Hindu ethos and the challenge of change

The contrast between the Indian social ethos and the values of a society dominated by entrepreneurs struck me as markedly distinct when I visited the United States of America the most typical of entrepreneurial societies of the West in 1963-64. While the differences between India and America stand out in bold relief and are easily recognisable, Americans are also in many ways distinct from the Europeans despite their common racial and cultural provenance. The American distinctiveness which permeates every nuance of their behaviour pattern, consists not so much in positive stipulations as in absence of restraints. As it appeared to me, much of the typical American response could be traced to the absence of an inhibiting tradition which in the older countries of Europe and Asia mask the personality. This lack of tradition accounts for much of the American naivete and sometimes child-like simplicity of their responses which make the people of the old world raise their brows in amazement and derision.

For an American for example, to receive a guest with his legs on the table does not mean, as in the rest of the world, any intention to slight him. Nothing forbids him to sit on the table with legs on the chair, an usual American practice which disturbs sense of propriety in the orient as well as in Europe. It appears to me however, that the creative leadership, highly. innovative management and an inter-personal relationship much more egalitarian than what obtains in Europe or Asia, which are the distinctive features of America today could be traced to the same source, the lack of cultural restraints that also. explains the American naivete in social relationship. Lack of inhibitions make American perceptiveness different from the same of the old world.