teacher's thread about... Indians? (1 Viewer)

[Gandhi>Bush]

I don't know this is open by request. teacher should be in here directly.

 

[teacher]

Told the G man on another thread that I had worked for an Indian (Asian, not American) family and that I knew stuff about them and their culture that might shock him. He asked me if we should PM or open a thread. So here we are.

Now this family was in another major American city and the Patriarch of this family was also the Indian religious community leader. Top Hindu in the whole state in other words. M (as I'll call him) and I talked at length about culture, religion, family, and Islam.

Now Gandhi>Bush talks about how great Gandhi was. My point was that while G#1 was not bad the Indian/Hindu's I find lacking in the matter of....wait for it...that thing I always harp on......their treatment of women.

Short story tonight.

As always I try to speak from experience and am not making that which I saw first hand up.

So a son of M was sitting at the kitchen table eating dinner while his wife was at the sink washing dishes. In front of J was a pot of food with a serving spoon. He cleaned his plate and made his wife stop what she was doing to come dish him some more food from the pot in front of him. Not with "honey please" or such, but a grunt and a nod. This is the norm in their culture big G. Women in their culture and religion are servile and at the beck and call of the men. Not the kind of culture you imagine Gandhi, the great peaceful men, being from.

 

[Gandhi>Bush]

Told the G man on another thread that I had worked for an Indian (Asian, not American) family and that I knew stuff about them and their culture that might shock him. He asked me if we should PM or open a thread. So here we are.

Now this family was in another major American city and the Patriarch of this family was also the Indian religious community leader. Top Hindu in the whole state in other words. M (as I'll call him) and I talked at length about culture, religion, family, and Islam.

Now Gandhi>Bush talks about how great Gandhi was. My point was that while G#1 was not bad the Indian/Hindu's I find lacking in the matter of....wait for it...that thing I always harp on......their treatment of women.

Short story tonight.

As always I try to speak from experience and am not making that which I saw first hand up.

So a son of M was sitting at the kitchen table eating dinner while his wife was at the sink washing dishes. In front of J was a pot of food with a serving spoon. He cleaned his plate and made his wife stop what she was doing to come dish him some more food from the pot in front of him. Not with "honey please" or such, but a grunt and a nod. This is the norm in their culture big G. Women in their culture and religion are servile and at the beck and call of the men. Not the kind of culture you imagine Gandhi, the great peaceful men, being from.

It's not unheard of. It's called the Caste system. You want to be reincarnated in the right form from the right parents. According to the Hindu Caste system, being reincarnated as a woman means you had some bad Karma coming from a past life.

Because of Gandhi women do in fact have more rights in India as do the "untouchables" of their caste system.

Speaking of Indian food, that stuff rocks.

 

[nkgupta80]

So a son of M was sitting at the kitchen table eating dinner while his wife was at the sink washing dishes. In front of J was a pot of food with a serving spoon. He cleaned his plate and made his wife stop what she was doing to come dish him some more food from the pot in front of him. Not with "honey please" or such, but a grunt and a nod. This is the norm in their culture big G. Women in their culture and religion are servile and at the beck and call of the men. Not the kind of culture you imagine Gandhi, the great peaceful men, being from.

sadly there are many families like that where traditionally women are treated disrespectfully. Technically that would be going against hinduism.. so I don't know what sect he is or how he got to be the "top hindu."

Coming from an indian family, being part of an indian community, knowing indian families all my life, i'd say that what you describe is not the norm of an indian family, ESPECIALLY in the US.

I'd think that it's pretty rash to generalize the diverse cultures of a billion people with what you saw on a dinner table.

 

[teacher]

sadly there are many families like that where traditionally women are treated disrespectfully. Technically that would be going against hinduism.. so I don't know what sect he is or how he got to be the "top hindu."

Coming from an indian family, being part of an indian community, knowing indian families all my life, i'd say that what you describe is not the norm of an indian family, ESPECIALLY in the US.

I'd think that it's pretty rash to generalize the diverse cultures of a billion people with what you saw on a dinner table.

Glad to hear that may not be the norm. However this family was recently from India and not "Americanized" so to speak. And the son J was a little more harsh than the rest of the family in his treatment of women. Though according to M within his rights religiously. I don't know the sect but I know some of their practices if that would help narrow it down. My favorite god is Ganesh. The Elephant with many arms. Knowing me you can imagine the fun I had with that. "We need some help moving this machine, go get Ganesh with all those arms." They also got a kick when I did the Apu from the Simpsons and said, "Thank you, come again". They were good people nkgupta80, don't get me wrong.

 

[teacher]

It's not unheard of. It's called the Caste system. You want to be reincarnated in the right form from the right parents. According to the Hindu Caste system, being reincarnated as a woman means you had some bad Karma coming from a past life.

Because of Gandhi women do in fact have more rights in India as do the "untouchables" of their caste system.

Speaking of Indian food, that stuff rocks.

To my knowledge there are 5 caste levels. The top being Bramen priests I believe. The next level are the folks I worked for. Lower levels are controlled by the higher. For instance I was told a lower level member would not be allowed to emigrate to the US.

And yea, the food is good. I used to take home this very spicy green sauce and put it on chicken. Way good. Ever chewed Pan?

Now a good story.

M and I were talking religion one night and he proceeded to tell me some Hindu rules. I interupted him by listing the ten commandments. He got all excited and said, "How do you know our rules?". I explained they were from my book, illustrating how similar we were. We both agreed that any one religion does not have the final word. That in many religions the basic tenant is "be good". We also agreed on the Muslims, that one later.

 

[OdgenTugbyGlub]

I thought that there were four levels?

EDIT: oops forgot about the outcastes.
Sorry bad pun..... :3oops:

 

[Gandhi>Bush]

To my knowledge there are 5 caste levels. The top being Bramen priests I believe. The next level are the folks I worked for. Lower levels are controlled by the higher. For instance I was told a lower level member would not be allowed to emigrate to the US.

Right, I'm not sure about the immigration part, but other than that there are 5 levels. Women are considered to be lower scale than the man. Traditionally, not so much contemporarily, women are the subject of her parents and then the subject of her husband. You could use the word property, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate.

 

[teacher]

Right, I'm not sure about the immigration part, but other than that there are 5 levels. Women are considered to be lower scale than the man. Traditionally, not so much contemporarily, women are the subject of her parents and then the subject of her husband. You could use the word property, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate.

The immigration part is determined from their end. Not ours. THEY wont let anyone come to America. There are a limited number of visas and the higher caste controls who can come.

Also M one day asked me if I would marry one of his female cousins back in India so her and her family could come to America. Money was offered. True story. Not knowing what she looked like, I declined.

 

[nkgupta80]

The immigration part is determined from their end. Not ours. THEY wont let anyone come to America. There are a limited number of visas and the higher caste controls who can come.

Also M one day asked me if I would marry one of his female cousins back in India so her and her family could come to America. Money was offered. True story. Not knowing what she looked like, I declined.

yeah a lotta families who have a hard time obtaining a visa often try usin the method you described.
As for the immigration..its very hard to get a visa. My dad had to try a couple of times, and had to use contacts to even get a chance at the visa.

I've never heard of caste controls or anything. Caste is outlawed in India, and castes are seen merely as class identification, (no different from the labels of middle class, upper class, etc.) The only areas where the caste system is more readily followed is in poorer areas. Even most rural areas have reformed.


As for the caste system itself, although there are four main castes, there are many many different sub-castes, all varying on the region etc. These are what we tend to identify by (if at all). Today it has become merely a mode of vague classification of social status, and family history. A person with the last name gupta would traditionally be in the business castes, while a person with venktraman would be traditionally brahman. Of course this has no meaning in India today... Anyone can be a preist, its free market for business, and the lowest castes are no longer oppressed.

 

[Canuck]

Right, I'm not sure about the immigration part, but other than that there are 5 levels. Women are considered to be lower scale than the man. Traditionally, not so much contemporarily, women are the subject of her parents and then the subject of her husband. You could use the word property, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate.

Bush isnt fit to kiss ghandi's feet

 

[cnredd]

Bush isnt fit to kiss ghandi's feet

[Moderator mode]
:smash:

Canuck...

Once again you defy the rules of the forum and continually disrupt multiple threads...

This is another official warning...

Disrupting threads will NOT be tolerated, and the very next time will result in
previous said suspension and/or banishment...

[Moderator mode]