Cultural Allotropy

This research work spins around the issue of cultural allotropy which we all have experienced at different levels; however a conscious realization regarding it might be missing to some extent. Centuries of political intervention and subjugation by foreign countries results in the presence of a mixed culture and this side-by-side flourishing of two cultures seems now an accepted fact a part of man's consciousness. But the presence of two contradictory sets of values-one not fully accepted and the other not totally rejected-gives rise to a difficult situation in the face of the conflicting claims of the two. This gives rise to a mixing of cultures a blend which in other words may be called cultural allotropy-that is existence of the culture of a particular region in two or more forms having different and mixed properties at the emotional or intellectual level at a given point of time. Going beyond the political subjugation in the era of globalization it has now become a matter of economic and cultural subjugation. Undoubtedly our cultural allotropy is a byproduct of modern economic compulsions also. Through different Indian English novelists I have tried to intrigue the issues via different portrayals and characters and finally posed a question What is it to be an Indian?