The proliferation of Christmas celebration in a nation like India which is apparently a Hindu nation at such scale is the direct manifestation of the impact which concentrated market forces can create among a community whose idiosyncrasies knows no end. The rational Hindu parents who are quick to give lessons to their children on Hindu festivals about its ugly practices and how it’s more about values, but leave no stone unturned in picking the best Santa costume for their children without mentioning about the historicity or validity of Jesus even in the hushed voice. Even more worrying trend is to see the newspapers reporting about Christmas celebration in schools in the nondescript towns and hinterlands where the school administration celebrates it because it has become the celebrated market gimmick.
The market value of Christmas is primarily due to its rather serene appearance and including Santa in its celebration which serves as the central attraction for children, thereby involving their parents in the entire affair too, while merely peripheral reference to Jesus makes it somehow cool for the urban rational beings. However, the magnitude of celebration is primarily driven by the market’s efforts to propagate Christmas as a legitimate festival in India which is also celebrated and anticipated by the majority, while the reality is it’s the market which made majority community believe so.
Hindus, as a group of people, have long lost the ability to critically think about anything before acting except when it comes to self-loathing and guilt tripping. While they dress their children as Santa and what not, they don’t even stop for a moment to think what they’re doing. Most of the schools almost impose it on children, precisely because none of the parents ever objected to such cultural imperialism of Christianity.
Amidst all the laughable things, the most laughable is the Christmas celebration in India Inc where the progressive and liberal employees wear oversized red coloured money caps while decorating the Christmas tree and singing jingle bells with all the devotion. I shudder to think what will be the scale of absurdity after 2 or 3 decades when probably the forces of globalization and cultural homogenization will be even stronger. The only good thing for me personally has been that nobody wished me ‘Merry Christmas’ this year as blocking is certainly effective unlike Jesus’ sacrifice for the redemption of the sin of humanity.
