Harish Shah contemplates on the changing social trends and sustainability of the NRI’s Indian identity.

Recently, down under in Perth, Australia I attended a cultural programme organised by members of the local Gujarati community. After nearly two years studying, working and living in Perth, I found myself wondering if somehow I had been transported to a cultural hall in Ahmedabad, Gujarat in the absence of my own knowledge. The decorations, the lamps, the colours, the costumes and the sounds; all collectively delivered the flavour of India.

The programme was organised in conjunction with the visit of a spiritual leader from India. However, spirituality itself, though perhaps intertwined, is not the subject of concern here. The subject of reflection here is that to do with identity, culture and tradition. The subject is about value systems and moral standards.

That evening, I witnessed children below the age of ten perform Indian country skits of Ranglo and Rangli, deliver presentations on significance of traditional greetings, play folk music on traditional instruments and dance the Raas Garba. And they all spoke and sang in Desi style Gujarati, minus any English accent. I could not help but applaud with all my heart each time they took a bow. Without doubt they looked loveable indeed in their ethnic garbs, but it was their intense enthusiasm and appreciation for perhaps the oldest heritage in the world that proved emotive for this writer.

When the children were done performing, it was time for the youths (older children) to take to the stage. And what disappointed this male art lover was that not one of the performers in that older group was male. Dignified was the picture of the young women that gracefully articulated through song and dance the symbolisms and rich cultural beauty of our Indian history and identity elaborately dressed in the timeless traditional outfits complete with Chunaris covering their heads. Then I recognised one of them.

Here she was performing a traditional Gujarati folk dance representative of the Indian code of honour, self-worth and divine love. Not many nights ago, I had seen her at a nightclub gyrating about to RnB music (in a manner that few women I know from India would consider honourable), self-worth a concept far from her consciousness and the scene appeared rather promiscuous with the hands of strangers all over parts of her anatomy best not mentioned in a journalistic piece for such purpose. And there was little left to imagination. To be precise, none was left to imagination. I knew the strangers and I know they were strangers, because they told me they did not know her. Obviously they were not concerned about such a scene, because I was the only Indian guy amongst them, and they would not have a clue as to what someone like myself would perceive seeing a young lady of Indian descent in that manner. My perception however is a reflection of my personal values and in journalism our objective is certainly not to promote any of that. And I won’t.

At the end of the programme, when I walked out of that hall heading towards the train station I was still thinking about the children. I wished I had had the opportunity to walk up to each one of them to thank them for that wonderful experience of watching them. The experience of watching them remind us young grown ups as to how we got here. They reminded this writer at least, how and why traditions and culture formed the way they did.

I shall ask my audience; do you know the significance of the bindi? Do you know the significance of the saree? Do you know the significance of the chunari? Do you know the significance and meaning of namaste or pranaam? I am not going to tell you. For that, this writer will write another article which you’ll probably have to come back to read if you want to know the answers.

And while I was thinking about how wonderful it is to observe these children who have lived for less than a decade, I began wondering if between two to three decades from now when they are all grown up with children of their own, at the same age, will their children being doing exactly what these children are doing here and now, thirty years in the future at cultural events as such? Personally, I really hope so. And I will tell you why.

Wherever we go in the world, whoever we are, we are recognised by our identities. Identities are constructed images of us, by which we are recognised. They speak of our past and present. They also predict to some extents our future. They reveal where we come from and where we are headed. Identities embody our roles and value systems. You may not live in India, but if you trace your roots to India, your heritage originates from India; you are a person of Indian origin. Being Indian is therefore your identity. Do you have an identity apart from being Indian? You probably do. However, what are your values, what is your culture and what are your traditions that give you a meaning? Off course in a progressive age you may choose to absolve yourself of these. What will your children inherit from you though? What would your life and world have been like, had you not inherited what you did from those before you and had they not inherited what they did from those before them? Another line of questioning perhaps worth considering is what is the importance of values, culture and traditions?

That teenage girl performing a folk dance at a Gujarati function painting a picture of Indian custom, etiquette and values and on another night flaunting her physique and throwing modesty out the window at a packed nightclub; what are her values? What is her culture? What is her identity? What will her children inherit from her?

I was born and raised in Singapore. Having spent most of my life there, I have had similar experiences with persons. It is true that human beings are complex creatures of multiple facets. I can speak from experience that I have seen human beings with extremely contrasting facets.

As to why this writer is at a RnB nightclub one night and at a cultural event on another, maybe a subject of interest for the readership of this article. To begin, this journalist does not believe in idealism and holds an ideology that is purely secular. To end, we all live in a world with overlapping boundaries and flavours, this writer included. However, this writer is an ethnic Indian that was raised in such manner in a traditional Indian family; that for reasons of perceived merit practices such as abstinence, mutual respect and sobriety were embraced.

That might remind some of the old Indian adage translated as: He who sits at a bar drinking milk, will be considered an alcoholic none the less. And I begin to perhaps identify the root of the problem. Why does an Indian girl in Australia from a traditional Indian family hold two faces? Would I want to imagine her dinner table conversations with her parents? Would they understand the point of view, that if you drink milk at the bar, you may still be a non-alcoholic? Perhaps there is an issue of a generation gap? When customs and traditions are passed over, they need to be communicated over. Are we communicating? Do we speak the same language?

It must be conceded however, that the decline in pursuit of values practiced by our forefathers in the rising generations can only too easily be attributed to communication inefficiencies. The problems are broader and bigger.

We live in testing times indeed, when we think of the rapidity of change in the present day and age. The speed of integration and homogenisation is overwhelming. And like any playing field, the pioneers hold the advantage. Globalisation and homogenisation was not pioneered or initiated by persons of the Indian heritage to speak of. And what are the pioneers disseminating? MTV maybe shocking to this writer’s grandmother, but it does appeal. To answer why it does, is yet another subject, because that involves an academic in-depth analysis of communication & media and popular culture as disciplines.

And it is those same messages disseminated in popular western media that are fast snapped up by entrepreneurial creators of Indian entertainment media and redeployed in their own creations, abruptly transforming attitudes of the masses excluding space and time for critical analysis in the human mind that shifts from one culture to another subconsciously.

And yet many of us perceive that by connecting Indian cable channels to our living rooms, we have moved closer to our roots. How would you like to witness in your families what a lot of the soap operas on these channels offer? Then compare the content of these programmes with classic American soap operas and you will find the plagiarism rather evident.

Irony is that the families of illiterate craftsmen and rural farmers in India find these media offerings quite the amusements and scorn them with hearty laughter. The trend towards adoption of attitudes portrayed in these media tends to operate amongst the affluent and educated who have long traditionally claimed superiority of culture within the ethnic community.

This writer who thirsts for beauty of culture and heritage finds consolation that there will be perhaps be one country in the world at least in the decades to come, where millions below the poverty line may be counted upon for a picture ancient systems persisting.

The affluent and educated NRI may wish to ponder, what will his or her young child thirst for? Will our grandchildren in New York, London or Singapore be proud and enthusiastic about the dandia raas at Navratri or bhangra at Vaisakhi? Will our daughters-in-law observe Karvachauth out of love for our sons? Will our sons-in-law love, cherish and respect us they way they would their own folks? Will our children touch our feet and seek our blessings? Will they take us out to a picnic the day we retire and leave us at a facility for the aged?

I am looking at the cover of a Bally Sagoo CD with a picture of a Sikh youth donning the sacred turban looking at a Sikh girl, revealing quite a bit. It is kind of arousing. Is that the image bhangra was always supposed to inspire? By the way, Bally Sagoo is an Indian artiste from the UK, considered to be one of the best Bhangra artistes by the current generation of youths. Chakde Phate!