The concept of ‘Individual space’, better comprehended as ‘Buffer zone’ around every individual in Bharatiya society is neither completely evolved nor understood nor respected at large. Individual space demands conspicuous level of privacy with the ‘Do not intrude’ mini-board hanging in the exterior. Privilege to intrude into this ‘no go zone’ around every individual is restricted to only very intimate kins while the core area may or may not be open to even ones spouse in several cases.
Individual spaces or Buffer zones around individuals may be sub-divided into a few concentric categories like physical, social, emotional, relational, financial etc. Every person must first ascertain nature and extent of liberty that (s)he may risk with the other before initiating any move lest it invites unpleasant rejoinders and retorts. Concept of individual spaces is not only inviolable and sacrosanct in western societies, more often to irrational limits, but also institutionalised into monolithic entities.
Unfortunately in western societies, individual spaces have remained merely spaces that are voids that they did not know how to fill in with right ingrediants. Loneliness is extensively widespread and they do not know how to transform loneliness into solitude like most of us Hindu-s know. Elements of Dharma and wisdom deserved to fill in the void within their inner beings. Instead of subtle elements of Dharma that would have rendered them serene, cultured and tranquil, they pursued mostly elements of civility to become disciplined and civilized, essentially external appends. Even their religious preachers in magnificent well-architectured Churches had been in dark as to how to address the void effectively as all their efforts have been mostly external with no one to tell them where to go, how to live this human life. The void in their innermost abodes was left unattended and it invited a plethora of undesireable fillers with the latest one being Wokeism. The vice of wokeism is in fact, a conglomerate of several -isms and anti-isms camouflaged as liberalism, modernism or both. Age old values that are sacrosanct and time-tested constituting foundation of society as well as individual lives, were ridiculed as being too conservative, symbols of backwardness or even utter frivolity. Wokeism was amply nourished and nurtured by varieties of criminal elements pushing them into the world of delusion and complete waste of human lives. They could not be mentored or even guided by their family elders not to speak of direct intervention as a common practice in Bharatiya families because the institutionalised individual spaces being excessively inviolable, did not allow them to proceed. Individual space is so cherished in those societies that drifting away of their generations towards decline and self-destruction was accepted as a routine norm.
On the contrary, Bharata is not a nation where individual spaces are sacrosanct so much so that even parents cannot mentor, discipline their progenies or an uncle may come forward to keep an eye on his niece to ensure she is not snatched away by fundamentalists or an aunt who would impart values on teens who are not her own but related to her, so on and so forth. Nor even Bharata can be understood through high-resolution lenses fixed in cameras held by foreign tourists on holidays in the country. Bharata can be comprehended, more so validity of individual spaces, either by being brought up here or having long number of years intimately interacting with all segments of society extensively. This nation is so mystical that one may claim to have understood Bharata only when (s)he is turned inside out and upside down after a prolonged stay within her boundaries unlike the west which can be understood by observation from a distance. When one seeks right direction by accosting a stranger on road, so many turn up to provide the same unsolicited. That’s not really intrusion of your individual space but their genuine concern for you to arrive at your desired destination unhindered and comfortably. One is morally bound to accept it with a sense of gratitude instead of rebuffing that with blank looks saying, “Did I ask you at all ?”.
This reticulum of individual spaces intertwined with genuine concerns about others even if unsolicited, happens to be one of the most cherished foundational values in Bharata. It’s a cultural vertical that has protected scores from going astray, drifting towards wokeism. This intertwining has third strand too, the strand of striking relationship in forms of Bhai Saheb, Bahanji, Uncleji, Auntyji, Beta, Beti etc. Third strand further consolidates the protective cover to prevent onslaughts of debilitating forces on our society, a feature almost entirely absent in the western hemisphere. Such interventions into individual spaces should no more be regarded as unsolicited intrusions but a sign of being accepted as our own, symbol of being adopted as our own for personal care through interventions, an extra-ordinary societal vertical guarding us for the better.
Debasement of the institution of family system has promoted wokeism in the name of sanctity of individual spaces. Domestic violence, teen crimes, heinous inter-faith and inter-caste crimes etc. are grave symptoms of the deepening malaise. Celebrating International Family Day on every May 15, Mothers Day, Fathers Day etc. are entirely superficial, incapable of substituting well-knit families and societies of Bharata. When individual spaces are not ‘intruded’ by family members, societal ill-health is the inevitable proceed as these ‘intrusions’ also bring in various forms of curative and constructive interventions too. Man is essentially a social and family oriented being whose alternative no philosopher in the world has been able to enunciate. It’s ironical and paradoxical too, that west on one hand wish to destroy Hindu family system by indoctrinating us through wokeism and on the other protect themselves by emulating and imitating precisely that. Staying under one roof and sharing all aspects of life collectively is so powerful a value system that in spite of scores of onslaughts and invasions, Hindu community stood strong, vibrant and dynamic. Family value system is certainly on decline with growing individualism under the corrosive influence of wokeism. Dialogues among family members are becoming superficial and formal with mutual bonding on the wane. Excessive emphasis on ‘inviolability’ of individual spaces under wokeism shall be detrimental to a great extent, may be irreversibly. We have drifted away from our cherished ideal of ‘Om Sahana Vavatu…May the Almighty protect and nourish us together, may we all work together with unlimited enthusiasm and may there be no hatred among us.” Mentor-mentee relationship among family members and close acquaintances must be nurtured concurrently preserving reasonable sanctity of individual spaces without excessive emphasis on inviolability.
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