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Why I love Indian culture

- Dr. Thomas Panakal

Story Dated: Monday, November 7, 2011 15:17 hrs IST

85-year-old Rafael Manucci and his wife, 79-year-old Tina of Italian origin, had been living

in their home in Canada for the last four decades. Since they are now physically weak andfrail even to lift a chair, clean and mop the floor or cut the grass in the front yard, they sold

their modest house, just opposite to ours, and moved into a home for the aged. They are in a

dilemma despite the fact they have four grown children and several grandchildren. The

children refuse to take care of their frail parents in their homes also forcing the extremely

helpful aged couple to fend for themselves.

Recently, I had the opportunity of visiting the home for the elderly people along with three

other social workers one of them being a trainee about to graduate with a masters degree in

social work.

In the home for the aged in Montreal, Canada, I was shocked to see the appalling livingconditions of several inmates, between 65 and 87 years of age, tied up to the chairs to prevent

them from falling on the cement floor sustaining serious injury. As we moved from one room

to another, we patiently talked to the senior residents, men and women, who looked haggard,

sleepy and not really clean. Rafael and Tina, the new arrivals, were resting in one room.

It was more shocking to hear from Michael Wilner, the chief social worker. These old men

and women, Michael explained, have their children and grandchildren living nearby. Still,

they dont have ten minutes a year, just ten minutes, to pay a simple visit to their aged parents

who are dying in slow motion, ready to go to the other world from this world. This is the

tragic dilemma, a challenge, old people face all over North America and in different regionsof Europe. A societys true nature is reflected in the way its old people are cared and revered .

In India, true to its rich heritage and cultural ethos, parents and grandparents live with their

children under the same roof, a social phenomenon not found in North America where the

elderly people are shipped like broken pieces of furniture into retirement homes. The homes

for the aged are pre-burial grounds or mini-cemeteries. The problem of giving proper care to

parents in the late afternoon of their lives is widely considered costly and a heavy burden;

ailing parents are parked behind the wooden doors of homes for the aged while the living

conditions in these homes are terrible. Homes are equipped with video cameras to prevent

theft or rape by those pretending to repair broken pipe in the bath-room.

The Indian people, particularly Indias young daughters and sons, should exercise a high

degree of caution and maturity in blindly copying imported duty free foreign practices many

of which are also shunned here. Indias world of rich culture and tradition has its deep roots in

the globes most ancient philosophy, the oldest religion, in sacred poojas, marital fidelity,

vibrant and colourful festivals, in the modest attire worn by women and men all to be

upheldin the face of unnecessary foreign invasions. Indian marriages, performed under the

scrutiny of parents and close relatives with the final approval by would-be brides and

bridegrooms, come with life-long guarantee.

99.9 per cent of people in North America are married before they are formally married turning

the venerable marital union into a social mockerya travesty at worstvivid illustrations ofmismanaged marriages. Most people marry, marry separate and remarry without being really

merry. In Hollywood, marriage is a popular hobby with actors and actresses marrying 4-5

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times in a life time. Why cant people be satisfied with one loving marriage?

In most cases parents encourage children as young as 11 and 13 years of age to develop

relationships in small doses with members of the opposite sex; as they grow up, the vast

majority of them, female or male, consume alcohol or smoke illegal drugs retarding their

mental capabilities in high schools and universities. Binge drinking by female and maleuniversity students is banal.

In travels in many regions in India one can find mothers with assistance from fathers and

relatives dearly holding their infants in their protective arms in stores, buses, and on the

streets. In America, parents transport children in three- and four-wheel baby carriages from

point A to point B depriving infants of the much needed maternal touch which is

therapeutic in the lives of infants.

Emily Simpson (name changed at request) told me. I am divorced like many of my co-

workers. I have a three-year old daughter and live with no support from the family Ive to care

for her alone. Whats more? I dont have much money. 56-58 per cent of children born herehave no fathers who may have never seen their own offspring. Many homes have 3 and 4

children born of one mother, but different fathers who may be lawyers, labourers, teachers or

doctors involved in the relationships from the wrong side of the track. Family squabbles are

common.

Why do we have to preserve the Indian culture? We have inherited a rich civilization from our

great ancestors and it is our obligation today to protect it, polish it up where necessary, neatly

pack it, record it on modern CD, and hand over its divergent aspects to the posterity for

constant use and proper distribution.

Are we the only people on the planet to be great fans of Indian culture? Mark Twain (1835-

1910), the world renowned American novelist and a prolific writer, was in Kolkata and

Varanasi. India, he said, is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech,

the mother of history and the grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable instructive

materials in the entire history of man are treasured up only in India. After seeing hordes of

pilgrims and sadhus in saffron coloured robes on the banks of the River Ganga he also

remarked: In religion other nations are paupers. India is a millionaire. Equally, Max

Mueller, the great German philosopher, was an ardent admirer of Indian culture and

philosophy.

In recent times, the late British Lord Bertrand Russell admired Indian philosophy. Prof.Arnold Toynbee, the well-known British historian and scholar, visited India in the 1950s to

give speech in New Delhi as part of the Maulana Abdul Kalam Lecture Series. He said: It is

already becoming clear that a chapter which had a Western beginning will have to have an

Indian ending if it is not to end in the self-destruction of the human race. At this supremely

dangerous moment in history, the only way of salvation for mankind is the Indian way.

Let us preserve different chapters of the Indian civilization and culture admired by scores of

individuals in the bygone era and in contemporary times. The Indian people living in North

America, do admire Indian culture and after being exposed to lifes patterns here for years,

encourage their offspring to embrace their heritage or send their children back to India to

recharge their batteries made in India by the standards in the homeland. If we forget therichness of our heritage, we will be poor in our thinking.

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After Rafael started living in the home for the aged, my wife of Indian ancestry and I called

him up. He told me. Toma, I dont like the food we are getting in the common dining hall. I

mostly like Italian food." Italian dishes of pasta or noodles are prepared in thick tomato sauce,

lot of meat, salty cheese that has cholesterol and bad for the heart. We ended the conversation

after promising to visit them as soon as the weather gets better. It is astonishing that Rafaels

children are unwilling to prepare occasional meals which they can take to the home for theaged for their parents. Now I admire the Indian way of life more, more than ever.

(The writer received his Ph.D. from the Department of Gandhian Thought and Development

Studies, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. He has published 16 books and over 300

articles. Dr. Panakal has given speeches on Indian Heritage in Universities and various

gatherings in Canada, Germany, India, Switzerland, Trinidad (West Indies) and the U.S.A. He

presently lives in Canada and his E-mail address is taja@primus.ca)