India: A Novela About Tradition, Modernity and Cultural Differences

Photo Credit: Trey Ratcliff, Stuck in Customs (Flickr)

If you didn’t watch India on TeleFutura last night, rest assured that it completely surpassed any of my expectations. It was only the first episode, but a lot of ground was covered. Here’s a quick recap of what happened:

Bahuan, who belongs to the dalit or “untouchable” caste, was humiliated by a prejudiced father for having approached his children who belong to the merchant caste (higher caste). Shankar, approaches the scene, defends Bahuan and decides to adopt him to give him a chance at a different life. The next time we see Bahuan, he is a young professional who just came back from a PhD program in the United States. On his first day back in Rajastan, he goes to a Hindu shrine where he meets Maya. Here the unthinkable happened. As they throw flower petals on the statue of the god/goddess to pay their respects, their hands touched and they were instantly attracted to each other.

Maya apparently comes from a relatively modern family who allows her to work the evening shift at a telemarketing company. After meeting with Bahuan for a second time, her excitement can’t be contained and she breaks into dance similar to those in Bollywood movies.  However, we soon find out that her father has been approached by a suitor who wants to marry her.

In the plot line set in Brazil, we also learn about Cadore—a pharmaceutical company that just revealed their plans to merge with an Indian company. Cadore is owned and controlled by Raul and Ramiro Cadore. Raul is clearly unhappy with this life and is on the verge of a mid-life crisis.  On the other hand, Ramiro is a man who seems to be a bit of a workaholic and very ambitious. To his dismay, his son Tarso, is not at all interested in following in his father’s steps.

Lastly, another important character we were introduced to was Raj. Rash is an Indian businessman whose family has always made a living as manufacturers of Indian textiles. While visiting Brazil, however, he fell in love with Duda--a problem for his very traditional Hindu family. When he travels back to India he encounters pressure from his family to get married to an Indian girl who can pass on their tradition to his future children.

The first episode was truly captivating! Not only were we introduced to the underlying tensions between different social classes within Indian society, but we are also subtly introduced to the tension between tradition and modernity. In this episode, real topics are not avoided but rather discussed in a realistic way. The perfect example of this is Bahuan’s surprise to see all the changes India has been through--in particular the new (outsourced) industry of telemarketing. Similarly, through Raj’s storyline we also see how Indians attempt to maintain their identity as they encounter the West.