FINDING CULTURE

Were born into a culture that starts defining our personalities before we learn those words and
even years before we try to shape it. Aware of it or not, bothered about it or not, culture becomes
one of those constant forces that act upon us and around; altering, changing, influencing all the way.
But much to our dismay, we seldom recognise or realize it in action. Its often in retrospection that
we connect the dots just like the Steve Jobs story goes.
I was fifteen, awkwardly crawling through my teens as most of us at that age do, when I first thought
about culture and its workings, however, in the context of biology. That was the first and probably
the last time I thought of it because I was then inclined more towards arts than to worry about
bacteria imitating each other in a saucer covered with putrid looking liquid. But it gave me a base to
observe culture in a way that was both methodical as well as helped me keep sane than to be lost
into looking through the giant banyan- like family tree of culture. In biology, culture is explained
through microorganisms. Which made sense; were organisms too, right? Only much more macro.
The scientists keep these microorganisms in saucer like plates immersed in certain liquids under
predetermined conditions to make them grow in a certain way. Well, thats the laymans definition
of biology culture, the scientific definition is mind-boggling, take my word for it. We too live in
societies that have a predetermined set of conditions that include language, food habits, festivals,
religious beliefs, customs, etc. So far so good, I thought, until I opened my laptop automatically
connecting to my in-house Wi-Fi and in less than 5 minutes, I was talking to a friend who lived in the
other part of the country, listening to an English song sung by an UK based band while surfing
through the local and national happenings of my country, India.
Predetermined conditions? Not anymore, it seems.
Born in the Hindu family of not so orthodox but scared of the more liberal mindset, I was brought up
on a steady diet of dos and donts by the household elders, my grandparents, till the age of 13. Then
we moved to our own place, my parents, my younger sister and me. This time, there was leniency in
the dos and donts, not so much religious, my parents didnt caned me to learn the aartis or bhajans
or even to pray before the idol everyday. Not their fault, being working parents they could hardly
keep a watch on us. But in an attempt to keep a tab on us, they gave us cellphones and we were
more connected to friends than we were to our parents thus defying its purpose. Later came
computers and internet and we were more away from family than ever before. Sitting in the same
room, dad glued to the stock market update or cricket matches, mom cutting vegetables, sister
sneaking into moms room to play games on the cellophane and I was engaged talking to friends,
revisiting everything that happened today or a year before as we didnt trust our memories enough.
Point is, as is being said by many analysts, technology took us further from each other and in doing
so further from our culture and closer to other cultures far from us. As a result of which, the
biological definition of culture and its working that up until now worked just fine, now remains
ineffect. There are no predetermined conditions for culture to infect or evolve in the present day.
There are no set methods or ways to inculcate culture or to even curb it.
So how does one find a culture that suits them?
The answer to which I believe is, we dont go finding a culture and never at any given point are we
living in one particular culture. Cultures are now interlinked and entangled in ways so
incomprehensible that it becomes difficult to gauge who borrowed what from whom and when? Let
alone how.
Then does Culture find us? Your guess is as good as mine - Maybe.

To a greater extent, we accept only that which agrees with our set of beliefs and so what I believe
my culture is will be different than what my sisters will be even though we live under the same roof.
Culture is now not just the prerogative of common language, religion, education, food or
entertainment. Its warped and distorted beyond our span of gauging. Culture now, remains open to
any and every one to seek, stumble upon, imbibe and reject.

As of me, my understanding of culture now is different than what I was raised into but that is not the
end of it, ask me in another 5 years and Ill give you another definition of it.