Confused Desis

Few months ago I met a young man who recently came to Toronto from India in pursuit of a new career and a new life. He had that anxiety in eyes which reminded me of my own arrival here. He'z hard working, down to earth and was clear about what to accomplish in his new phase of life.

That was his first overseas trip and soon started to feel left out or a kinda inferior to the local Caucasians and local born and brought up desi diaspora in dress, behavior, cuisine, english accent and other ways of life and started to desperately own the local attributes soon. Nothing wrong in getting used to local ways of life, but in a bid to get completely into it, started ridiculing desi attitude or as he calls it "brown attitude".

And there came a day when he loathed a very sight of "desi crowd" or "desi neighborhoods" without realizing that desi crowds are formed by people like him. He feels shy to be a part of get togethers and cultural programmes which even remotely talk about Indian-ness. He calls Toyota Camry as a desi car and associates the word "desi" to every possible caricature describing Indian. And he is not the only case.

There are many such people for whom Indian movies, Indian groceries, Indian restaurants are a big no-no. Few kids start avoiding lunch boxes from homes as they might feel inferior to their firang friends while eating "brown food".

While I'm not a jingoist who vehemently believes in chanting 'Mera Bharat Mahaan' at every given opportunity, I'm quite amused at this kind of 'disowning' behavior of certain class of NRIs. I agree India is not the greatest country in this world and neither are our accent, cuisines, movies, etiquette, tastes the best, but does that mean you start hating that ?

Its OK to avoid if one genuinely doesn't like these Indian flavors, but despising just to be a part of mainstream is a symptom of confused and sheep mentality. Changing our identity and personality to appease somebody else is pathetic and ludicrous.

Though we change everything about our lifestyle, though we forgo Diwali, Dusshera and start celebrating only Halloween and Thanksgiving; we can't change our skin, our lineage and our ancestry. Whatever we are, we have our roots and origin. Irrespective of the fact if it is great or not, we are products of that origin. And we don't need to be the best or greatest to feel proud of that or own that.

I'm brown, I look and talk like a brown guy, my tastes and attitude reflect my upbringing and the environment I'm brought up in and I never felt sorry about my background or never felt a need to justify my stance or appease anybody...and I'm successful in this alien land.

PS: Also read my other post in this blog by the subject line "Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani" where I presented my opinion on other extreme :)

Sooperstitious, huh !!!

FIFA World Cup 2010 ended. But this tournament will be known more for "Octopus Paul" than the talent and hardwork of all those 32 teams. News sources throughout the world went gaga over the eight legged creature and so did tabloids, grapevine, bar-tables, facebook, twitter etc. Predictions of Paul notwithstanding, millions across continents started to believe the forecast, countries started proposing state security et al and funnily none of these people agree they are superstitious..lolll.

When a creature selects one among the two given options and it happens to be correct, why can't that be a coincidence ? Isn't it rational. Agree that the series of "predictions" went correct but does that provide a proof for the psyche of an octopus ? How about the movements of 22 people of 2 teams, their passes, dives, cards, goals..will none of these affect the match outcome ? Will the octopus display restraint if a non playing team is given as one of the choices or both ? There are people who win for 20 succeeding hands in Poker, can they predict anything ?

Thinking on a broader spectrum, am always amused to see the astrology / tarot card predictions given in newspapers everyday. They sometimes say Taureans will be successful in whatever they take up that day. Does that mean all millions of Taureans across the world can do anything and find success that day ? Linda Goodman wrote books on compatibility and behavior of people belonging to various zodiac signs, does that mean all Taureans get along with all Taureans and go against all Geminians ?

Nostradamus and our very own Veerabrahmendra Swamy predicted a lot of generic things which are anyways bound to happen. And people started at looking them as guiding forces. Didn't their predictions too, go wrong?

Did anybody ever wonder why predictors of various degrees, right from astrologers to palmists, match makers, numerologists, clairvoyants, fengshui experts, psychics, magician swamijis who claim to be knowing and predicting everything leading a not so successful life ?

Future is something which happens due to various activities and decisions taken by a lot of people and forces involved. Future is not a definite thing to predict, that may be changed with any change in the action committed by anyone. So NOBODY can claim what future can be unless and until all these forces resulting in something can be controlled.

Future can neither be predicted and nor can it be influenced by any other super natural powers except the forces in our control and reach. Stars, planets their positions and orbits can balance the Universe and thats astronomy. But they can't decide the outcome of somebody's destiny based on the time of their birth and time of marriage. Stars and galaxies don't have time to do that for billions of creatures on the earth !

Now am going to write something which might not go into the good books of most people who have been programmed by the family, society and community as a whole.

I don't deny or debate the existence of a supernatural-power (GOD) which is behind the existence, balancing and continuous support of this mighty universe and life on it; but am the last to agree if anybody says that we can influence this mighty One by praying, performing rituals, vratams, requesting for favors, thanking for results etc.

The belief and faith of God has been introduced to us by our previous generations in order to promote virtue and overcome vice. Any superstition is good only until it affects our psyche, behavior, thought and personality in a negative way. Period !

PS: I understand that these are sensitive issues and if I hurt anybody through this article, its absolutely unintentional. Its my personal opinion.