Just Jo – Page 13 – Just being myself

The ‘traditional’ attire of Keralam

The photo above is from the inaugural function of the International Theatre Festival of Keralam (ITFoK). There was a heated debate in Facebook about the scene highlighted in this photo. The debate was about how settu mundu is being touted as the traditional attire of Keralam when it represents only the upper-caste traditional attire. The discussion was initiated by someone called Abdul Kareem and I got to see it when Sudeep Ben re-shared the photo in his FB page. After following up on the debate in the FB pages of Sudeep, Abdul Kareem and BRP Bhaskar, I posted my thoughts in one of the posts. Here it goes:

1) It is important that we ask questions about what is being celebrated as ‘traditional Kerala attire’. Every community/caste/tribe has had a different attire so it is impossible to define what is traditional and what is not. And just because one of them is being commonly celebrated as ‘traditional’ (which has happened long before the ‘disturbing’ questions about caste arose) does not mean that it must be accepted without a question.

2) Wikipedia says that ‘Mundum Neriyathum’ is “one of the remains of the pre-Hindu Buddhist-Jain culture that once flourished in Kerala and other parts of South India” (Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mundum_Neriyathum). It is also said to be an adaptation of the Graeco-Roam costume called ‘Palmyrene’. So I am not sure how ‘Hindu’ it is. Upper-caste Hindus might have adopted the dress-code because they could afford it while the lower-caste being the working class couldn’t have afforded the attire.

3) The Sangeeta Nataka Academy function is a less harmful example if compared to the inaugural function of the TV programmes like Idea Star Singer which seem like a Hindu religious ceremony.

4) The remaining question is which identity we should use as a common cultural identity. Now it is dominantly upper-caste Hindu and not many have questioned this, so it continues. Whether we need to have a common pre-set cultural identity when it is projecting only one cultural identity is the next question. In this particular case, whether an ‘international’ theatre festival needs to have a local identity stamp on it is a third and more relevant question. I think it will be good to let people wear what they want to wear rather than giving a false notion of a common cultural identity.

Cardinal, Catholicism and Caste

When Mar George Alancherry was ordained a Cardinal, the newspapers wrote about how humble he is and how much he respects the Indian tradition with wearing a Syrian cross, that upholds the eastern tradition of Christianity, on a rudraksha chain around his neck. He is also said to be against the ‘Latinisation’ of the native Syro-Malar Church. But Mar Alancherry has ruined that reputation (of a native church trying to retain its identity while being part of a global Latinized Catholic church) by making an unwarranted intervention in a legal row between two countries, just a couple of days after his ordination in Rome.

When asked about the murder of two Indian fishermen by Italian marines, he said that he “immediately contacted the Catholic Ministers of Kerala urging the government not to act precipitately”. This has raised questions about his stand on justice and his allegiance to his country.

First of all, the Cardinal did not have to intervene in the legal dispute between the two countries because he was not asked for help by the Indian government to mediate. But he did, and it sets a wrong practice of religious leaders trying to influence an elected democratic government through it’s community members in the ministry. Suppose that he was asked for help to mediate and even then his priority should have been to ensure justice to the poor fishermen who were shot in cold blood by the Italian marines – as a fellow human being and a Christian. If he had to ‘urge’ the government about anything, it should have been to bring justice to the family members of the dead victims. But he failed to do that.

The Cardinal also said, “But the point is another: it seems that the opposition party wants to take advantage of the situation and exploit the case for electoral reasons, speaking of ‘Western powers’ or the ‘will of American dominance’“. Here also he is setting the wrong priorities. Political parties always look at the options to make political gains out of socio-political issues, especially during the elections. This is nothing new. And every single political party has done this. Congress party would do the same if they were on the opposition. So why is the Cardinal worried only about the Communists?

There is another side to the story which is about caste in Kerala Christianity. Though the Latin Catholic Church is part of the global catholic church, the Syrian Christians (Syro-Malabar Church) consider them as converted lower caste fishermen (and Syrian Christians consider themselves as Namboothiri descendants). The murdered fishermen are both Latin Christians. So you can assume why the Cardinal did not have any qualms to take sides. The Latin Catholic Church has reacted sharply to the comments of Cardinal Alancherry.

“They called it unfortunate and said it was against the interests and sentiments of the fisherfolk. The families of the victims also vehemently slammed the alleged statement. The Latin Catholics, mostly on the coastal belt of Kerala, are not likely to be happy with the reported statement from Alencherry, who is from the substantially more socio-politically influential Syro Malabar Church. This controversy is likely to amplify the socio-political divide between the two communities, although both are Catholics.” [via]

The story is reflecting badly on the Syrian Christian community. Sangh Parivar has begun to sharpen their weapons claiming that the Catholics have their allegiance to Rome than India. And we will have to wait and see how this dangerous precedence set by Mar Alencherry would help the soft terror strategies of Sangh Parivar and how it will affect the Christian community in the long run. And as long as we have such people in the clergy, who had declared Communism a greater threat than Hindutva while Christians were being persecuted in Mangalore and North Kerala by Sangh Parivar, it does not need much imagination.

Photo courtesy: Reuters/Firstpost.in

Featured in Deccan Chronicle

Deccan Chronicle has published a feature about me in their Thiruvananthapuram edition yesterday. You can read the online version here or check out the screen shot below. Many thanks to Cris and Aashik.

Dear Valentine

It does not matter how rough the weather is,
How turbulent the waves could get,
How far the shore is or how long we must travel.

What really matters is that we’ve come this long,
Rowing this boat of life together,
Having you by me and I by you.

(The photo was shot at Alappuzha, Kerala, during the Nehru Trophy Boat Race season in 2007.)

Reality bites

You know, sometimes reality strikes us harder than the reality television. Some real life stories would make you wonder if its really happening. I heard such a story last week from a friend. A story that made me think where we are headed.

It is about a troubled young man trapped between his parents. His father is from a humble background and mother from a wealthy family. Mother’s family had helped the father to start a business and everything was fine until the father became a drunkard. Eventually the business was gone and the family had to struggle. So the mother, at 45, had to flee to London for a job leaving her husband and son alone. She kept sending money back but the father drank it all up. He would not go for a job or take care of his son. The boy stopped going to college and began wandering around the city. His regular ‘day’ was from dusk till dawn.

The mother eventually stopped sending money when she learned that the money was going to her husband’s booze fund. This made things even worse. The father started selling things he had at home to find money for booze. When the relatives sent him money, he spent it on booze than food. The boy kept wandering around more often, and many a times without food. Then one day he was bitten by a dog in the neighborhood. People in the apartment says that it happened when the boy tried to steal food from the neighbor’s dog’s food plate. Relatives learned later that the dog had died and the boy did not go to a hospital.

The boy is trapped. His mother tried to take him to London but the father would not let him go. Because the father knew that the only reason that his wife sent him money was their son. The mother is not ready to leave the job at London to come back to India to be with her son and she blames the relatives for not taking care of him. The relatives do not want to accommodate the father and the son, because the father is a complete drunkard and the son has been acting like a psychopath these days. They do not trust them both to share their house with.

I don’t understand how could parents go after money, jeopardizing their family and children. How could people put their ego, convenience and comfort over their children. Leaving them to chaos, letting them be criminals and psychopaths. Perhaps this story explains the growing rate of crime in our society.

God, abandoned

There are two things that this photo tells me. One, God has a special place even among trash. Two, men want their Gods to be in perfect shape to worship. A handicapped God does not have the divine appeal, it seems.

abandoned ganesha

The benchmarks of administration

Couldn’t have said it better, Nandita Das.

“It was during Hitler’s time that Germany’s best roads were constructed. These roads, even today, are considered to be the best connecting European cities. Germany got the best hospitals during Hitler’s time. He was a music lover, a vegetarian and non-alcoholic. But nobody, not even Germans, remember him for this,” Das said while talking to media persons.

Das was trying to counter the argument that the riots apart, Modi has been a good administrator who has brought considerable economic growth and development to the state. [Times of India – Actress Nandita Das draws parallels between Modi & Hitler]

Photo courtesy: Wikipedia