In today's era of the interconnected world, cultures are travelling faster than ever. We can see cafes serving American burgers. A teenager dancing to Korean music. People across Europe wore Indian kurtas as a fashion statement. But what happens to local culture in this global mix? Will they sustain? This globalization of sharing good ideas and values across the borders has created exciting cultural fusions but has also raised a question regarding the cultural value.
But on the other hand, globalization has enriched societies as it promotes cultural exchanges, and it also helps India to easily access our cuisine and music creation from all over the world. Similarly, we can see the same phenomenon adopted by other countries from India. Yoga is such an ancient Indian practice that is now promoted on the global level for wellness. Similarly, Diwali and Holi are a few festivals that are celebrated across Indian borders, such as in New York and London. We have seen some cuisine, such as sushi, which is a famous dish of Japan, now famous in Mumbai, and people love it. But it has another degrading factor: traditional practices are slowly failing as the global trend is dominating. These trends can be related to media, language arts, food, fashion, etc. Young people prefer speaking English over Hindi or their mother tongue. And the cuisine of this generation is slowly changing and adapting to fast foods over regional foods. We have seen that our traditional language, or mother tongue, is usually replaced by global languages. One of the most important is English; other languages may be Spanish, French, Mandarin, etc.
Even we can see in Indian weddings where the folklore music is replaced with DJs and global beats. These are often seen on social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp, etc. In India, festivals like Holi and Pongal are celebrated with less community connection, and they are more often an event. We have also seen that handwork is being replaced by machine-made work and traditional craft is being replaced. Globalization has opened markets for everybody, but it is more profitable to local people or artists only with few benefits, while other people struggle to preserve their craft without modern techniques and support. In the village area, we can see the people are not against globalization, but they are against mixing our local values, culture, and identity.
Even in 2024, we have seen the upcoming campaigns like Vocal for Local, which are gaining high traction, and they are promoting the buying of regional products or handmade ones. We can also see a drift of rivalry in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, where they have started incorporating local language learning alongsideglobal education insurance that cultural roads are not detached in the name of modernity. There was a lot of bias regarding the language policy as it has been shared in the NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY 2020 (NEP). In Tamil Nadu there were many places where the billboards were painted black wherever they found Hindi language.
Globalization has played a very important role in building the economy, but it risks flattening the richness of local identities. It is not the wrongdoer; it is a powerful force. We should adapt global influences but without losing our cultural values that make us unique. In a global standard, we must learn to speak several languages, but do not forget the richness of our own language.
Don't let globalization make you forget where you come from.
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