The Influence of the Western World

When I say the word 'Western,' in context of the world, the countries that likely often come to mind are those from the continents of North America and Europe. Why is this so? The world is spherical; the way we place the sphere decides what is east and what is west, yet the fact that we have made the western world so powerful and have been so used to Eurocentric maps (or should I say Eurocentric everything) that anything posed any other way is taken to be abnormal.

Why do all of us find it so unfamiliar to see an Asia centered map? Why does it seem abnormal to us? Why is the Arabic script being read from the right to the left so abnormal to us? The slight difference between finding these things abnormal and finding these things different is what makes the difference. As the youth of today, we are so obsessed with the western world culture that is exposed to us through various media platforms, that as the only survivors of tomorrow we endanger the existence of our own culture. We should be very careful while celebrating and incorporating different cultures into our lives because it takes nothing to completely replace your culture with another.

While this incorporation and celebration of difference might seem a very out there thing, all of us unconsciously do this through everyday things. Being an Indian, I notice the change in a girl’s wardrobe, starting from adding t-shirts and pants to completely removing any salwar kameez that she owns. This does not mean that we shall not accept the western culture, what is bad, is when you replace your own culture with that of others. It is being considerate about small things; like while you celebrate the New Year according to the Gregorian calendar, you do not forget to at least to acknowledge the existence of the New Year within the Hindu calendar.

While these may seem very small things, they can have huge implications. While India is blessed as a country with seven rich classical dance forms, most of today’s youth finds it more attractive to learn Western dance forms. I am in complete agreement with the fact that it’s everyone’s personal choice, what bothers me is the society pressuring them to do the aforementioned, under influence of western cultural norms. What makes me sad is that while the youth of the west appreciates and is in awe of the cultural beauty that India has, whether it is the food or the festivals, Indians are running behind foreign ideals, hence endangering the mere existence of their very own culture.

What I am trying to point out, is that celebrating cultural difference is an amazing phenomena and is the need of the hour, but doing that by sacrificing your own culture is not we, as the youth want for tomorrow. And in this, you can definitely bring about a change, - everyone part of today’s youth can make a difference in this regard! It is every tiny foot that we all put forward that is what will really make this world genuinely interconnected, and not centric to one dominant culture.

---

Written by Shubhashree Hemant Sathe

Edited by Nandini Nalam