Heritage Disrobed

Modern TimesBy Bhrahma
Heritage Disrobed
Bhrahm, did you know this was ‘Heritage Week’?
Yes, I saw some pictures of monuments in the papers announcing that it was so.
I suppose the idea was to create some awareness about Heritage.
Do you really think a few pictures about old crumbling monuments will create such awareness? Give me a break! And to confine heritage to conservation of architectural monuments alone is in itself a big folly, if you ask me.
Why, they are the main reminders of our heritage, aren’t they!
And the only surviving ones, it would seem! Some old decrepit buildings with no purpose in the present context except to remind us that we once had a rich Heritage! In fact, I am curious to know what heritage means to you on a day-to-day basis?
On a day-to-day basis? Lets see…my religion, customs, food, language, rituals, clothing… things like that, I guess.
And how much of this do you find yourself retaining from your past generations? After all, that’s how we preserve our heritage, by passing it on, don’t we?! For instance I haven’t even read the Gita or, for that matter, I may fumble if you ask me to recite all words of our National anthem, let alone know all their meanings.
I know the tune, so I can hum along! They never put emphasis on it in School, I remember just mugging it up.
Schools are teaching ‘Ring a ring a roses’ and ‘Old Mac Donald had a farm’ in kindergarden. I bet 90% of us don’t even know how many alphabets there are in the Gujarati language. Our Heritage is getting MacDonald-ised.
But on the other hand, isn’t English as much our Heritage as Sanskrit or Gujarati? One is new and the other is old.
I agree. I don’t believe that Heritage has to be ‘puritanical’ concept. It is a dynamic one when it is evolving. This can happen when succeeding generations add to what it received before passing it on. For instance, people who speak BOTH English and Gujarati are certainly better off. However, in the present context, it appears as if we are gradually abandoning one for the other. We need occasions like the Heritage Week to remind ourselves that we have a heritage of our own! And who is to blame….I recently heard of a denim company that was thinking of exchanging old dhotis for jeans to penetrate the rural market!
Come to think of it, I do feel that I am living a borrowed identity…a hotch-potch of mixed cultures. I am often confused about who I am, or where I come from.
I am sure many feel that way. There is no depth, everything is shallow and transitory. Imagine a cross between a peacock and a bald eagle – that’s what we are becoming. Lets admit it, we are a generation adrift.
But don’t you see a shift in attitudes of late? More people seem to be realizing this and making an effort to seek their roots in their heritage.
I think we are reaching the threshold where we may have no choice in the matter but to do so, thank god!