Historically India has not been a very connected society. Each state, town and village virtually has their own language/dialect, traditions and practices. Though the overall culture is ultimately the same, it was likely that if you move from one village to another you would be unable to communicate with its inhabitants -- knowing only the language of yours.
My interviewee explained that the internet has brought some of these villages the ability to connect -- maybe not so much to one another, but to the westernized world. The young particularly seek out the brands and trends of the westernized world and connect based on those. I wonder how long it will take for the unique languages and traditions of India to be lost to the connectiveness of the internet.
If I read the article correctly, I think the use of the internet in India is causing a positive feedback loop, and forcing a grossly underconnected society to become overconnected (please correct me if I am wrong). I wonder how the culture in India will look in another 50 years with a new generation in command and possibly even more ways to stay connected.
You know, there are parts of Africa and in fact the USA and in other developed countries that are just like that- where people are not connected.
ReplyDeleteIn parts of Africa just like in India, it's astounding how the dialect of the same language changes so much and yet these people have managed to sustain themselves in this environments for centuries in their own little circles and when necessary have ventured out to make the necessary trades; villagers travel to other village to buy and sell whatever they need. My parents are from different villages, so same language but different dialect but there is a general dialect that was developed long ago to bridge the gap.
From what I've seen yes, the youth are becoming westernized but there are yet others that stay so that these villages do not go completely extinct. Somehow they stayed alive without absorbing much of the western influence.
I think that they are very much connected even with and within themselves. The advantage to this is that the old customs, traditions and ancient cultures remain alive, nothing is lost. I say if they can manage to sustain themselves within this world more power to them; cultures are beautiful and diversity in cultures makes the world a more fascinating place.