Twisted
Indian middle class is many things. one of it is being insanely twisted in its logic and morality. let me give you a few examples.
1. a friend was telling me how a relative of hers questioned her staying in andheri saying 'all the girls in andheri smoke.. u want to smoke that's why you want to stay in andheri.'
:P hilarious, yes. but i cannot begin to fathom the way we micro-stereotype everything, especially about women and 'behavior'.
2. while in a group, we were discussing how Urdu had evolved in India and its rich heritage.then the discussion veered to, how urdu is not the native language of Kashmir, with ladakhis, dogris and kashmiri being the most spoken.(this was in context of compulsory education of Urdu to ladakhi kids whose mother tounge is not Urdu.) all of a sudden, a apparently well educated engineer amongst us says 'they should ban urdu'.. asked why, he said 'because this is hindustan. why advocate a muslim language' i was left speechless.. its not just ignorance, but wrong and horrendous and sinister on so many levels. should i decipher the regressive hindutva propaganda at work here? should we be witness to the cultural identity being mangled with religious/caste politics? what right do a bunch of people sipping beer in Goa have, trying to put nationalistic graffiti on a culture and land far from them? it is these people that defines nation's mood to issues of national importance.
(thankfully, he was silenced with a quick repartee from a girl who said 'Ur statement isn't becoming of you being educated')
3. and the host of 'good girls..' assumptions.
I am trying to make a list of all such assumptions and twisted logics.. please share here if you know any.
1. a friend was telling me how a relative of hers questioned her staying in andheri saying 'all the girls in andheri smoke.. u want to smoke that's why you want to stay in andheri.'
:P hilarious, yes. but i cannot begin to fathom the way we micro-stereotype everything, especially about women and 'behavior'.
2. while in a group, we were discussing how Urdu had evolved in India and its rich heritage.then the discussion veered to, how urdu is not the native language of Kashmir, with ladakhis, dogris and kashmiri being the most spoken.(this was in context of compulsory education of Urdu to ladakhi kids whose mother tounge is not Urdu.) all of a sudden, a apparently well educated engineer amongst us says 'they should ban urdu'.. asked why, he said 'because this is hindustan. why advocate a muslim language' i was left speechless.. its not just ignorance, but wrong and horrendous and sinister on so many levels. should i decipher the regressive hindutva propaganda at work here? should we be witness to the cultural identity being mangled with religious/caste politics? what right do a bunch of people sipping beer in Goa have, trying to put nationalistic graffiti on a culture and land far from them? it is these people that defines nation's mood to issues of national importance.
(thankfully, he was silenced with a quick repartee from a girl who said 'Ur statement isn't becoming of you being educated')
3. and the host of 'good girls..' assumptions.
I am trying to make a list of all such assumptions and twisted logics.. please share here if you know any.
Comments
i love urdu more than i love hindi
i find it beautiful on paper, urdu is not a muslim language yaar and i do not understand this hindu mislim ...may god grant some 'sadbuddhi' to that engg. heheh!
amen.
@zoo
totally. there was this another guy, who asked me pointedly 'are you a hindu?'.. he knew my name, it was my liberal (in some opinions, extreme) thoughts that he was questioning. as if hinduism too has some bloody text to be adhered to and i am going against everything written in it.
different worlds are wonderful, but its sad when they build walls between them.
all the foreigners (i.e. all white people) are degenerate, promiscuous, drunken, bastards without any culture... at the same time they have the best of technology and knowledge and resources which BTW they have got only coz all the Indian kids who went abroad to work for them...
our 'patriotism' is usually busy finding excuses for our inadequacies and making fanciful assumptions.
and the one about ... culture and relationships are a forte of only indians. ridiculous.
our 'patriotism' is usually busy finding excuses for our inadequacies and making fanciful assumptions.
and the one about ... culture and relationships are a forte of only indians. ridiculous.
amen.
@zoo
totally. there was this another guy, who asked me pointedly 'are you a hindu?'.. he knew my name, it was my liberal (in some opinions, extreme) thoughts that he was questioning. as if hinduism too has some bloody text to be adhered to and i am going against everything written in it.
different worlds are wonderful, but its sad when they build walls between them.