Indians have westernized to an extent where saying ‘India has attained independence’ would be incorrect !

1. Language : Even though Hindi is the National Language of India, most of the administrative work in the Parliament, Legislative Assemblies of some States, Courts, Ministries, etc. is done in English. Most Indians sign in English script and write their initials too in English. The words such as ‘Hi’, ‘Hello’ to welcome someone and ‘Bye’, ‘See you’, etc. to bid farewell are becoming prevalent.

2. Education : British Macaulay designed an education system to destroy Indian tradition, culture and rituals. Many children attend English medium schools and their attire (tie, boot, etc.) in schools and behaviour is like the westerners.

3. Attire : Most Indian men and women wear attire such as a skirt, shirt-pant, suit-boot, etc. like the westerners do.

4. Diet : Food items prevalent in western countries such as pizza, burger, chocolate, icecream, etc. have become a part of the daily Indian diet. Indians consider that eating with a spoon or fork and knife is a sign of status.

5. Daily conduct : Traditions such as doing Namaskar by joining the palms, youngsters prostrating before the elders, reciting stotras (Hymns in praise of the Divine) in the evening, etc. have slowly disappeared and have been replaced by handshakes, watching TV, etc.

6. Festivals : Once celebrated only in the western countries, days / occassions such as Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Rose Day, New Year Day, etc. are celebrated widely in India.

When Indians are following westerners blindly in all aspects of their daily life on such a large scale, how can we say that India has attained Independence ?

– Paratpar Guru (Dr.) Athavale