Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site Navajo.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!whuxlm!harpo!decvax!decwrl!Glacier!Navajo!arun From: arun@Navajo.ARPA Newsgroups: net.nlang.india Subject: Comments on Sri Rajeev's message on "Jewel in the Crown" Message-ID: <133@Navajo.ARPA> Date: Sun, 17-Mar-85 00:23:54 EST Article-I.D.: Navajo.133 Posted: Sun Mar 17 00:23:54 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 18-Mar-85 08:11:46 EST Distribution: net Organization: Stanford University Lines: 90 Please direct all mail in reply to net.nlang.india and/or the Arpanet address "jmm@su-ai". Thanks. Arun Swami. 16-Mar-85 17:50:29-PST,4460;000000000001 Return-Path: Received: from UCB-VAX.ARPA by SU-SCORE.ARPA with TCP; Sat 16 Mar 85 17:50:24-PST Received: from ucbernie.ARPA by UCB-VAX.ARPA (4.24/4.42) id AA16026; Fri, 15 Mar 85 13:02:09 pst Received: from SU-AI.ARPA (su-ai.ARPA.ARPA) by ucbernie.ARPA (4.24/4.41) id AA09489; Fri, 15 Mar 85 12:40:23 pst Message-Id: <8503152040.AA09489@ucbernie.ARPA> Date: 15 Mar 85 1239 PST From: Jitendra Malik Subject: Comments on Sri Rajiv's message To: iitnet@UCBERNIE.ARPA I just got a chance to read the message on net.nlang.india by the right honorable Sri Rajiv relayed to us courtesy Arun Swamy. This message was one of the more annoying pieces of drivel I have ever read. First let me requote `Essentially without roots, a lost generation in some sense, we are trapped between two cultures. We aspire to be westerners, (like Hari Kumar), but cannot ever be fully assimilated because we carry the emotional baggage of our Indianness, and of course there is the small matter of skin colour. (And if you dont believe this matters, I think you're deluding yourself: we should know; we are, along with Egyptians, perhaps the most colour-conscious people on earth.) To a greater or lesser extent, we despise India, Indians and Indianness: there are many among us who take pride in not speaking any Indian language well; and we measure each other by our ability to speak English and by the pucca-ness of our accents.' If Sri Rajiv had limited himself to talking about himself, I would have viewed this as self-awareness come, come late ,but better late than never. However he has magnanimously assumed spokesmanship for all of us... Perhaps all Sri Rajiv can claim to speak for is a particular kind of Indian- rich family background, public school educated, seen poverty from the window of a car, considers himself superior to the Bhaiyya types who mix their v's and W's, thinks that all Biharis are congenital idiots, would consider eating with his hands a sign of ill-learned table manners etc etc. I have been fairly blunt in my statement and I recognise that not all public school types think like that and such a screwed-up thinking is also present among non-public school types too. I regard this sort as a fairly despicable sort of a character. One can understand the origin of such elitist, screwed up attitudes, however one hopes that education, and an attempt to do some reading/thinking about Indian History, the state of India's economy, socio-political analysis of today's society would clear one's mind of such garbage. Unfortunately, it seems that many people have to wait till they see `Jewel in the Crown' till they get aware of the pleasures of British Rule in India. I think that such crass ignorance should be a source of shame to anybody. I think that a line by line rebuttal will serve little purpose. I want to make clear that I am not a fanatical supporter of `Indianness for Indianness sake'-a RSS type belief in the unquestioned greatness of India, Indian Society etc. There are severe problems, which all thinking people should endeavour should try and do something about, at least in their limited contexts. Next time you hear some comment, `Oh what else do you expect from a Bihari' don't just sit there. Next time at your family table you hear some statement like `All Muslims are dirty'- fight back- your parents may consider you impolite but at least you claim some intellectual integrity. This list could go on and on.. I'll end by suggesting some basic reading for Sri Rajiv and his kind. Perhaps it might broaden their horizons from the point where `Jewel' has pushed their enlightenment. RC Dutt's book on British Rule in India gives a detailed account of the `benevolence' of our British Rulers- it is a brilliant account of the plunder and destruction of the Indian Economy. About contemporary India , Dilip Hiro's `Inside India Today' is a bit dated but still quite good. MJ Akbar has written a good book- India, The Siege within'. As far as magazines go, the Economic and Political Weekly carries very in-depth analyses. If you want fiction, perhaps you could go back and read authors like Premchand, Tagore etc . I'd like to apologise to all who may find this message pedantic. Jitendra Malik