Learnt so much about Indian culture these few months. How much is unchanged in their midst. They preserved most of their epic cultural relics and I've not yet heard of much 'extinction' of culture in their midst. Talking with my colleague made me realise that they are basically using treasures far exceeding what we could imagine. Things that we are longing for, i.e. natural and chemical-free stuff, are being used daily without any whimsical packing and/or superfluous marketing.
That is just their daily lives. What about tradition? You would never want to believe it; to them tradition is life, to live tradition is to be alive. When approached, I told her that we have lost our traditional clothing (and being truthful, our modern version of Hanfu is not even Hanfu at all). Being all shocked, she exclaimed,
"Why? How could you choose to let it die?"
I said,
"It is not in our will, it is forced by those who conquered us before,"
"They are gone right?" She remarked
"Yes, but we (Chinese) think that flowing robes are silly and partially because the modern Hanfu did not reflect even a tad bit of our glorious past. Hence, people dislike them,"
"Aiyo, bodoh ke dia orang bang? Macam mana boleh tak pakai pakaian tradisional sendiri?" (Huh? Are they stupid? How can someone reject their own traditional clothing?)
All of that from someone who has unwavering admiration for their own culture... Hmm, What else is there left for me to contemplate?
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