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Rebuilding a broken bridge. The real task of our times is to find the linkage between tradition and modernity. In other words, our task is to be able to rebuild the broken bridge between tradition and modernity and see both as processes that have common links rather than seeing then as dissociated, disconnected realities that have nothing to do with each other. When we see both as contrary and even contradictory points of orientation then we end up living an unsettling life that has always been caught in the dilemma between the two. And let us face it, we cannot live a life that consists of a perpetual struggle, at some point we do need some sort of an easy, accommodative flow in our lives. And to arrive at such a flow one of the majorly important things is to stop the notion that what is traditional is necessarily non-modern or that which is modern has to be completely opposed to the traditional norms. It is from multiple sources that one comes to the realization that tradition and modernity are but sides of the same coin and are having the same organic roots, they can be visualized in terms of steps on a staircase, which although different in terms of their location within the staircase, are nevertheless part of the same staircase and lead to the same destination or end point. Such a realization is important especially in a context such as ours, where we are constantly living between a combination of modernity and tradition, our society in India is neither totally traditional in terms of total continuation of age old customs ,values and morals nor is it a total replica of the western modernity in terms of its culture ethos or scientific achievement. This strange location that India is in, at this juncture of history makes it a very interesting observational field. This is the time when we are neither on this side or that, and yet we retain qualities of both. I don’t know how often we realize this as Indians but everyday we are successfully living in two worlds, and the way that we actually lead our lives in is a beautiful dialogue between that which is traditional and that which is modern. A lot of times, one feels that theorizing something like this complicates it rather than simplifying it, we are necessarily made to see a disjuncture between the two and the dichotomy is always written in bright red letters, but we focus very little on the silent bridges that we so naturally learn to build by our everyday actions. Because for social scientists it is conflict, contradiction and problem that are juicy for academic consumption whereas meaningful dialogue is intrinsically boring. Recently, while I was reading the annihilation of caste by Dr. BR Ambedkar I realized that here was a man who studied in renowned universities of the world like the Columbia and Oxford University, engaged with the best minds in the field of law, economics and political science and when he came back he became a messiah of the Dalits emancipating them from the age old oppression. What is interesting is that, despite his rigorous engagement with modernity he concerned and devoted himself to a cause born out of tradition. Just because he got the light of modernity, experienced what was the best of English education did he turn his back towards modernity? No, he didn’t, rather with his impressions of modernity he engaged with what was deeply embedded in tradition. Another, striking example is MK Gandhi and in fact his entire life reflects this urge to constantly strike a conversation between tradition and modernity. Amidst the numerous instances that one can think of one of the striking would be the whole idea of Gandhi being the English educated Barister from London in a time where custom prohibited the crossing of the oceans in the name of religion, he travelled all around the globe and found himself amidst leaders of great fame, he experienced the west when travel was rare for an average Indian. Such a man who had tasted modernity with its full flavors advocated the traditional symbols of charkha for indigenous cloth, salt as a symbol for the dignity of the poor man and of course he lived his life in the simplest and most humble facilities. He tasted the modern but invoked the tradition. What becomes apparent then is that tradition and modernity have but the same roots, there is need to see them as a continuum we can not afford to see them as alien projects. Because no matter how complicated the academia makes it, great men have built a bridge between the two and walked on it too. Such is the beauty and greatness of a life, that is builds a bridge between two apparently contradictory worlds and such success stories reveal the superficiality of the walls that we ourselves erect and make our lives immensely complicated. Finally, we need to understand that we are always in transition, we can not say that today we are traditional and tomorrow we shall be modern, what is our responsibility is that we always stand between the two and join hands so that we can connect our today and tomorrow. If we are unable to do this, we will unnecessarily create dichotomy, difficulty and problem but if we create the bridge that is broken, we too can travel like Gandhi or Ambedkar.
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