TakingITGlobal - Panorama

Published on: Mar 7, 2003

Topic:

Type: Opinions

https://www.tigweb.org/express/panorama/article.html?ContentID=1081

As I silently awake late in the morning of the day before a new week, I do little to show how culturally unique I am or my lifestyle is. I switch off my screaming alarm clock and turn of the air conditioner: items that would have been an alien technological advance in my country not long ago. Indeed, I even heat my milk for breakfast in a microwave – an ingenious invention that many still live without.

But, with my routine not quite complete, I rush to the shower to cleanse myself in time for Friday prayers. Doing so is an encouraged tradition on the Holiest Day of the week. Waiting for my father to do the same, I read a portion of the Quran in order to start the day on a religious key. Once my portion is complete, I gather my prayer mat and head to the Mosque with my father.

There is even a particular meal for the family on Friday afternoon after prayers: a rare time when the family can gather together for lunch, simply because my father works a large distance away at a factory away from the city. As we sit together and converse, many things cross our dissimilar minds: politics, work, school (my parents wouldn’t miss a chance to ask), university and career choices, driving school, family… the list is obviously endless but has one surprising deficiency – culture.

Despite just having performed a religious routine that is clearly entwined into our culture, our minds often shut away from further thought of tradition. We discuss day-to-day issues, which admittedly should include cultural elements, but we choose instead to talk about things like “how that mad-man wants war,” how “law university is difficult to get into” and even “Shayaan, you will never get a driving licence if you continue to drive like that!” It seems, thus, that a smaller world has smaller room for petty talk such as cultural diversity, right?

WRONG! We sometimes miraculously do manage to slip into discussions such as “how war is discouraged in Islam” and that “terrorists that claim to act in the name of faith are in fact actually insulting and defying it.” We bring up various religious rationalisations and explanations and attempt to classify and brush aside the fanatics. But in the developing society, tired of “Western imperialism” and their “sacrilegious, liberal views” which many see as forced upon others, it surely must be the case the West has little room for cultural diversity, right?

WRONG! In the melting pot called the West in which all cultures are being thrown in, cultures dilute but still manage to preserve some of their aroma. In the increasingly global society, people are abandoning or forgetting their cultural roots in favour of a better standard of living. They abandon their traditional dress in the workplace but many still wear it at home; they adopt festivals not celebrated outside the Western world not long ago but many still celebrate their own; they class their own traditions as old-fashioned, irrelevant or simply difficult to sustain but many still try. I myself live away from my native country of Pakistan, but try to mingle with my own people frequently.

I hope you are one of those that attempt to sustain their culture in their own little way, even if you have lost some of your own cultural identity. Lets keep this small world a diverse one.

« return.



by Shayaan Afsar
Published on: Mar 7, 2003
Topic:
Type: Opinions
https://www.tigweb.org/express/panorama/article.html?ContentID=1081


As I silently awake late in the morning of the day before a new week, I do little to show how culturally unique I am or my lifestyle is. I switch off my screaming alarm clock and turn of the air conditioner: items that would have been an alien technological advance in my country not long ago. Indeed, I even heat my milk for breakfast in a microwave – an ingenious invention that many still live without. But, with my routine not quite complete, I rush to the shower to cleanse myself in time for Friday prayers. Doing so is an encouraged tradition on the Holiest Day of the week. Waiting for my father to do the same, I read a portion of the Quran in order to start the day on a religious key. Once my portion is complete, I gather my prayer mat and head to the Mosque with my father. There is even a particular meal for the family on Friday afternoon after prayers: a rare time when the family can gather together for lunch, simply because my father works a large distance away at a factory away from the city. As we sit together and converse, many things cross our dissimilar minds: politics, work, school (my parents wouldn’t miss a chance to ask), university and career choices, driving school, family… the list is obviously endless but has one surprising deficiency – culture. Despite just having performed a religious routine that is clearly entwined into our culture, our minds often shut away from further thought of tradition. We discuss day-to-day issues, which admittedly should include cultural elements, but we choose instead to talk about things like “how that mad-man wants war,” how “law university is difficult to get into” and even “Shayaan, you will never get a driving licence if you continue to drive like that!” It seems, thus, that a smaller world has smaller room for petty talk such as cultural diversity, right? WRONG! We sometimes miraculously do manage to slip into discussions such as “how war is discouraged in Islam” and that “terrorists that claim to act in the name of faith are in fact actually insulting and defying it.” We bring up various religious rationalisations and explanations and attempt to classify and brush aside the fanatics. But in the developing society, tired of “Western imperialism” and their “sacrilegious, liberal views” which many see as forced upon others, it surely must be the case the West has little room for cultural diversity, right? WRONG! In the melting pot called the West in which all cultures are being thrown in, cultures dilute but still manage to preserve some of their aroma. In the increasingly global society, people are abandoning or forgetting their cultural roots in favour of a better standard of living. They abandon their traditional dress in the workplace but many still wear it at home; they adopt festivals not celebrated outside the Western world not long ago but many still celebrate their own; they class their own traditions as old-fashioned, irrelevant or simply difficult to sustain but many still try. I myself live away from my native country of Pakistan, but try to mingle with my own people frequently. I hope you are one of those that attempt to sustain their culture in their own little way, even if you have lost some of your own cultural identity. Lets keep this small world a diverse one. « return.