Of all the issues that have been associated with cultural norms, failure to accept love marriages and marriages beyond social and religious circles are amidst the foremost reasons that have contributed the most in emotional distress of younger generation with an eastern background.
Our world might be perceived by many as a spherical planet with a southern and a northern hemisphere dividing it, but many fail to realize that when it comes to cultural heritage, our world has known to have two distinct perspectives. The East and the West. Eastern culture has been a topic of debate for many years.
Many journalists, analysts, and other vibrant figures have pointed to Eastern culture to have a distinct layout and the views on it are mixed. The countries that are popularly known for being the center of this culture are the south Asian countries India and Pakistan. The similarity in the ways they practice their culture, especially traditions that highlight the traits of their social customs is the reason these two countries are considered as the nations that originated the culture that got widely known as the East.
One of the foremost issues in the East that are occasionally discussed on the various platform is the customary Arrange Marriages and it’s aftermath. For centuries, arranged marriages have been exercised within the subcontinent, and the reason that this practice hasn’t paused till now is its success ratio that has been surprisingly positive. An apt enactment of this practice can be observed in the 2017 Hollywood comedy flick The Big Sick. The Movie is based on a Pakistani comedian that highlights the perks of being a South Asian man and dealing with issues which include a massive opposition against love marriages and marriages outside the religious circle.
These issues have been roaming within the Eastern culture for decades and seldom has an improvement been notice to eradicate the latter. A popular misconception that has lingered amidst people in the west is that the eastern culture is a product of a single religion which is untrue. It is an amalgam of various religions which includes Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and many more.
The opposition doesn’t only occur when marrying someone outside a religion but casts within the religion is of immense importance during marriage in the eastern culture. The religion of Islam has two branches which include the Sunnis and the Shi’as. Marriage between these two sects has been noticed to face a great deal of opposition which is yet another issue that requires immediate attention.
While arranged marriages have an astonishingly successful record in the past; recent times have not been quite favorable for the latter. Many complications are being observed as the world inclines towards adapting to a more modern lifestyle. The failure, many believe, occurs due to the resistance that Eastern culture has to change. The biggest drawback of this culture is not having any room for adaptability and evolvement. With the global environment and lifestyle changing drastically, people from Eastern culture find it excruciating to practice a dual lifestyle where one tries to cope up with the world while the other manages to cope up with hinderances from its culture.
Moreover, novelist Anita Rau Badami shares an insight that relates to all the issues an individual from an eastern background faces. Her novel The Hero’s Walk highlights a major predicament of recent times that involves the differences in the perspectives and mindsets of younger and older generations in the eastern culture. Marrying outside social and religious circle have been widely opposed in the east and Anita’s novel portrays a similar scenario that causes a rift between a father and his daughter. This lack of evolvement have caused a great deal of emotional damage and is the reason why eastern regions are highlighted on global scales with a hinge of inferiority.
In conclusion, cultures and heritage are something that should be held in high esteem but not at the cost of an individual’s happiness and certainly not at the cost of a relationship as significant as father and daughter. Progress should be made to eradicate the gap that younger and older generations in the east have in order to avoid emotional catastrophe within the families.
Moreover, this varying mindset is widely popular to instigate hatred among parents and children which in turn becomes the root cause of turmoil prevailing within families and lasting for generations. The atrocity from parents and the ignorance from their children are one of the many reasons why family disputes within South Asia have seen a major ascend in the past few decades. For relationships within the family to flourish, major steps are exceedingly necessary and awareness regarding marital laws and rights of an individual to marry at his/her consent is highly significant for removing all sorts of major misunderstandings amidst families on a wider scale.