Things are done due to a reason, when the reason is lost then it becomes Culture.
We hear regularly how we need to preserve heritage and culture. How our (can be anyone's) culture is great and it needs to be protected. It is a very broad term - Culture. It loosely contains everything from language, customs, religion, the way people carry a conversation, food, clothing, history, mindset of a group of people, movies, dances, traditions, country etc.
This is a lot like - Conservatives Vs Progressives argument, Conservatives are worried to preserve Culture, but the problem is just like anything else, the culture is ever changing thing. It will change as people change, and Culture will be lost as caveman stories as it gets old and useless. Culture is basically used in terms of things that are not useful anymore but still have a sentimental value to it.
So, it is simple, there will be things that will be lost in the way people live and new things will get adopted, with world becoming connected, things will get lost quickly and there is nothing you can do about it. Obviously, if you think a language or a dance form was something that has a lot of enjoyment and skill to offer and should not be lost, you can always make an effort to exhibit it and keep it alive by working on displaying the craft, but if it is not getting valued, it is what it is. It is natural, and there will be things that will get taken which are technically inferior and there are things that will get lost which probably are technically stronger. It is way more complicated than Darwin's theory of survival of fittest, in culture there are too many factors working on a cultural strand getting lost. Few of the factors are - politics, power, usability, technology, progress, regression, etc. For example, Language - English is probably technically one of the worst languages, it is the least mathematical language, you can't look at the written word and pronounce unless you know how it is said, it also has all sorts of words taken from many languages, as compared to any other old languages, which have none of the problems and have rock solid rules they are structured on. Still English is the language of the world, and many superior languages are dead or not progressing at all. So the point is - when you see something dying that is not a proof of that thing being somehow inferior, it is what it is, due to multiple factors acting on everything, things happen.
Same is the case with clothing - if new kids think they need to wear jeans instead of a sari, or a suit then so it is. That does not reflect anything of a disrespect for previous ways of clothing. No set of people live there lives to make a statement and hence choose to wear something that they don't want to. Because before sari, or dhoti, there were leaves people used to wear proudly, but they gave way to other things.
Let's take one last example, many times there are things people do in religious customs that has a sound logic to it, like taking bath in the morning before entering kitchen / temple etc. It can be explained as being health, hygiene related. There are many things that have no logic (you choose your own), that when enquired meets with an answer - this is our culture, do it! That is the sign that it is on it's way out, when you can't explain something, it should go.
Point is - if you are worried about Culture getting lost, it is sign that you are getting old, don't waste your time complaining, let the world be and do what you want to do.
