Prem Chaudhary.

Culture and traditions are indivisible part of human. It is blend of character, norms, values, idea, attitude, behavior etc. There are billions of people in our planet whose beliefs are different from each others. It means among 8 planets, we human beings are creation of earth where there is seven continent and more than 200 countries each having different culture and tradition. That’s sound great. It means every custom came to existence after human beings arrived in the planet.
We all learn our values from our ancestor action and they are one who is pioneers. For example the way we speak, the way our languages are spoken, the dress we wore is the gift of our tradition. We need to be proud of our culture but It should be revised and according to pace of the time. I can say it was the period when studying was considered to be sin in my tharu culture, we were blindly following the ancestor’s saying but our perception changed according to time. Yes it might be good not to study in past but today it is our need. It is everyone needs.
Somehow we all are bounded by that values which we can’t give up even knowing it is negative. Like sacrificing the love, desires, passion for sake of the culture is one of the instances in our society. what is the use of that culture where we cannot express ourselves fully, where we have to give up the dream. Everyone is conscious about it. Educated and non educated both are the prey of it. Each and every have gone through it but their thought and action remained same. Then, how we can fight against those negativity in ou culture.
People in our society believe that they are in the modern age. Their way of clothing, walking, speaking have changed but one thing that never changed is their perception. We all think copying western way is modernization which wrong at all? Modernization is not that, modernization means change in thought along with actions. Nowadays everyone is society is concerned about education. They all well known about education brighten their knowledge, ideas and thinking, but when it come time of implementation they just not allow to express it. In my culture women are even not asked their interest and concerned during marriage time which is the life changing event of everyone life even she is educated or not educated and same thing happens to all. Then what is the use of that education where she is not allowed to express herself independently. What is difference between educated girl and a girl who spent time working household works. One thing I cannot understand in our culture, when a girl want go and stay anywhere, she should go with someone she knows but at time marriage she is forced to live her whole life whom she never knows. This is our culture even it is violating right to expression. In bhagavad geeta it is said that when we overcome our fears, attachment, pain etc then we only can understand what life is about. Don’t let ourselves living someone else made rules, express what you actually feel. Keeping secrets is like poisonous thing that exploits same person slowly and gradually.
Society is group of people living together in place. We never come in this world learning everything . We learn from same society, from their action, from their thought. we do it continuously and it becomes our culture which differentiate it with others. For example when a child take birth he/she doesn’t know is there is god, religion and they come to know all about it from their family, society action. We see children playing together without any hesitation but same child when acknowledge that their religion, caste is different then start as per their parent’s action towards that. Our culture is our habit that we are continuously act.
If we see our past every evolution and development started thinking just beyond the values, noms rules and regulation that people made. We can take example of Mahatma Gandhi, mother Teresa, Albert Einstien, Thomas alva Edison, madam curie, Helen keller, steve jobs and many more. They were not accepted by society in th beginning . they all were scolded , they are were neglected but what happened in the future , they shone above all. They all are pioneer now. They all are remembered for their unique activities. How all they got such recognition? Nobody cares and dares to pass such stage that they have gone through.
I don’t say culture and tradition exploits us but it create a circle that make us to think within that circle. Just like a frog living in a pond thinks that they are enjoying everything of the nature, in the same way we are acting that our aancestors gifted. Yes many thing in our culture may be good, but thing that is not correct should be revised. It should be tackled time and again. If we really want to change our society, country, world then be the change first and have courage walk as fast as our time. As time changes, we need to accept that even our body change according to ages why not our thought and action can be changed. it is rule of nature.
BBA 5th Semester
Kantipur Valley College
Kumaripati