Thursday, January 25, 2007
Commercialization of Indian Festivals
Recently I was watching some TV commercials which were for some festival sales. Then it struck me . How good is commercialization of Indian festivals ?? Where is it heading too?? I personally feel that it is good in one way and bad in the other. It's good coz it helps boost the economy and bad in the sense it kinda undermines the actual essence of a festival . I was seeing people around me going gaga about the best deal they were about to get . I think certain festivals were meant to be such that people go out and buy new stuff. For example in Northern India people celebrate a festival called "Dhanteras" just before Diwali. It makes perfect sense to have deals at that time . On the other hand there are festivals like Holi which are totally aimed at bonding people and I don't see any reason to highly commercialize it. Its kinda funny to see ads saying "amazing deals for Holi". I remember my good old childhood days when festivals were all about fun and nothing more. Even the elders in the family had the same energy level. In contrast now I find people anticipating the deals they might be getting during a festival season rather than actually enjoying it. This part makes me a bit sad. Neways this is my take . Hope people in India don't lose the spirit of such amazing festivals
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4 comments:
"bad in the sense it kinda undermines the actual essence of a festival"
Yes, this is a real possibility and likely an unavoidable eventuality.
Consider "Christmas". It is celebrated in many places in the world but I can only comment on the state of things in the US. It is intended to be a Christian celebration in remembrance of the birth of Christ (although, it would seem he was more likely born in October, not December). Yet, in America Christmas is celebrated by all manner of people- some Jewish people (who generally believe Christ existed but that he was not the Messiah), atheists, agnostics, people of various other non-Christian relgions, etc. BTW, in my mind everyone has a religion. It may not be organized or corporate, but they have one. For many people religion is politics, or their humanistic beliefs in their own strengths and genius (ie. "God is for weak people" which sometimes translates into "if there is a God, whatever, I'm smart and capable enough on my own").
Anyways...
Even many (most?) Christians in the US celebrate Christmas without giving more than a fleeting consideration to Christ and the story of his birth, life, death, and resurrection. It's too easy to focus on the "fun" parts of Christmas, such as lights, decorations, presents, etc. Some Christians will try to compensate for this by declaring "Santa Claus" a subversive figure that only undermines the spirit of Christmas and therefore ban such parts of the tradition in their family experience.
Commercialization of a holiday is only a symptom, however. There is a larger problem- lack of focus and devotion. These are difficult things that require real effort, and often actual sacrifice (time, money, opportunity, etc). It's much easier to come home from work, tired, and watch "American Idol" than it is to read something or explore your religion. So, you eventually get a pervasive problem where, again speaking from the American perspective, most people cannot even describe the basic tenets of their faith. They probably confuse Catholicism with Christianity. They probably watch NFL (American football) on TV instead of attending a church service. They probably believe that being a "basically good person" is what is required for entry to Heaven. They probably give little of themselves in their community (never volunteer to teach kids, resent the concept of 'tithing', etc). You will find people who say "I am American. I like baseball and apple pie and am a Christian". Many of these people are likely to only attend church once a year- on Easter Sunday (another important Christian celebration). But, like Christmas, Easter has already succumbed to the pressures of commercialization and is little more than a day when baskets of candies and new spring-time clothing are given to kids everywhere.
Whatever the religion, it is admirable to see efforts made to keep up traditions and resist commercialization. But that can really only be accomplished through active devotion to the faith. If you have that then the commercialization need not be feared because it could be accomodated in a healthy balance.
Hats off fing (I know who u really are ;) , but I will call you fing) . Very nicely said
ACHCHHA LIKHTE HO LIKHA KARO
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