Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 12:45:31 -0400 
From: Sudha Neelakantan <sn00+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: sari, churidar, etc. (why should I.....?!)



s910700@yallara.cs.rmit.OZ.AU (Mareena Joseph) writes:

[lots of stuff deleted]
> and don't even try a glass of beer???!!!' .....Infact, I'm fed up answering 
> these stupid questions......I'm what I'm; I've got my culture, the way I was 
> brought up, my own principles.....sometimes I use to give the answer
> (bit cheaky one),
> 'see i want to be feminine by all means; jeans & stuff will give you a bit
> of masculine appearance; after all i came here not to spoil my life, but to
> study; when i finish my studies and go back (incase), i want to be
> the same whom
> i was when i left india.....etc....'
>   Don't think that i'm a country-type (indian phrase) person _ i do
> wear western
> type clothes, but not any cheap-look giving ones or any jeans or stuff like 
> that
> ....why should i be influenced by any foreign cultures??!!! i'm not at all
> embarrassed to be an indian, but i'm very proud, 
> extremely proud. so why should
> i worry about copying the westerners in all sense and proving them that we,
> indians, are inferior to their people, and adapting their culture in every
> manner, we are trying to be in the same level as they are ! 
> why should i throw
> away my culture, the ancient and sacred culture ?! what ever changes we make
> in our appearance or in our life style, we still are indians, and will be 
> considered as indians only. And you know, 
> educated westerners feel those asians
> who are trying to copy them as real clowns, just like stupid clowns (i know

I think that you miss a very basic point about change.  I see a lot of
stuff about clothes that make you look cheap etc... but that is
definitely a function of the mores of that society.  at that point in
time.  Just because my great grandmothers,  and yes, I'm sure yours too
never wore a blouse their whole lives that you or I walk around
wearing a saree/mundu without a blouse now.  If you are a south indian
how come you're corrupted into wearing north indian clothes like a
salwar or churidar?  I know friends of my parents from the old school
who would not permit their children to wear north indian clothes --
they felt that divided legs are not feminine or gracious.

When my aunt went to the Phillipines she could not wear a saree
because to expose even an inch of midriff -- and she wears long
blouses regardless of the fashion -- was considered extremely
suggestive/obscene there.

I am not suggesting that you give up wearing indian clothes -- just
that you are narrowminded to dismiss those who do adopt western
clothes as being traitors to their culture.  what one does need to
cultivate is an empathy for all cultures.  this feeling of avid
nationalism is too holier than thou.  I have many western friends
who wear any indian clothes they have when they come over and whatever

Further,  I find that my western friends are more sensitive to my being
a vegetarian than some indians i know(who tend to be dismissively
sympathetic or look at me like i'm a fundamentalist)  so in that sense i
agree with you about their intolerance to your keeping your culture. 
but you are making the same mistake when you demean their " aping
western culture"  get a clue -- this is a definitely multicultural
society and rigidly holding on to any past mores will get you absolutely
nowhere.  You need to realise that culture goes beyond skindeep or
clothes deep or food deep.  those are important components but not the
only ones.  the much more important components and many will agree with
me on this is the often misused catchword -- in the US anyway especially
since its election time -- "family values".  What I most value about my
so called "Indianness" is my ability to treasure our strong familial
ties and support of each other, which extends to beyond just the
immediate family.
this is infact not even uniquely indian -- it seems to be asian.

> who like to appear like westerners are ashamed of being indians, and that 
> they
> won't answer their questions, as they don't like any questions on india). I 
did you stop to think that they might have other reasons than just being
ashamed of being indian?  i know that as a new immigrant in the USA i
resented the fact that americans were in general blissfully ignorant of
anything beyond their backyards but we fulfilled their expectations of
atleast possessing a base knowledge of their western culture? i saw the
effects of neo-colonialism at work there.  the atmosphere in school is
of course very different and much more friendly

[stuff deleted]
> girls won't go to the pubs and they won't muckaround with any boys, i mean

morals and religious bases for things like that are not exclusive to
indians.  more conservative mormon or catholic or other christian
environments promote the same ideals.  and don't you in the least resent
a society which has double standards for men and women?  

> indian girls born and brought up in india - i know this is wrong in the big 
> cities nowadays, but i didn't want to give them a bad impression on india),
> and why indians cannot ????? i had heard a lot of criticisms from many
indians
> (those are from india !!!!), and only from indians; i really feel sorry for
> them, and i'm realizing the fact that the days of lord Rama is history, and
> the community where girls were very well protected and considered as own 
> sisters has changed a lot, indeed a great lot !
you *are* naive aren't you?  those who come from a privileged class like
you or i might have a choice about leading protected cloistered lives
but that is definitely not true of the poor.  or those who have the
misfortune to be born to the wrong class of parents at the wrong time. 
do you think that the so called devadasi's were so by choice? or were
they so by an unfortunate accident of birth?  or what about the
thousands of abducted children today?


> 
> THINK TWICE !!!
>
why don't you as well before rejecting a whole other culture out of hand?
i think personally that for biking say -- bike shorts are the most
practical/comfortable thing to wear...

and i know of nudist tribals in india too do you suggest that they stay
that way when they join"mainstream indian culture"?  or would you try to
colonialise their culture by asking them to become "indian"?

> regards,
> Mareena Joseph Neyyarappally,
> Dept. of Computer Science,
> RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology),
> Melbourne, Australia.
> email: s910700@yallara.cs.rmit.oz.AU


Sudha

"That's a good question.  Let me try to evade you."
				   - Paul Tsongas -

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<*>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
   Sudha K. Neelakantan     < Clouds come floating into my life,  
    The Heinz School of      \ no longer to carry rain or usher storm   
Public Policy and Management  \ but to add color to my sunset sky.
      Carnegie Mellon          >    - Rabindranath Tagore -
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<*>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


Sudha

"That's a good question.  Let me try to evade you."
				   - Paul Tsongas -

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<*>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
   Sudha K. Neelakantan     < Clouds come floating into my life,  
    The Heinz School of      \ no longer to carry rain or usher storm   
Public Policy and Management  \ but to add color to my sunset sky.
      Carnegie Mellon          >    - Rabindranath Tagore -
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<*>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala,soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.tamil