Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Of customs and traditions

There lived a farmer in a village in ancient India. They had a pet cat hat home. Despite its nuisance every one loved the cat. As the time passed by, the farmers children grew up and it was the marriage of his eldest son. During those days it was only home made milk sweets and other milk products that served as delicious dishes in the ceremony. The cat thought it was its day and started munching onto the delicacies prepared for the marriage . It created a ruckus. The whole show of the poor farmer family was destroyed. This made the farmer boil with anger and he put the cat in a cage. Since the cat was also loved by each member of the house, they didn't throw it out but kept putting it in the cage every time there was a marriage in the family. Since this family loved cats, they always had a cat at home. The generations passed by and every time there was a marriage in the family they put the cat in the cage. The younger generations kept on following their predecessors and putting the cat in the cage without understanding the logic of doing so. There came a time when there was no pet cat in home and there was a marriage in the family. So, going by the traditions they caught a cat from the jungle and caged it in the house during the marriage. This became a tradition of the family.

Most of the traditions which we follow today are like caging the cat without understanding the rational behind it. Caste system, Religious and Regional differences, biasing against women are some of such traditions. Mankind must understand that traditions were made for providing a organised society so that it can live happily. It was not that mankind was created to follow the tradations. Before we follow an age old tradation blindly, we must find its relevance on the scale of time.