Packaging a culture

Recently, one of my friends, now settled in US, was on a family holiday in India. We met after several years in our hometown in Punjab. My teen aged son has been fascinated about that country of dreams and loaded my friend with queries. His son, an American citizen by birth, was equally inquisitive about his parents’ motherland and posed many a difficult questions. At the peak of our conversation, when I asked this young American about the good things in US, he narrated the traffic discipline, cleanliness and social support system. At a tender age of 13, he had an eye for detail. I got curious to know his findings about India. And indeed, the moment I asked him what was the best thing he found in India, he obliged by replying instantly “Jaggi Sweets”¹

We all roared with laughter. The Indian blood had not lost its passion for original flavour! My friend has always been a person with a discerning palate. The legacy had traveled.

Tongue is a great carrier, we realized!

The young lad’s reply took us to the times when my friend would travel abroad and carry a number of paranthas², frozen in India, and to be reheated in US to bring to life the aroma of mother’s love. We migrated into the thought process of our children - each one fascinated by something else in the other country. We talked about our efforts in bequeathing a heritage, upholding identity as well as recognising diversity amidst globalization. My son wants to be more American to accomplish his dreams; his son wants to be more Indian to fortify his family. There is anguish in this irony.

The labour pain is not solely ours. Since time immemorial, nations have been trying to propagate their cultures within and outside. The sensitivity on the subject is not new. UNESCO passed a Convention for safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage many years ago. While there are several stakeholders in preserving the tangible heritage – architecture, relics and places, it is the intangible cultural heritage – oral expressions, language, arts and crafts, rituals, traditions and practices, festivals and foods – that travels on fluid grounds.

Lifestyles have transformed with the advent of technology. Social systems have evolved to facilitate the preservation of intangible elements of lineage - children are taught languages, expressions and rituals through demonstrative videos; traditions and festivals are celebrated in all geographies though on varying scales; music and dance is available online; packaged food or ready to eat meals are available across the globe. The tangibility divide is getting erased.

My friend’s son knew more holy songs and festive practices than my children. Deepawali³, which is a two-three day affair for us, is a grand celebration with them. Their emphasis is on the fact that the inheritors should know every minute detail about their pedigree. I could not resist asking my friend that why did he want his children to learn about Indian culture when they are settled abroad and celebrating foreign festivals with as much as fervor as the Indian one’s? I further queried, “Why are you turning a cultural philanthropist when it comes to sharing of inheritance?”

An eerie silence prevailed, only to be busted by the Breaking News on television.

The Indian Postal Department shall sell water bottles containing Gangaajal⁴. We looked at each other. That was not mere bottling of water; that was packaging of a civilisation.

Thousands of Indians hitherto travelled miles to fill a container of Gangaajal and store it in their homes for various holy reasons. The government was now becoming patron in facilitating the preservation of a belief.

Water is physical; loyalty is ethereal. Besides the food, even faith was now being beautifully draped and distributed. The cultural insecurity had been insured with the Government imparting an impermeable seal of sanctity on water bottles.

Is the haulage of conviction an individual choice or a national necessity? I wondered.

Is this patronage merely a marketing mania? Or did the government need to start this because individuals – me and you - were failing to transport the fabric of faith?

In such circumstances, am I justified in asking questions of probity to my friend?   

A call for tea interrupted my thoughts and punctuated our conversation. It remained inconclusive thereafter as we spent some merry moments with families.

A few days later, I learnt that, instead of paranthas, my friend had preferred to carry with him two packaged bottles of Gangaajal. Perhaps, it was just another way to preserve, percolate and permeate the intangible legacy of values - the emblem of people’s cultural identity!

I am left to conjecture the answers to my questions….

Any help? 

1. Jaggi Sweets is a famous sweet shop in Punjab
2. Paranthas are stuffed Indian breads, fried in ghee.
3. Deepawali is the most famous Indian festival
4. Gangaajal refers to the water of river Ganges (Ganga, in Hindi), which besides being the lifeline of half of India, is worshipped as Mother River. Gangaajal is used for ablutions by many Hindus across the country.