Friday, December 2, 2011

Cultural Sucide


Nature has bestowed on us life and environment. We have a choice between two things: we either wander freely like other wild beasts in search of food or make good use of the environment by applying our intelligence to create better living conditions and thus make a happy social life for ourselves.
For thousands of years, man too lived in wilderness like other mute creatures on the earth and gradually developed his intelligence and experience to live a settled life in groups, harnessed the hostile surroundings and thereby collectively benefited from the environment.
In the process, the knowledge and experience gathered by these societies formed the basis of their social practices. It was also codified into rituals for the benefit of future generations. For example, our ances...tors believed that shaving off the first hair of the new born babies was good for the growth of the hair. This was later transformed into a ritual or a ceremony popularly known as ‘mundan.’ In this manner, every society developed many such social practices, rituals, customs, beliefs and they came to be collectively called the culture of that particular society. The world today is a result of the influence of the myriad cultures of various societies, having a distinct way of living with a distinct identity, which has been developed over thousands of years, based on intense knowledge, experience and beliefs. This holds true for the Sindhi culture too, which is a result of the accumulated wealth of knowledge and experience gathered by the Sindhi community. This inheritance rightfully belongs to the new generation of Sindhis also, just as a son would inherit legally the property of his father.
To deny this cultural heritage to the up coming generation is a cultural folly, which is being done by us unwittingly. We should make amends without delay, lest our future generations would curse us for having committed such a cultural suicide.
Nevertheless, it is however, never too late.
Indian Institute of Sindhology, which is an ideal representative of the Sindhi Culture, has shouldered this responsibility on behalf of the Sindhi Community. Each one of us can make a difference in some or the other way by joining hands with the organization. This would be a positive contribution form our sides for upholding the cultural heritage for the future generations.