| India is really an interesting topic. If I did not have 1/3 of colleagues and 1/2 of my neighbors being Indians, I would not have developed a personal interest in this remote country. It is usually an enlightening chat when an Indian colleague comes back from home for weddings or family reunion. Social hierarchy and arranged marriage are two important traditions in the Indian cultures. Social hierarchy is represented by a very sophisticated "caste system" in which social classes defined. In modern India, the government officially documents castes and subcastes, primarily to determine those deserving reservation (positive discrimination in education by quotas) . (I did heard this from one of my colleagues who came out of this system.) Although India is a political democracy, in daily life, people typically know about others' ranks and behaviors are formed based on this knowledge. Arranged marriage is another noticeable tradition that can be logically understood with social hierarchy. It remains the norm of marriage also for another important reason, religion, which discourages divorces, although the so-called "love marriage" does occur. The rational behind arranged marriage is as simple as marriages have always been among all cultures: since the stake is high, how an young person is able to make such an important decision. I learn about India based on publicly available knowledge as well as personal contacts with Indian people arround me. I am open to new knowledge, and believe in the positive impact of communications. An interest to a culture is rarely regarded as serious if it covers only food and water. To me, it is almost insulting to think of other people's food as intorelable, and water as undrinkable. Aren't the people living their happy lives? |
I Want to Go to India