Technology tramples tradition

The two factors that are close to the heart of human populations, namely (a) Technology as the wheel of perceptible change equated to progress and (b) Tradition as the unwritten code to which people cling as time passes make a fascinating study to historians, sociologists and even the lay sections of society bent on pondering over issues that are expertly debated in knowledgeable circles. Suffice to say that technology has always been futuristic in the range of time since fire and wheel heralded the start of technology’s march to the contemporary digital technology. In a contrasting feature of sorts, tradition entails looking back, farther one proceeds in reverse, stronger the tradition. The urbanites, per se, have chosen to favour technology in preference to conforming to traditions that have stood the test of time, particularly in rural parts of the country. However, the fabric of the land’s traditions, including related customs still followed by the rustics appears to be getting tattered.

The readiness to accept and adopt any technology and acquire its products for use in daily life, the motorised kitchen mixer-grinder for example, has unarguably trampled upon the land’s traditions, producing goods to meet consumer needs by adhering to handicrafts for example, obviously on grounds of convenience, comfort and the count of modernity.

Products of technology as they emerged, luring different sections of society and the traditions defining the daily life of people that were gradually given up run into a long list. However, foods as well as food habits and attires as well as the materials used for their production stand out among the victims of emerging technologies as it were. The compulsions of change from ways of life marked by time-honoured customs to those influenced by technology marked by innovation can be traced to unabated urbanisation leading to increased land area hosting the expanding population over years and creating a division of society into the rising headcount of non-conformists outnumbering the conformists.

The question of balancing modernity and tradition by successive generations has already assumed likeness to the intractable problem of Gordian Knot, to use a metaphor. One cannot be faulted to foresee the ultimate death of tradition in all its forms and features as technology takes over.