Culture remains at the core of our social and political discourse with innumerable instances of sweeping changes orchestrating plurality beyond the familiar domains of traditional canon. Our local products and traditional occupations have started to disappear with the sudden hysteria of a few global brands and their innovative but refurbished formulae of the local products seem to occupy the centrestage.
It is absolutely fathomable to distinguish the constructs of the modern media ads from the actuality of our traditional occupations such as pottery, tree climbers, artisans, craftsmen, fishing, fetching ferries, local weavers, butchers, sculptors, animal husbandry, tailoring, carpentry, temple architect, street food/vegetable vendors, local hairstylists, farm labourers and local beauticians besides several others. There could be some breathing space for these traditional occupations to strive beyond the consumerist culture. Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II once said: “Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves–from our recklessness or our greed.”
Dynasty brings several insights of the past experiences with immediate relevance, as we need to systematize our multicultural collaborations. It could be done wisely with the aid and counselling rendered by the royalists who have been dealing with social and political issues swiftly. The domain of diplomacy can be enriched with the experience and expertise of the royal families besides the highly qualified diplomats who have studied the international relationships. Our democratic polity can also be directly benefitted too from our political or business dynasts contributing their best for the development with the aid of their networks.
The quest for a channelised network of communication will certainly become a far-fetched reality if ever we ignore the trustworthy relationships nurtured by the dynasts for decades rather than centuries. However, the supremacy of democratic polity usurps the pinnacles of dynastic disillusion with power and sometimes its limitations to reach out to the voiceless sections of the marginalised communities too. It seems otherwise when the elected politicians thrive upon mere campaigns of publicity without making much sense of what it is to be participative and open-minded democrats.
The conceptual domain of dynastic synergy imbibes loyalty and trustworthy relationships beyond any doubt. It is the legacy of universal love and noble democratic heritage enriched by the Monarchy of the United Kingdom. His Majesty, the King Charles III of the United Kingdom, will undoubtedly strive to accomplish the greatest legacy of his mother, the Queen Elizabeth II with benevolence, integrity and humane compassion. The cultural and social values of the Monarchy will certainly enhance the integrity and unity of England, Scotland and Ireland.
The bedrock of democracy stands on the legacy of its leaders who can channelise any social change with utmost transparency and humility. The cradle of democratic governance is rooted in the free and fair elections held without any sort of favouritism or nepotism enmeshed in the social fabric of communal hatred and social bias. Nevertheless, some illustrious legal luminaries advocate the need for highly transparent system of representative democracy wherein the marginal sections of the society gear up with legal and legislative representation through indiscriminate consultation in policy making. Is there a scope for representative legislative assembly today to silence the despotic leviathans within the political parties?
The pluralist nature of our ethos demonstrates the beauty of social harmony, unity in diversity and integrity of our social wisdom. The first Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru advocated economic empowerment through democracy in a seminar on February 25,1956 by stating it as follows: “democracy has been spoken of chiefly in the past as political democracy, roughly represented by every person having a vote. But a vote by itself does not represent very much to a person who is down and out, to a person, let us say, who is starving or hungry. Political democracy by itself is not enough except that it may be used to obtain a gradually increasing measure of economic democracy, equality and the spread of good things of life to others and removal of gross inequalities. (Source: www, mainstreamweekly.net on 16 November,2016).”
There could be another recession on the anvil as we see sudden fall of the global oil prices and downfall of the rupee and pound sterling against the dollar. Legacies become untenable when people find the politicians try to indulge in extravaganza. Japanese government is spending around 1.65 billion yen for the state funeral of the former president of Japan, Shinzo Abe, which has attracted a wide spread criticism of the tax payers on the reckless expenditure of Japan during the phase of economic crisis.
The Supreme Court of India has started live streaming of its constitutional bench hearings from 27/September/2022, which creates a legacy of change par excellence through remarkable transparency on what kind of legal and ethical discourse is in the currency of its proceedings. The supremacy of legalism dwells on the ideals of universal or social ethics, which could sometimes disengage the limitations of unaccountable exercises of power over legal framework.
Legalism wins over the hearts and minds of people only when social conscience and jurisprudence remain unaffected by any sort of moral ambivalence or social disenchantment with constitutional integrity. Even the High Courts and the District Courts could step into the legacy of absolute transparency by looking at the exemplary model of live streaming of the Supreme Court of India. It points out the emergence of a new vista of public scrutiny on how our judicial system is ready to open up its rigid gates of legal discourse with legitimate probity.
Ecological changes want us strive for global unity in protecting our environmental hazards by limiting the use of non-biodegradable materials from everyday use. Are we serious enough to prevent such inorganic packaging materials polluting our Mother Earth? How do we uphold changes in our life style by using recyclable materials in our day-to-day life without being a source of soil or air pollution? It could be a lovely legacy for our posterity if ever we are highly dedicated to think beyond the immediate uses of inorganic packing or packaging materials. Let us recall the famous line of John Keats from his Sonnet XV – On The Grasshopper and Cricket: “The poetry of earth is never dead.”
Mangalaprathaban Muralidharan is a corporate trainer, course developer and curriculum consultant.