URBAN COFFEE SHOPS are concrete and human barometers for measuring the accelerating cultural decay propelled by the ninth generation of a deracinated Hindu society. In fact, the emergence of these coffee shops and cafes (Caffè? Cafè?) is one of the ubiquitous markers of the Hindu society’s joyous surrender to the sexed-up forces of American capitalism, which quietly uproots culture using the axe of money and enforces an invisible but sinister homogenity. These urban spaces are akin to an eerie kaleidoscope. What you see therein are shards of a shattered society. These are watering holes for a directionless horde, permanent carnivals that have no festival to celebrate and in general, these are abodes of the “mass of men who lead lives of quiet desperation.”
The urban coffee shop phenomenon forayed into India in the misty dawn of the Americanisation of Bharatavarsha — or what is known as liberalisation and globalisation in the sophisticated echelons. It was unsurprisingly helmed by the deceased son-in-law of a deceased former Chief Minister of Karnataka. It was also unsurprisingly a cheap rip-off of Starbucks. The maiden outlet of Cafe Coffee Day which opened its Brigade Road doors in 1996, birthed an urban epidemic which has infiltrated even tier-two towns and highways over the last three decades.
Coffee shops, cafes, bistros, pâtisseries and a burgeoning bevy of unpronounceable names are miniature worlds in themselves. Almost every urban neighbourhood has one or more of these, some commanding a fanatical clientele. These are also standing addas for an impossible motely, which includes thuggish real-estate “brokers,” aspiring writers and musicians, employee-poachers, start-up idea-pitchers, lawyers, loan sharks, lovers… and slick Christian evangelists.
The demographic sprawl of the service staff of these outlets, especially in large cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore, reveals a separate story by itself.
Two real-life incidents narrate the practical dimensions of this story.
Lunchtime crowd in a classy, upmarket coffee shop in Bangalore. A group of six youngsters have just taken their seats around a large polished wooden table. After minimal discussion, they place their lunch order comprising dishes that have names in several alien languages — presumably French, Italian and Spanish. A clean-shaven, American-looking guy with stylish gold-rimmed glasses and brilliantly coiffured hair is the clear leader of the group. His whole demeanour exudes slickness, sophistication and polish.
The rest are middle-class Hindus who are unmistakably in awe of him.
The group is meeting to discuss an idea for some random start-up. But before they begin, Mr. Slick, in a deliberate and practised motion, slowly lifts both his hands up in the air, slowly takes off his specs, places it on the wooden table and flashes a disarming smile of enforced charm at the rest. Then he speaks in a comforting tone: “Can we all please pray for a minute so God can bless our meeting with success?” His unprepared target audience has no clue that it has already been trapped psychologically. It complies. Mr. Slick then closes his eyes and starts to mutter some Christian prayer. The others are clueless about what he’s saying but they keep their eyes closed.
Lunchtime. Another day. Another cafe. Different locality. It is the month of Ramzan. A tall, stocky and thickly bearded man takes his seat and signals to a teenaged waiter wearing a big Tilak. Mr. Beard appears to be a regular and the waiter’s body language conveys familiarity, respect and awe. Mr. Beard places his order. Some kind of juice or sherbet. Then the two embark upon a brief conversation in Hindi. The thick accent of the teenaged waiter suggests that he’s from either Bengal or Assam. He concludes the conversation with gushing admiration for Mr. Beard’s piety and steely discipline of maintaining his Roza — the teenager and not Mr. Beard, utters the word Roza — and says that he wishes to be like Mr. Beard.
HOW DID THE HINDU SOCIETY reach this abyss? How did we get to a place where an increasing chunk of Hindus not only regards Islam as superior to Sanatana Dharma, but seeks to emulate it? Since when we did allow ourselves to suspend our critical faculties, forget our traumatic history and fall into the snare set by Evangelists of all hues?
The current state of the Hindu society is akin to a headless chicken. We seem to resemble dried branches that have forgotten that they belong to a perennial tree which has very ancient roots.
This analogy is best reflected in the innumerable Jāti-based Maṭhas throughout the country. While these Maṭhas have always existed, their transformation, especially over the last four decades, has been stunning to say the least. A substantial mass of these Maṭhas openly deny the evident truth that they are components of the embracive cosmos of Sanatana Dharma. Several among them are either beholden to or are scared of politicians. Others are corrupt beyond belief. If this isn’t enough, a good number of Maṭhas are actually oblivious to the cancer of Christian conversions, which have already consumed thousands of their former devotees. Almost a majority of our Maṭhādhipati-s haven’t even read the core scriptural doctrines of both the Abrahamisms.
Another alarming trend over the last two decades is the emergence of Maṭhādhipati-s who are armed with nothing higher or deeper than a University M.A. in Sanskrit or Kannada or Telugu. Such Maṭhādhipati-s are also heading some of our traditional Maṭhās. Then there is the other crop of self-styled Swamis and Yoga Gurus who have repackaged some of the most profound elements of Sanatana philosophy to build sprawling empires of sin and materialism. The few Maṭhādhipati-s who are genuinely learned and committed to Sanatana Dharma and are alert to the threats to its survival have become voices in the wilderness. Likewise, true Jnanis outside the realm of Maṭhās and similar institutions have not only been rendered voiceless but are actively discouraged from speaking.
This appalling downfall of the Hindu society is not accidental; it is the logical outcome of the operation of a potent combination of forces dating back to the second half of the 18th century (an era that has been grossly understudied). The sparks which were lit back then have now become a nationwide conflagaration consuming the entire Hindu society at a rapidly accelerating pace in unprecedented ways.
The next episode of this series will examine the historical and contemporary trajectory of these forces.
To be continued
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