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Popular Culture Review
upheavals and elections. However, capitalistic, materialistic, and hedonistic
tendencies have been growing and serving as change factors in popular Indian
culture. More changes are in store in this area in the future as well. Economic,
professional, and political globalization are currently important factors
impacting the change of popular Indian culture and tradition in many ways.
Under the impacts of these described factors, popular Indian culture has been at
the crossroads and exhibits all kinds of shades and blends of the changing
tunes. 18
Popular Culture Interplay
Traveling through the villages, towns, and cities of India today, one
sees an interesting interplay. One part of popular Indian culture has stayed
ancient, as if suspended in time and untouched by the change factors over the
centuries. A visit to a remote village, traditional town, or ancient city would
convince one that the beliefs, customs, manners, and practices of the people
have not changed and would look very similar to those of their ancestors during
the pre-Vedic and early Vedic times. People get up early in the morning, take
the prescribed bath, offer the prayers, and make obeisance to the deities and
even to the holy shrubs, trees, and ponds. A visit to the Kumbmela^^ and places
of pilgrimage would also reveal the same. Whether they can economically afford
to or not, these pious and pure people still go to the holy places and make
offerings of their worldly possessions to win the favor of their preferred deities.
Social institutions, such as marriage, family, neighborhood living, economic
endeavors, and socio-political participation, reveal a blend of the old beliefs,
customs, and manners as well as the new urban and Western trends. Education
presents a different picture; here loyalty is exclusively to Western education
with little or no connection to past educational traditions. At the other extreme is
the urban culture of large cities like Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras. Life
in these cities is secular and centered around economic and professional
endeavors. People are busy making a living, and their goals are entirely
economic. Families are nuclear, both husband and wife work, and their toil is for
the entire day. People have little time for themselves or for life’s philosophies.
Children are raised with a Western orientation and are expected to have
professional goals at an early age. The imparted values have little semblance to
the past values, traditions, and customs.
Which way is popular Indian culture heading? The old and the new are
likely to stay together, and the new will gain some ground. Occidental
orientations will increase and gain further ground on indigenous orientations.
Religiosity and secularism will stay together, but the future trend in this regard
is not clear. Modem education and professionalization will continue to grow in
importance and will further impact belief systems and living practices. In
general, people will become more forward-looking, more secular, and more