Desitude

The feeling is fleeting and yet for the mere seconds that the thought lasts you realize that you are watching the evolution of a generation that claims to be less corrupt and one that is equipped to take on the world. At the same time you notice that this so called generation has a thick pseudo american accent, ideas are plenty but do they apply to us [Indians] and whether this flash of insight was just a piece read in the news paper?

Seriously after having moved to Bangalore I have started noticing things that weren’t so evident in Mysore. Things like a person’s attitude towards people – In case you are dressed up like a westerner you evidently have brains. [because you need to have brains to have a very well coordinated psychedelic wardrobe.] Any one clad in salwar kameez or anything remotely Indian is “ Oh! so still living in the dark ages!”.

Anyone who speaks English is smart. Anyone who speaks Hindi is a gawar.

Anyone who paints her nails black, bottle green or red is again super cool. Any one who has applied mehndi on their hands is so tacky.

I see a Generation that is lost and confused. I wonder who put such ideas into their skulls. [yeah skulls, if they had a brain I am sure there would have been some “processing of ideas” happening there. Since such a process is obviously lacking I am going to say that idea rammed into their skulls.]

It is very dejecting to see that we are all so shallow and yet speak of making a change. Change the general perpective of the way people look at our country. What are we showing the rest of the world? That we are extremely good at mimicking them? Damn it from our laws to the procedures followed to our day to day habits we are only mimicking someone.

The fact is and I truly believe that people are ashamed of being Indians. Now where does shame step in is hard to know. But what else could it be?

I see people struggling to talk English and the very same people can belt out speeches in hindi/kannada/their mother tongue. But you get the drift don’t you? Before anyone says that English is important as it is the one language that binds the whole world – pause – I am not saying one should not learn English. My point here is that one should not be encouraged to learn only English.

Now coming to dressing ourselves. Do we really have to be in skirts and trousers? Can’t we dress up in salwars/saris? I think these are formal and Indian at the same time. Plus we get to stand out in the crowd. Rather why can’t people come to a compromise about the way they dress? Should we really have to give up our identity to be approved by someone else? Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just educate someone of our culture? Why are we imposing so many standards and rules on ourselves when we already have enough?

Does imitating someone make us as good as or better than them? I think not. Come on if I haven’t convinced you yet, think – these days you find people who learn the guitar/keyboard or the drums – find anyone who is learning the tabla/mridhung/flute/sitar/veena? Ah… see you are nodding now or at least wondering about it aren’t you?

So the westerners use forks and spoons as do we. I think dinning table etiquettes are important but please don’t maul a dosa like you would a chicken. Some of our dishes are best eaten with hands. There is nothing primitive about using your hands for what they were actually meant. I had the joy of watching a girl use a knife and fork on her masala dosa which eventually landed on her lap. The looser and I just had to laugh loud enough for her to hear us.

The looser is a brilliant example when it comes to being totally desi. People in B'lore talk to him in Hindi. He politely switches to Telgu. Fact about the looser is that he is from the north but speaks excellent Telgu. The auto drivers are usually shocked when they hear him talk and then they begin pouring out their woes about communicating with the locals who refuse to talk in kannada and show off their pseudo firangi accents.

I could go on and on. I most certainly will but not now. More in the upcoming post.