there is a dire need to alienate oneself from the concept 'religion' as such. For I believe that 'religion'- as a concept is man-made and should be done away with. But on the other hand, there is years of culture that had got finesse under the shade of religion. And yes- culture does have a religious flavour in India. But it is also something that defines us. Rather- it is our history.
Education- I hope, had helped us in our cultural refinement. But again- what is 'culture'? It is subjective.
A collective responsibility is on our generation- to carry forward the culture of the past to the future. This is true, if at all, one feels that responsibility. Again- there is another argument that why at all should a 'culture' be carried forward? At one point of time- it is bound to become redundant. We can always make new culture. But culture- is it something that gets made in a day? And what is an 'ideal' culture? There is no definition for it. So whatever that has been carried forward to the present- are ultimately interpretations of what existed once. A version of the original.
So does this mean that- what was original has already been lost and that what we have is a pale interpretation of what was? What could have been the original?
I guess we shall have to wait for thousand more years- to analyse the route that the interpretation takes. Until then, one just has to keep arriving at questions...
Today- there was a show in the TV that spoke about the thousands of years of tradition that India beholds. The spirituality and the rituals associated with the spiritual quest that Indians undertake- towards the salvation of their 'souls'- made me wonder about an entirely different world that these people live in. On the one hand, there is a dire need to alienate oneself from the concept 'religion' as such. For I believe that 'religion'- as a concept is man-made and should be done away with. But on the other hand, there is years of culture that had got finesse under the shade of religion. And yes- culture does have a religious flavour in India. But it is also something that defines us. Rather- it is our history.
Education- I hope, had helped us in our cultural refinement. But again- what is 'culture'? It is subjective.
A collective responsibility is on our generation- to carry forward the culture of the past to the future. This is true, if at all, one feels that responsibility. Again- there is another argument that why at all should a 'culture' be carried forward? At one point of time- it is bound to become redundant. We can always make new culture. But culture- is it something that gets made in a day? And what is an 'ideal' culture? There is no definition for it. So whatever that has been carried forward to the present- are ultimately interpretations of what existed once. A version of the original.
So does this mean that- what was original has already been lost and that what we have is a pale interpretation of what was? What could have been the original?
I guess we shall have to wait for thousand more years- to analyse the route that the interpretation takes. Until then, one just has to keep arriving at questions...
