12. INDIA'S ANOTHER PLANET
They've just discovered a 10th planet!
It's inhabitants' habits and behavior are alien to people elsewhere....simply out of this world.
What they do in public is socially unacceptable elsewhere. Grown men and kids pee and crap by the roadside, even smack in the middle of the streets on the road dividers.....not just in the very rural villages (which is understandable) but in the cities.
They clear their throats and spit all over the place constantly, men and women alike, out of their vehicles, trains........they litter everywhere but keep their homes and compounds spotless.
They may throw stuff like plastic bottles and clay cups out of the trains and buses but never seem to throw or replace possessions which have seen better days. So bags can be held together by strings and pins, slippers and shoes are sent for repairs, pencils are used till they're just tiny stumps. Broken furniture are fixed with strings or ropes or supported by bricks and planks. No leftover food is ever thrown out unless its off. Recycling is great for the environment and they are by and large not wasteful people.
They intrude into one's private space all the time. They interrupt conversations without an 'excuse me'. They ask highly personal questions which in most societies the answer will be, 'it's none of your business'. At a queue (if there's such a thing), the person behind stands with his/her body plastered very closely to the person in front.
A female can get 'rubbed' by a man in the crowded streets or a packed bus....but this can happen in Singapore too, unfortunately, the arrested culprits have more often than not, proved to be of Indian race. Perhaps its for this reason that males and females have separate seating areas in their buses, so that the 'eves will not be teased'.
The Indians there seem very quarrelsome but mainly, I note, they are of a poorer and possibly, lower caste category. In the cheap compartments of trains and buses, there's always some drama unfolding......those I've witnessed involve womenfolk in loud squabbling.....the rest of the passengers look on as though watching a Bollywood soap, their eyes darting from one protaganist to the other, in deep concentration on the dialogue. I fear for my life and limb as it gets more and more dramatic, loud and shrill, expecting blows and weapons but the rest of the passengers remain cool and calm, enjoying the spectacle. I may need to learn the language so that I may follow this show.
Many Indian men have serious problems with their egos. There's no chivalry shown towards their womenfolk unless its their mother, I suspect many are mama's boys.
They are served by their wives, sisters, mothers, servants, right down to fetching a glass of water or packing their bags for work or travel. They have scant respect for their women and see them as cooks, sex partners or their punching bag. If they have some position at work, they need to feed their egos constantly, every which way they can, in some homes, the servants outnumber the family members.
Many Indian women are educated up to college or university level but more often than not, its to make themselves marriagable and marketable, after marriage, very very few work......such a waste of human resource.........perhaps their men (husbands, fathers, brothers, in-laws) do not want them to as that makes them look inadequate. It's about power, control, face, dominance.
Many Indian women from India, married to Singaporean Indian men, join the workforce in Singapore. Many are truly happy at this new found freedom. They get to express themselves through their careers and be their own person. It must be hard for those who are not allowed by family and society to be true to themselves.
For the ladies who don't work, they enjoy a personal freedom which very few married women can enjoy back in India. They move around freely day or night with their circle of friends or female relatives. They do lunch, high tea, shop or take in movies, concerts and plays. Some perm their hair, wear jeans, dress modern, some paint their nails, go without their dupattas. Does freedom to express themselves make them lesser people? Loose? Evil? Nah.
It's hard to understand or accept how 2 people can end up as life partners in an arrangement in which they don't get a chance to know one another and their families well enough. It's not natural, yet, somehow, the Indians have perfected this to an art form. I do know of several couples in India and Singapore who have had the guts to admit its not working and called it quits. These are the younger thinking individuals and they are exceptions rather than the rule.
Practices carried out over many generations are not necessarily the best. To hide behind 'culture', 'beliefs', 'traditions', 'family' and 'face' is uncreative, cowardly even.
Everything in life and in Creation is in a constant state of flux and nothing remains the same forever - change is the only constant for nothing is set in stone.
When human mammals are just sheep following without thinking, questioning, discerning, conforming........is baaad for the soul.......sheep which follow are quickly led to the slaughterhouse.
It's the black sheep that's special.......they're individuals.
What they do in public is socially unacceptable elsewhere. Grown men and kids pee and crap by the roadside, even smack in the middle of the streets on the road dividers.....not just in the very rural villages (which is understandable) but in the cities.
They clear their throats and spit all over the place constantly, men and women alike, out of their vehicles, trains........they litter everywhere but keep their homes and compounds spotless.
They may throw stuff like plastic bottles and clay cups out of the trains and buses but never seem to throw or replace possessions which have seen better days. So bags can be held together by strings and pins, slippers and shoes are sent for repairs, pencils are used till they're just tiny stumps. Broken furniture are fixed with strings or ropes or supported by bricks and planks. No leftover food is ever thrown out unless its off. Recycling is great for the environment and they are by and large not wasteful people.
They intrude into one's private space all the time. They interrupt conversations without an 'excuse me'. They ask highly personal questions which in most societies the answer will be, 'it's none of your business'. At a queue (if there's such a thing), the person behind stands with his/her body plastered very closely to the person in front.
A female can get 'rubbed' by a man in the crowded streets or a packed bus....but this can happen in Singapore too, unfortunately, the arrested culprits have more often than not, proved to be of Indian race. Perhaps its for this reason that males and females have separate seating areas in their buses, so that the 'eves will not be teased'.
The Indians there seem very quarrelsome but mainly, I note, they are of a poorer and possibly, lower caste category. In the cheap compartments of trains and buses, there's always some drama unfolding......those I've witnessed involve womenfolk in loud squabbling.....the rest of the passengers look on as though watching a Bollywood soap, their eyes darting from one protaganist to the other, in deep concentration on the dialogue. I fear for my life and limb as it gets more and more dramatic, loud and shrill, expecting blows and weapons but the rest of the passengers remain cool and calm, enjoying the spectacle. I may need to learn the language so that I may follow this show.
Many Indian men have serious problems with their egos. There's no chivalry shown towards their womenfolk unless its their mother, I suspect many are mama's boys.
They are served by their wives, sisters, mothers, servants, right down to fetching a glass of water or packing their bags for work or travel. They have scant respect for their women and see them as cooks, sex partners or their punching bag. If they have some position at work, they need to feed their egos constantly, every which way they can, in some homes, the servants outnumber the family members.
Many Indian women are educated up to college or university level but more often than not, its to make themselves marriagable and marketable, after marriage, very very few work......such a waste of human resource.........perhaps their men (husbands, fathers, brothers, in-laws) do not want them to as that makes them look inadequate. It's about power, control, face, dominance.
Many Indian women from India, married to Singaporean Indian men, join the workforce in Singapore. Many are truly happy at this new found freedom. They get to express themselves through their careers and be their own person. It must be hard for those who are not allowed by family and society to be true to themselves.
For the ladies who don't work, they enjoy a personal freedom which very few married women can enjoy back in India. They move around freely day or night with their circle of friends or female relatives. They do lunch, high tea, shop or take in movies, concerts and plays. Some perm their hair, wear jeans, dress modern, some paint their nails, go without their dupattas. Does freedom to express themselves make them lesser people? Loose? Evil? Nah.
It's hard to understand or accept how 2 people can end up as life partners in an arrangement in which they don't get a chance to know one another and their families well enough. It's not natural, yet, somehow, the Indians have perfected this to an art form. I do know of several couples in India and Singapore who have had the guts to admit its not working and called it quits. These are the younger thinking individuals and they are exceptions rather than the rule.
Practices carried out over many generations are not necessarily the best. To hide behind 'culture', 'beliefs', 'traditions', 'family' and 'face' is uncreative, cowardly even.
Everything in life and in Creation is in a constant state of flux and nothing remains the same forever - change is the only constant for nothing is set in stone.
When human mammals are just sheep following without thinking, questioning, discerning, conforming........is baaad for the soul.......sheep which follow are quickly led to the slaughterhouse.
It's the black sheep that's special.......they're individuals.
posted by shirley @ 6:27 pm
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