ARE WE LOSING THE TASTE OF CULTURE??

 Change is the only permanence in this universe. It can also be explained as the first step of evolution.  Change is responsible for the development of the next generation. Whenever we refer to the Next-G, i.e.., the next generation, it should be a civilized and progressed one from the current one. As we all know, “Too much of anything is good for nothing”, applies very well to the next-g if growth proceeds in this exorbitant downtrend.

Though there are many fields to consider, the major affected ones are the health and the culture. Culture, is the value of the society. This has deteriorated to a great extent since the invasion of white men. Aping the west will improve our standard of living on par with developed countries, no doubt in it. But the loosening of our roots from our culture will destroy the mother civilization. India is called as the land of sanctity, with reference to the epics and puranas which went on during the time immemorial. Aping the western culture has become the mode of day-to-day life. Change in the attire could be accepted to a certain extent as our business environment demands the culture of the west. But the adolescence getting carried away by these traditions of aliens lets the loosening of our roots. The reason for the influence is the media which portrays the other culture as the way of life. Children think beyond their age group, knowledge of certain things which should not be known to them at their age leads to the urge to explore it. The dressing kind in these days, exposure to cosmetics at a very young age which is an impact of media is not a good sign. The proper guidance from their parents will help them know the right and wrong. The lack of time spent by the parents with their wards makes them look for a companion beyond their home. Here the media plays a role in inculcating the practices beyond their age and necessity. For example, falling into infatuation or getting addicted to ill habits such as smoke and drinks proves this. Infatuation is mistaken as love at the age when they are unaware about themselves and also life. Smoke and drinks are used by the English to accustom with their temperature conditions. This deterioration is getting worse at the schooling age. As heard from my teacher, the excessive exposure to media spoils their habits, behavior at school and also their respect for elders. This difference was found by her within a short span of three years. This will show the role and impact created by the media in day-to-day life.

In order to instill the values of tradition and culture, children can be made to study the epics and understand the moral of living, even from various scriptures on how to lead a disciplined way of life. This can be done by their parents, by spending their time with their children, teaching them the values from their young age. Some parents may justify by saying they are earning for their child’s betterment. But only their presence will lead to the real betterment of the child. Living as an example will help children learn these values better than teaching theoretically. Media should be used as a source to improve our knowledge in the right direction.

The other field of deterioration is health. These days, children rarely get time to play as we played or as our parents did. Though they play, playing in the soil will give them immunity to survive the micro-organisms from the environment, which has almost become nil. The food habits which are again due to the aping of the west, we suffer various kinds of illness. An increase in the amount of fat intake and the lack of physical activity is the major reason for the well known illness of the day-Obesity. Proper environment for a safe and peaceful life is also getting extinct due to pollution and an enormous increase in population. Through population exploitation cannot be reverted, a proper management of the resources to avoid pollution and to save it for future will help us build a better life-style. The awareness on physical fitness must be taught to children by indulging them in yoga, which has its roots in or country will help for their betterment both physically and mentally. Even healthier life can be attained by sticking our culture. To build a better future we have to prepare ourselves to teach them, here are a few online help for it.

As told by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, “The child of today is the citizen of tomorrow”. So we shall join together to know the values of our culture and take an oath to build a better future.

A few sites to enlighten about our culture and traditional values:

• This site explains about good parenting values.
  

http://www.indianchild.com/culture%20_1.htm

• This site gives us the values of Indian culture and various traditions followed in various religions.
  

http://www.indianmirror.com/culture/cul1.html

• This one is about the art forms, traditions and invaluable monuments of our country
  

http://www.indiancultureonline.com/