Far Away from the Conservative Crowd

Far away from the “Conservative” crowd…..
Some Thoughts on the winds of liberalization sweeping across the country

Liberalization – the happening word of today’s youth. A much talked about topic of today’s 20-35s is about how they are successfully marching towards liberalization in a conservative India. Each of them have a proud story to share about how each of them have come out of the barriers imposed on them by their families in terms of religions, food habits, dressing and values.

And these pioneers of liberalization have established visual indicators to reinforce their contribution to the society. They have successfully switched to western outfit, trendy hair styles, western language, and unfortunately also to addictions to self-poisoning like smoking, drinking etc.

But then they are not able to get away from the crowd of traditionalists. They are those old fashioned people who wear traditional outfits because they feel comfortable in them. Those are the conformists who respect the unwarranted value systems, which exist at home like respecting elders or seeking learning from the experienced knowledge bank of elders. Those are the uneducated masses that feel more comfortable communicating in the mother tongue. Those are those insecure individuals who call up and inform if getting back home late. Those are the boring persons who spend hours with grandparents or other elders at home soothening their old age.

Today conservatism or liberalism has been understood to do mostly with physical attributes. An attire, a food, a habit, a value is to be driven by sense of comfort. Breaking a trend or an established practice is not being liberal. Changing ones physical appearances does not broaden the horizons of thoughts. It only shifts the person from one silo to another.

Liberalism is not a migration. It is opening up. Opening up emotionally, psychologically and intrinsically. Opening up is acceptance, co-existence and harmony. The buzz word is co-existence and not change. It is not adopting but adapting while continuing to be ourselves. With the basic foundation intact, a better evolvement should happen.

According to me, India is one of the most liberal countries. We can count a very few countries in the world which have engulfed so much variety and still continue to keep the roots intact.

Liberalization is a inherent feeling, more intrinsic and a process of self evolvement. It doesn’t require advertisement or propaganda .It has no definitions, no ground rules, no benchmarks and no scales of comparison. It is not an accomplishment but a process, a never-ending process towards betterment and satisfaction.

ps: this is a repeat post