Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Not so Down Under

Ok this is more like a sequel to the original post "Down Under". In the original post I had spoken about the issues faced by Indians living abroad, and the friction between goras and boras[Us Indians]. But I felt I had to come up with this post because after what happened last night. Ok I wasn't brutally attacked or racially abused by goras but was sort of racially attacked by boras at home! Yes you read it right! One of them said if you've got the balls then talk in *****. Oh and he said that in the same language he wanted me to talk in! Ok I've censored the language mentioned by the attacker to make it less obvious just in case one of them stumbles upon my blog! I was quite taken aback when I heard him say this! It was like a trivial issue and one of them got a bit serious and said this! I was enjoying the mild buzz that Guinness beer gives and suddenly I felt a yank by what he said and I came right back into my senses! I suppressed the surge of laughter that filled my already beer logged stomach and made a face as if my bladder was about to explode and bit my lips to avoid saying anything in retaliation and I managed to draw a blank stare until the insinuating mumbling faded away. I stood there motionless with the beer can in my right hand and my left hand in my pocket leaning against the kitchen counter but deep within I was rolling all over the place. Finally when the mumbling faded away, I managed to make sense of what he had just said! I quitely ate my share of dinner, retreated into my bedroom and retired for the day. I began to feel funny as how do people manage to come up with such thoughts! I mean will a person grow balls just because he/she can speak a particular language! Sometimes I wish I was as ethnocentric as these guys are. That way I won't have to be the odd one out amongst the hundreds of such blokes who initially come here to pursue higher education but end up working part time like 24/7 which is quite contradictory to the term "part time"! I do feel sad for such people because they don't receive the exposure back home. They hold on to their insecurities as if they would die if they didn't! I feel so sad. So sad they can't take off their blinkers. This is just the tip of the ice berg. A massive make over is urgently required for us Indians. Language is the biggest cause of our divided nature. In fact, language could be our greatest strength if our thoughts are channelized well. Our problems are deep seated. Fear is another cause for our problems. Fear of being in a new place. Fear of not having family/friends for months together. Fear of not doing routine activities. Fear of not being able to understand the thick British/American accent. Fear of nothing being able to speak intelligible English. Fear of accepting the fact that not everyone abroad is a racist. Fear of losing the herd mentality. Fear of accepting fellow countrymen from different parts of India. We let fear control us. We let fear and insecurity decide our pattern of thoughts. Change is required at the grass root level. Home is the best place for change to take place. We are far behind not just economically, but mentally as well. Meanwhile, I'm praying to god this will happen soon enough.

4 comments:

Ketan said...

Hi!

Very well written! I thoroughly enjoyed reading!

You've rightly pointed out the issues, but since I've never been outside India or even talked with anyone with British/American accent, I can't really comment on the 'fear' factor involved. I think you've already read my take on these issues in my post--'Communalism'. If someone from English-speaking nation ridicules me or holds me in contempt only for not being able to understand/speak their accent, I'd (rightly) feel disgusted by that particular person, but I won't generalize that opinion to the entire nation. I'd be disgusted by that kind of contempt 'cuz I believe, it's ultimately the ideas that matter, and not the accent, except for of course, if one's talking of hospitality industry or public relations (even where tact and courteousness matter more).

And have you noticed how sexist (and hence, communalist) the very idea of growing balls is!

BTW, I find it difficult to follow dialogues in Hollywood movies on wort occasions. :(

What is 'blinker'?

Also, you wrote 'sensored' instead of 'censored' at one place. ;)

Hope to see more posts coming from you!

TC.

Vishwas said...

Hi Ketan,

Thanks for the comment! You are right in saying you won't generalize that opinion. But I'm really fed up of trying to come to terms with the situation here. So I'll let them be.

I know growing balls is no more a man's pride! Or having it I feel. Lol!

Now what is "wort"! Its quite easy actually to follow the lines you just have to listen carefully and have a dictionary in hand to understand what they are rambling about!

Well a blinker is the leather flap which is used on a horse to avoid it getting distracted! Its also called blinder if I'm right!

Ahh pardon the typo, blame it on the poor English spoken by these boras here which I'm forced to listen day in and day out and due to which my not-so-great-but-faaaaaaar-better-than-the-boras'-English has had a negative effect!

Thanks for the comments once again!

Cheers,
Vishwas

Ketan said...

You're talking about generalization of goras or boras? BTW, I absolutely love stereotyping, if it can result in such interesting rhyming words. ;)

'wort' was supposed to be 'most'. Sorry about that typo. I post comments through my cell phone, and had punched in '9' instead of '6' in T9 mode.

See, I point out typos to you only for one simple reason, that your posts on the whole have such few errors that merely by eliminating them, they'd become perfect.

Cheers!

PS: You know of 'urban dictionary'? Look up 'blinker' on it, you'll understand my reason for original predicament. ;)

Vishwas said...

Ketan,

I was talking about generalization of goras! Hehe!

Ah so that's what it means! So you are like a techno guy! I use a good old laptop for all my communication purposes! Although I once used my phone for web browsing and got a massive bill for internet usage!

You are always welcome to point out errors! I'm thrilled to know that you find my posts perfect! Lol

Oh and I did check out "urban dictionary" and my god its wicked! Lol

Cheers
Vishwas