In order to answers this question we need to define what is "Indian culture?

" and before

that it’s required to understand what is "culture”?

Mostly what is "perceived" as culture by us is set of standard values and ethics, but
there is difference between ethics and culture.

Culture is what a society practices. It's not fixed, it keeps changing as per what is
currently practiced.

We need to come out of our euphoria that our culture is ideal. We should think of what
we 'actually practice'.

Based on What we actually practice, What is our culture?

Not following rules?

Which culture are we defending? Either we are hypocrites. Because we will do stuff
which shows how uncultured we are. But we still have the nerve to behave snobbish as
having better culture than Western world.

Or we are euphoric, that we imagine the ideal things as if we actually practice those?
While being selective of bad things in which we practice.

When we say our culture is better than west because we have lower divorce rate. We
conveniently ignore the dowry issues in India. When we blame teen pregnancies in west
we ignore the female infanticide at home. We selectively ignore eve teasing in India.

On other hand we turn a blind eye on +ve of western culture, like being punctual,
following rules, honoring professional commitment, keeping your surrounding clean.
This list is also long.

We need to come out of this ignorance and improve our culture. What we actually
practice. We should adapt the +ve practices from every culture possible.

And finally we should remember, just wearing traditional dress is not a sign of good
culture. But showing signs of civic sense and humanity is.

Think about it...

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The topic tradition and modernization is very important topic in the fast changing
modern world where every person faces contradiction between his traditional culture
and modernization. Modern thoughts, life style, working culture, clothing etc. all
integrated part of modernization. Though there are some conflict in the traditional way
and modernized way of doing things, but these two means different leads to the same
results.

First let us understand what is tradition and modernization? As mentioned in the above
paragraph, modernization includes every sphere of our life starting from living in a
residential flat, travelling in AC cars, wearing jeans-t’shirt, working in globalized world,
spending time in virtual world of PC and internet etc. The tradition includes conservative
thoughts living in local society. The industrialization and globalization with support of
electronics and computer evolution has changed the way we live.

Lets compare the tradition and modernization with examples where they have
contradiction and way to find the best option among the two. The usage of computer
and cell phones in the modern world has changed the way we work. In the traditional
world people used to work with pen and papers, but now in the electronic era people do
all their activity in the soft form by using digital media to do all kind of calculation and
saving their data. The usage of cell phones has led to the elimination of manual effort
and long waiting time for the sending the message. The modernization has led to the
reduction in their physical effort and better resource utilization by saving papers and
other stationaries. This helped the people to increase there efficiency and better
awareness by instant exhange of information.

The change in the thought process is the most important part of modernization. In the
earliar human civilization the societies were based on authoritative structure. The ruler
were not answerable to the citizens. The powerful person used to rule the society and
there were fight between the different kingdom for the capture of power. The society
was divided into different sub groups of castes, race and religion. In the modernized
world, the structure of government are totally changed and they are more answerable to
the people. Although the division of society still exist but the conflicts between them has
decreased and violence between them has decreased. There are more rational parties
in the modernized world to resolve the conflict on the rational basis.

The change in the living style of the people are integrated part of modernization. People
use AC everywhere, modern buildings are covered with glasses, the usage of luxury
items are on the rise. People use modern clothes like jeans, bikinis etc. So the change
in living style, on one hand, has given the all kind worldly pleasure to the people, on the
other hand, led to the more pollution and environment degradation. The urbanization
has led to the deforestation and the chemical used in the cosmetics are more
hazardous than ever. The industrialization has led to the land, water and air pollution.
Also, even though with the modern medical treatment techniques, the average life
expectancy have affected because of the unhealthy living style. The clothing style are
more vulgar than ever with bikinis etc.

In the traditional world people used to spend time socializing by meeting the people
physically, but now people use website to socialize themselves in the global virtual
where the people interacting never interacted with each other physically. The personal
and cultural growth of the people has deteriorated because the people are getting less
for themselves and their family.
So, as we discussed above, the modernization had led to the more rational thought,
better governments functioning, better worldly life, better efficiency. Also there are some
negative impact of modernization like pollution, unhealthy living style, vulgarity, living in
virtual internet world affecting the personality growth. Hence, there are some
disadvantages of the modernization but the advantages are also very much significant.
The culture always evolves with time, At any time and place tradition and modernization
exist simultaneously, but the people should accept the changes which are good for
them and their future generation, rejecting the negative aspects associated with the
changes.

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“Tradition and modernization are incompatible. One must choose between them.”

Having viewed this topic, I wonder what on earth the speaker intends to express: Does
he mean that it is impossible for an individual to embrace the current society with
enthusiasm for things in the past time? Or our society has to be modernized at the
expense of abandoning tradition? Nevertheless, I generally disagree with the statement
for either of the two explanations above is fallacious.

To make our following discussion more efficient, we had better clarify the definitions of
some concepts in the first place. To begin with, what is tradition? A widely accepted
definition involves the historical cultural accumulation and the cultivation of the national
spirit. Then what is modernization? I believe that is, to certain degree, the same with the
developments in different aspects brought about by technical revolution and the
globalization. The last but not the least comes the definition of compatible, which I think
has two meanings. Firstly, it represents the co-existence of the above-mentioned two.
Further, it also indicates that they are capable of acting on or influencing each other.

As to individuals, traditional self-cultivation and modern spirits are never contradictive,

while they appear quite distinct from each other outwardly. For one thing, modern
developments take deep root in the tradition and they are not supposed to be
separated. For another thing, one may gain a good deal of enlightenment from the
intellects of former days. Appropriate examples are not very far to seek. Einstein, who
could be undoubtedly viewed as the initiator of a new era, was fascinated by Mozart and
sensed an affinity between their creative processes. He also admitted that the classical
masterpieces by Mozart offered him inspiration besides just relaxation. The link
between modern physics and classic arts may seem absurd at first glance, but it reveals
the inner connections between things which may be branded as “traditional” or
“modern”.

When it comes to the matter of society, the speaker’s contention fails to stand correct as
well. It cannot be denied that in the process of modernization, some outmoded ideas
and vulgar customs ought to be eliminated gradually. However, as the proverb goes,
“History repeats itself.” In most cases only by keeping the historical experiences and
lessons in mind can our society attain further development. National spirit, perhaps
more importantly, constitutes an inner source of spiritual guidance and incentive to
weather storms and score brilliant achievements. Take the Renaissance for example.
Scholars and artists revived the glorious traditions of Greek and Roman thinkers, and
applied them in the practice of improve the secular and worldly. Therefore, it has been
considered the revival of ideas from antiquity leading to a comprehensive progress in
society of the time. Stated thus, the promotion of society modernization cannot be
isolated from its tradition

The arguer claims the alternatives of modernization or tradition, where I see no

necessity. Admittedly, nowadays the living space of tradition is being eroded the surging
waves of market economy and popular culture. For instance, there is a prevailing wind
that the public lay increasing stress on modern arts and traditional ones such as opera
and portrait tend to fade. More and more teenagers become impatient and restless,
pursuing the fashions blindly while losing interests in their predecessors’ wisdom and
preferences. But as what has been stated above, tradition and modernization are not in
conflict essentially. They can not only go hand in hand but also be mutually promotive.
In conclusion, giving up tradition can only result in an exchange for temporary
development. Tradition and modernization are compatible and united as one in the long
term, and what we need urgently is to boost the prosperity of the former as well as keep
attaching weight to the latter.