The Indian culture instills tremendous pride within ourselves due its vast diversity and tolerance of languages, races and religion. At the same time, there are some aspects which put us to shame. One glaring aspect is how the society deals with intercaste marriages, and the so called "moral policing" that happens all around. Indian society has long nurtured a warped and twisted approach to morality that dates back to several centuries ago. A man and a woman spending time together has always been viewed with suspicion and often dealt with wrath and repulse by sections of society. Love marriages are discouraged and dealt with as if it is a vice. Inter-caste marriages have been bestowed with scant tolerance. To add to it all, any approach people try to make in the right direction is lambasted and labelled as westernization.
Morality is an interesting topic to touch on due to the fact that people who gloat about it the MOST don't have a remotely decent idea of what it is, nor possess any true moral ethics. Our 'moral police' thinks that - stopping men and women from spending time together, restricting the type of clothes women should wear, beating up people who celebrate valentines day, breaking the windows of hotels which conduct parties - and such amazing acts show morality and protect our culture. If these people with their boiling bloods gave the same effort into protecting true morality by spreading human values like love, kindness and empathy we would have been light years ahead of where we are today in cultural advancement. As for those who consider any kind of such progress as westernization, we are in the right path when we incorporate the good things from any culture, while preserving and upholding our own great values to the fullest extent and eradicating our backward ideas.
Despite the religious tolerance and diversity that India boasts, the same tolerance unfortunately, hasn't applied to inter-caste marriages. Those who marry a person from another religion have to almost invariably go through tough times (upto to an entire lifetime) due to the hate and wrath they have to face from religious zealots and sections of people with primitive thoughts. So alarmingly often, one of the couple is forced to change their religion to the same as that of the other. It hurts me to the core that people can still be so backward and outdated that you can't have two people marry from different religions peacefully and lead happy lives- more often than not. Each religion is a different view of the same thing- god. You and me may have our disagreements with the view points of certain religions, but we shall NEVER show intolerance to any religion(or even to agnosticism or atheism) for that matter. The next thing is the caste system within religion. In the 21st century, may I ask why do we still need this system of dividing people already divided over more than enough issues? I sincerely hope the caste system, which has been the basis of classifying people based on "superiority" disappears FOREVER not just from records but also from peoples' minds. I hope I won't have to write down my caste against any kind of record ever again.
Notwithstanding religion, love marriages are often difficult ordeals for the concerned couples due to the negative attitude shown by society including their own parents and relatives, even in the modern times. Arranged marriage is directly or indirectly taught as the right approach and love marriage as the wrong approach. I'm not talking against arranged marriages here. I'm talking against the negativity and discouragement shown to love marriages. An adult person has the complete freedom to choose the type of life he or she wants. Complete freedom cannot exist in the backdrop of persistent discouragement, persuasion and intimidation. Parents can advice their children and guide them- which is good and necessary, but not strap the adult child's freedom to live his/her own life. People, ESPECIALLY girls are apprehensive to tell their parents about their love because of the negative image of love that is constructed on them from childhood. Those who muster the courage to tell are often opposed. Love is the very base of a couple's relationship, and seeking love is viewed negatively. People are asked to stop their love interest and proceed with an arranged marriage to a person whom they barely know. Logic please: you are going to make the most important and critical decision of your life and persuaded to spend your life with a person who you haven't ever met before or even known. Love marriage is a person's liberty and right. The society should never form any kind of obstacles to this. Not only that, it is our DUTY, all of us to help people marry the person of their interest. I request you all to understand that to have something change for the better we should also play our parts, given the opportunity the very least. A request I have to all parents is to help children differentiate true love from lust, instead of viewing love negatively.
Morality is an interesting topic to touch on due to the fact that people who gloat about it the MOST don't have a remotely decent idea of what it is, nor possess any true moral ethics. Our 'moral police' thinks that - stopping men and women from spending time together, restricting the type of clothes women should wear, beating up people who celebrate valentines day, breaking the windows of hotels which conduct parties - and such amazing acts show morality and protect our culture. If these people with their boiling bloods gave the same effort into protecting true morality by spreading human values like love, kindness and empathy we would have been light years ahead of where we are today in cultural advancement. As for those who consider any kind of such progress as westernization, we are in the right path when we incorporate the good things from any culture, while preserving and upholding our own great values to the fullest extent and eradicating our backward ideas.
Despite the religious tolerance and diversity that India boasts, the same tolerance unfortunately, hasn't applied to inter-caste marriages. Those who marry a person from another religion have to almost invariably go through tough times (upto to an entire lifetime) due to the hate and wrath they have to face from religious zealots and sections of people with primitive thoughts. So alarmingly often, one of the couple is forced to change their religion to the same as that of the other. It hurts me to the core that people can still be so backward and outdated that you can't have two people marry from different religions peacefully and lead happy lives- more often than not. Each religion is a different view of the same thing- god. You and me may have our disagreements with the view points of certain religions, but we shall NEVER show intolerance to any religion(or even to agnosticism or atheism) for that matter. The next thing is the caste system within religion. In the 21st century, may I ask why do we still need this system of dividing people already divided over more than enough issues? I sincerely hope the caste system, which has been the basis of classifying people based on "superiority" disappears FOREVER not just from records but also from peoples' minds. I hope I won't have to write down my caste against any kind of record ever again.
Notwithstanding religion, love marriages are often difficult ordeals for the concerned couples due to the negative attitude shown by society including their own parents and relatives, even in the modern times. Arranged marriage is directly or indirectly taught as the right approach and love marriage as the wrong approach. I'm not talking against arranged marriages here. I'm talking against the negativity and discouragement shown to love marriages. An adult person has the complete freedom to choose the type of life he or she wants. Complete freedom cannot exist in the backdrop of persistent discouragement, persuasion and intimidation. Parents can advice their children and guide them- which is good and necessary, but not strap the adult child's freedom to live his/her own life. People, ESPECIALLY girls are apprehensive to tell their parents about their love because of the negative image of love that is constructed on them from childhood. Those who muster the courage to tell are often opposed. Love is the very base of a couple's relationship, and seeking love is viewed negatively. People are asked to stop their love interest and proceed with an arranged marriage to a person whom they barely know. Logic please: you are going to make the most important and critical decision of your life and persuaded to spend your life with a person who you haven't ever met before or even known. Love marriage is a person's liberty and right. The society should never form any kind of obstacles to this. Not only that, it is our DUTY, all of us to help people marry the person of their interest. I request you all to understand that to have something change for the better we should also play our parts, given the opportunity the very least. A request I have to all parents is to help children differentiate true love from lust, instead of viewing love negatively.
Good work.
ReplyDeletehope our society doesn't criticize your thoughts.
Thanks Aashish :)
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