In an attempt to initiate a dialogue between the social sciences and sciences, today we had a talk by one of the sociologist. The topic was Indian modernity. In his talk he enumerated the colonial and post-colonial period. He presented how in the colonial period, Gandhi rejected modernity and embraced the traditional India. He reminded us how Aurobindo, Tagore, and Ambedkar themselves in the end realized that modernity or the modernity by the Western society was mechanized and therefore, veered towards the spiritual India. Then in post-colonial period, he reminded us, Nehru tried to modernize the country by placing importance on science and technology. He ended the talk by quoting from Tagore's play where the protagonist Nandini rejects the extreme modernity and weaves a new life.
I was waiting to hear what his views were on this issue. It is an important issue because at the cross-roads we are as a society we realize that there is rapid westernization and yet, we want retain our traditional roots. This dichotomy or this pull and push is much more evident when we move away from our roots like for example, we migrate from village to city, from one state to another state, or one country to another country. However, I hesitated and even as I hesitated, one of the audience asked:
Where do see India moving in say 20 years? What is your view on Modernity?
And I could visibly see that the speaker had no original thoughts. It was so embarrassing to watch him struggle that I felt sorry for him.
In the Sciences, the tradition is to present an introduction to the field and then present original work. I would assume that the social sciences/humanities have the same trend. However, I am always disappointed.
Yesterday, the Centre for Indian languages held Subramania Bharati Memorial lecture. It was the same old story. Speaker after speaker stands up to eulogize Bharati. They pick up his poetry and expound how modern his ideas were, how he was against the caste system blah blah blah. Year after year the same thing happens that it is sickening to sit and listen to the nonsense.
Surely, there is more to Social Sciences and Humanities than reprising tired old ideas?
I was waiting to hear what his views were on this issue. It is an important issue because at the cross-roads we are as a society we realize that there is rapid westernization and yet, we want retain our traditional roots. This dichotomy or this pull and push is much more evident when we move away from our roots like for example, we migrate from village to city, from one state to another state, or one country to another country. However, I hesitated and even as I hesitated, one of the audience asked:
Where do see India moving in say 20 years? What is your view on Modernity?
And I could visibly see that the speaker had no original thoughts. It was so embarrassing to watch him struggle that I felt sorry for him.
In the Sciences, the tradition is to present an introduction to the field and then present original work. I would assume that the social sciences/humanities have the same trend. However, I am always disappointed.
Yesterday, the Centre for Indian languages held Subramania Bharati Memorial lecture. It was the same old story. Speaker after speaker stands up to eulogize Bharati. They pick up his poetry and expound how modern his ideas were, how he was against the caste system blah blah blah. Year after year the same thing happens that it is sickening to sit and listen to the nonsense.
Surely, there is more to Social Sciences and Humanities than reprising tired old ideas?
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