Friday, September 16, 2011

India(North) Vs India (South)

As many of you did, I recently came across "An Open Letter to Delhi Boy" by Ms Shahana Nair Joshi. It was a brilliant, witty, stereotypical racist joke on a particular community, in this case Delhites( Punjabis to be More specific). I felt it was humourous and personally felt nothing offensive though i felt that the language was too harsh for a public outburst in a private domain, as in this case A BLOG.

Being from the South myself, i was in for a cultural shock when i visited Delhi for the first time. I can quite relate to what the author was saying pretty, much sums up my opinion about the same. Even i cud not understand as to 1.Why one should fall (prostrate)at the feet of anyone elderly 2. Why one should not eat Non Veg on Tuesday 3.Why People play loud music with Big Speakers 4. Why people pour coloured water on you inspite of you not being interested in Holi 5. Why every modern Girl is a Slut and Why every seedha girl was a behenji 6.Why one should not say TERI in front of parents but can greet "Oye Behenchod" for no apparent reason.7. Why eating with Hand was a crime 8.on why the language of south was Madrasi and all the southies madrasi
A host of other cultural shocks.

But personally i didn't feel offended by any of these things any time, i felt it was an oppurtunity to accept that other cultures also exist. All cultures are not like my own, there are different cultures out there each strikingly different from my own and having equal right to be present in this world. That didn't however stop me from sharing the occasional Racist Joke with my Telugu friends, ridiculing other cultures( a bit of racist in everyone). But i guess it is called racism if it is out in the open. My personal belief says, there are only two kinds of people in the world............1. People who are racist 2. People who dont show that they are racist

Having said that my disregard to a few cultural aspects of other cultures haven't stopped me from forging interesting( if not long lasting) friendships.

For ex: Digvijay Singh, with whom i have the Usual Delhi Bashing fight with.
Kaustubh Bijalwan, whose ethnicity, i dont know as yet
Suman BIHARI kumar, who spells Shah Rukh Khan as Saa Ruk Khan

These 3 are just to name a few, and we dont agree on many counts..........Digvijay ridicules my south film fascination just as i ridicule his DELHI roots

I dont agree on a lot of counts with a host of other people, but that doesnot stop me from making new aquaintainces(dont know if thats the right spelling).

i loathe Rajma Chawal, have no liking for sarson ka saag and the punjabi cuisine in general,cant stand babbu mann, make fun of the"Flaunt it" attitude

But iam willing to accept the fact that not many people like my(or other southies) 1.Film fixation 2. geeky nature 3.cold attitude 4.Lack of fun 5. coconut oil 6. dark skin 7. idli dosa 8. eating with hands 9. speaking an alien language etc

Just as i have every right to dislike and ridicule, i do accept the fact that even they do and probably even i wud had i been in their shoes.

So i believe that RACIST is there in everyone of us. It is nothing to be ashamed of. It's very natural to expect we are on the right track and everyone else is a fool. saying that "we are not racist" is a lol joke, everyone is a racist. But i guess it is called RACISM only if u want to enforce it,which probably u shudn't be doing.

There is reason as to why every culture is the way it is. The South being unaffected by any invasions, the people are much less aggressive in general and the north being invaded so many times needed valour and aggression to defend their identity . Factors like these have shaped a region's identity.

Yes, i do not accept , infact ridicule other cultures.......but iam willing to accept the fact that they have every right to exist just as any other. The racist never lies dormant you see

I think the best way forward for humanity is to either be united as ONE (Impossible) or to be divided into individuals(possible). If the society is fragmented into units as small as individuals we wud have far lesser problems than as groups.

The power of self centered thinking will help man progress much more than what group/community based thinking does.

I finally sign off by saying that stereotypes dont exist without a reason and the Girl's description of a typical DELHI BOY stereotype was to the T...........as perfect and accurate as other stereotyped descriptions i see of Bongus,Chinkis,Gultes,Mallus and Gujjus.

But the point is dont let it come in way of your everyday life..................Feel free to disagree but dont be foolish to speak out( like that girl and me)

P.S: I loved that girl's inhibhited care free nature. Good or Bad ,she spoke her mind. A quality lacking severely in today's women.Girl's please try to be like her because

Intelligence is the new SEXY