On 5/17/07, Deepa Mohan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
What a simple, profound statement. To see the veracity of this, just
watch any two Indians meeting somewhere in a public space abroad.
There is no sense of Indian-ness, just the awkwardness of, say, a
Telugu man trying hard not to identify himself with a Punjabi
woman...and vice versa. Very often, they will not even acknowledge
each other. Many people from other countries find this hard to
understand; one has to realize the plurality of India to try and
understand it oneself, as another Indian.
I used to think this diversity was unique to India too. Till I
understood that native Californians look askance at Montanans. A Texan
dismisses Oklahomans. Urban New Yorkers turn their noses up at rural
New Yorkers. Manhattan residents are supercilious about
Brooklyners....
And this is not something that happens only in India or the US. The UK
seems to be a pretty class and region-stratified society as well.
Maybe human affiliations are only biologically or socially designed to
be to groups of relatively smaller sizes.
Thaths
--
Homer: He has all the money in the world, but there's one thing he can't buy.
Marge: What's that?
Homer: (pause) A dinosaur.
-- Homer J. Simpson
Sudhakar Chandra Slacker Without Borders
