India, the el dorado of the ancient world, has a history of colonial domination and orientalism that have long defined the length and breadth of the country, quite literally.

This great land of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, which was once revered as the richest country in the world, not just in wealth, but also in knowledge, literature and the pure stream of intellect, was reduced to a paltry ‘just another third world country on the world map’. India, today, has become more synonymous among the majority of ‘Westerners’ as the land of mystics and serpent charmers.

Before the British arrived, India’s share of the world economy was a staggering 23%; by the time they left, it was down to less than 4%. Several factors became responsible for the loss of the country’s prestige during the 150 years of British rule. The major contributor was the constructed and carefully connived dismantling of India’s indigenous industries.

Now, one might wonder why all this information is being talked of. Why and how is this anyway important to the concept of modern globalization?

Globalization is the internationalization of ideas, goods, capital, commodities and people. It is the evergreen cliff on which global trade, economics and cooperation finely hangs. When dealing with the first aim of globalization, the focus lies substantially on the industrial economics and hence, it follows that some illumination on the Indian industries is crucial.

In pre-industrial times, Indian industries relied mostly on the skilled craftsmen, who were renowned worldwide to weave sarees so fine and thin that they could be rolled inside one single flute! When the British arrived in India, their first step at domination encompassed the destruction of these very industries by horrifyingly burning the looms and severing the fingers of the workmen, maiming them for life, in turn, powering their own machine weaving industries by transporting large raw materials from India. It is safe to say, actually, that the entire British industrial revolution was premised upon the deindustrialization of Indian craftsmanship.

Globalization has brought stiff competition among countries worldwide and it is this very competition that determines the industrial efficiency and hence, the development index of the country, and ours is still a developing country. Why? Because we, as a country, have simply and quite plainly forgotten the richness of our pre-colonial industries and let them drift into ignorance to such an extent that they’re at the cusp of total extinction. Countries in the west have moved towards automation, and hence we believe too that we must do the same, but what we don’t realise is that several of these western countries never saw the light of such skilled workmen since their conception and grew in the ‘industrial age’, unlike our country which already possessed such flourishing industries that dominated world trade. But, in an aim to globalize, we’ve let those industries decay and die, and through the game of imitating the west, forgotten our very identity.

Globalization also includes the exchange of human resource and ideas. The Indian diaspora is ubiquitous and hence, it also follows that we, as people, should tell the world about the richness of our country and come up with effective solutions, that put India on the map once again, as a formidable force.

Globalization was conceptualized to create a global, uniform platform, however, sadly, it has led to great commonality; where every country is trying the same techniques to improve and boost global production and ideas. And, in this process, there has been a blatant ignorance of one’s own culture, heritage and tradition. People, today, are so busy in conforming to the commonality begot by globalization, that they’ve turned towards a complete and total disregard for their roots. Metaphorically, they were all given a similar mask to wear in the name of globalization, and their faces have grown to fit them.

Due to this denial, the air of bravery that our freedom fighters and revolutionaries possessed and the spirit of becoming a global power again, have turned into dust. We fail to appreciate the richness of our land, of our forefathers and take our independence for granted.

It is hereby, important to reckon that we were not served independence on a silver plate; we had to steal it and snatch it and it was conceded with great reluctance. Conceive being in prison for a week, with no family, no food, because you did not shut your loom and continued to work for a living to feed your stomach. How would that one week feel? Extend that suffering for a year, two years and then one realizes a speck of the nature of colonial oppression that lasted for a century and a half.

Today, globalization has even made its foray into the food industry. People have turned towards modern food items and we’re moving towards, what I believe, would soon be called an ‘international cuisine’- a bit of everything from everywhere on one plate. We’re becoming more and more ‘westernized’. But it will be shocking to learn how ten to twelve million people died due to British induced famines in Bengal because the English forces would not allow the essential supplies to be diverted to a ‘paltry, slave’ country like India instead of filling their own granaries for surplus storages. Such peevish behavior clearly speaks volumes of the abhorrence that they deserve, but the mass ignorance that has crept due to the manic desire to be ‘international and inclusive’ has blinded our visions and made us severely myopic.