Natwar Gandhi on Gujarati Diaspora Writing in U.S.A – a few observations

By Harish Trivedi, Dayton, Ohio.

© 2010


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CULTURE

Culture is a one of the specific characteristics of a nation. It has nothing to do with environment or weather. People belonging to a particular nation or nationality carry their culture wherever they go. For example diaspora Jews have carried their own culture with them wherever they moved and have successfully preserved it.

>>‘Once on American soil, our culture is no longer in the environment’. ‘…We have to make a special effort to recreate it’. Well, one cannot 'recreate' culture. Culture is not a piece of clay that one can mold and remold in various shapes and size. Culture is not static. It is in a constant state of evolution.

If culture were in the environment as Natwarbhai has stated, then every non-Indian who visits India would immediately be infected with a dose of Indian culture like a virus. But we all know this does not happen. Yes, if one chooses to absorb a particular element of a cultural tradition one can do so, but by doing so he/she does not become an Indian or a Jew or an Arab. Not every one who visits India, Israel or Saudi Arabia becomes an Indian or a Jew or an Arab. Absorption of a cultural trait or a rejection of a particular culture is a matter of choice and not an accident of travel to a foreign land or residency in a foreign country.

Culture and cultural traditions change over a time and thereby evolve in to a new and at times more vibrant culture. What we call Indian culture is not the same culture as it was say at the time when the Aryans came to India or say during the period of King Ashoka.

The 19th century Indian culture was much different than the 20th century and with globalization the 21st century Indian culture would evolve in to a different culture than the one in earlier centuries. This is particularly true when we discuss Gujarati language and literature. Just look at the state of Gujarati language from the last quarter of 20th century onwards. See how many English words have crept-in the Gujarati vocabulary and also in print during the last five-decades or so. The Gujarati language has surely undergone a sea change during the last thousand years or so and it would keep on changing. No amount of breast-beating would stop this process of evolution and assimilation.

The first generation Asian-Indians, people of Indian origin who came to USA in say early 60s and 70s and who raised their families in this country will have to accept the fact that a new Indo-American culture is evolving, perhaps with assimilation of the best cultural traits from both the countries (India and the U.S.A.)

Some of these first generation Asian Indians keep fighting a loosing battle against historical forces at work here. It has happened before and it would keep on happening in future. We already have some evidence - just look all around us (in the U.S.A). We are living in the midst of the descendants of Italian, French, German, English, Irish... immigrants who came before us. They have all assimilated and have preserved their own language and traditions the best way they can and in the process evolved in to what we now call the American culture. They are all Americans. NRIs have a long way to go in this direction and sooner they do, the better it would be for the coming generations of Indian-Americans.

To be continued....