Dear Diary (2)

                                          Confessions from a Bygone Era (1994-2004)

I was and I am  proud to be a Malayali –a feeling inculcated right from my childhood, thanks to our prep lessons and nursery rhymes for making us feel proud of the Malayali Spirit first and then probably, letting us later to ponder about a vast nation named India. I swam, with a sense of smugness, in the calm backwaters of the Malayali pride for some time until it was ruthlessly hammered down in a different place at a different time by indifferent people.

Too tender to withstand the contemptuous mirth on our hairstyle, accent, complexion, food habits, language, choice of clothes, and cultural affinity, some of us succumbed to an inferiority sense and retaliated in an insensible manner to gain acceptance among the so-called superior race from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab and Delhi. Contemporaries like class mates and elders like teachers scorned at us alike and unanimously took pleasure in naming us ‘Malabaries’, ‘Mallu’, ‘Dosa’, ‘Idly’ etc. and often substituted these words as  generic names for something inferior. Some of us started disliking our very own lineage and language, and hence resorted to hopeless attempts to cast a veil on the identity itself- either by hiding a surname that betrayed our region or by a resolution of not applying coconut oil. But the sneer and scorn did not stop even after an average Malayali rose up to the expectations in terms of his/her attire and food habits of his/her North Indian counterparts ( read the Marwadis of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, the Punjabis, the Mumbaikars, the Delhites).  Aggrieved, hurt and being hated, I often thought about separating this condescending Indians and their country from us. The nationals of that country seemed to have exhibited more respect and awe for Malayalis than our own Indian counterparts in many ways.  Our fellow Indians, by then, labeled the famous ‘Indian Club’ as Hindi and allied language speaking communities’ sole prerogative by displaying a sort of amusement and disbelief at our presence there with unasked prompting questions on their countenances- “ How come?”, “ Are you not going to Kerala Samajam?”.

 Presuming, rather naively and unwittingly that all ‘intellectual’ and ‘modern’, ‘happening’ activities sprouted  from them, the girls and the ladies trotted around happily applying heavy loads of foundation and lipstick while casting a sardonic smile at our coconut lined hair and plain look. I was dismayed at the stark differences between Indians or more likely the differences some preferred to create and seldom understood why a few Indians self-proclaimed themselves as a new brand of civilization. May be they wanted to create a niche of a ‘modern Indian outlook’ or may be because of the fact that the Aryan-Dravidan historical imprint has delved too deeply into the present. There had to be reasons for the Marwadis and the like-wise business class to dislike and secretly evolve a propaganda of belittling us: for what they could not do against us in the business they had to let out through some other means. They envied our unity and of course, were baffled at our population in the Gulf. And so how would a Marwadi business prosper if all Malayalis, based on unity and ethnic bias, flock to a Malayali business and injure the economic interests of the Marwadis at large. And more so, for the Marwadi and other North Indian business (M&N)- how could the unsmart, culturally inferior people in terms of their looks, attire and presentation ever pose a challenge to their business! They could, in no way, display the sons of the soil ideology or inflict grievous injuries like the way the Shiv Sena did to the South Indians in the 1960s or what the MNS  did recently to the people from UP and Bihar, simply because it was a different land. Therefore, they (M&N) thought of something to be done other than grinning and grinding their set of thirty-two; ridicule and belittle Malayalis for their industrious nature, unity, simple living and high thinking.

On coming to Delhi, I expected or to be precise, calculated a similar atmosphere based on the dominance of a Punjabi Culture. To my happiness and contentment, I was wrong. I came to the Capital of India, which is neither the bastion of a single culture nor was under the fiefdom of any party that found its strength through regional jingoism or nationalism.  Also, I was 18- too young and naïve not to assume a myriad of sub-cultures within the north Indian culture and expect a similar haughty attitude from the resident north Indians. I have felt the respect and regard people here have for Malayalis when they rent out their rooms or take us in employment. The North Indians, though geographically incorrect, whom I met at a different place, sadly are the first ones to forget their culture and the quickest to embrace Western attire than ideas in comparison to their South Indian counterparts. May be they are a different breed in relation to the domestic ones or maybe it is an inherent nature in them that they camouflage, and once they cross the seas they display it gleefully!!!

(P.S. Article is written in retaliation to some updates and blogs deriding Malayalis. No offence is intended to any community but only to those individuals who were the perpetrators knowingly or unknowingly. After all, the whole India belongs to me, and hell with all the divisive elements!!!)