Desi

(Warning: This is kind of a serious post… and it’s pretty long too)

Recently I’ve really begun to wonder what exactly it means to be Indian.

Am I less Indian because I wear jeans? Because I don’t speak any of our languages with fluency? Is it a matter of birth? Or love for the country? Belief system? Religion?

What exactly is it that makes someone Desi?

What started me off on this train of thought was watching Bachna Ae Haseeno last Sunday.

Now I admit, I’ve always been sort of prejudiced towards Hindi movies in general, mostly because I kind of buy into the whole idea that they’re all dumb and filled with couples running in slow motion towards each other or around trees.

And yes, I do know that although that may have been true to a certain extent when I was a kid, it’s hardly the fact any longer. There are plenty of movies like that still made, but there are also lots which actually have some worth to them or are at least fun to watch.

Although it still kind of bugs me that everyone in the whole world seems to believe that Bollywood films are the sum of Indian filmmaking, completely disregarding all the other powerful Indian films that have ever been made.

But another problem for me as far as Indian movies as a whole go, is that the only language I’m fluent and comfortable in is English. And it’s a bit hard to enjoy a movie if you can’t follow the dialogue.

Ok, maybe that’s not strictly true… I had no problem watching 2 Days in Paris without subtitles, and half that movie is in French!

But I guess with Hindi movies I follow enough of the dialogue that when I can’t follow something it really throws me. And then the flow is gone and the entire experience sort of goes down the toilet.

And it’s actually somehow a little more annoying when you know that what they’re saying is probably totally pointless!

Since I watched Bachna Ae Haseeno on DVD, we had the subtitles on, and actually, from a purely fluff point of view, it was kind of fun.

There were waaaaaaay too many songs (and buggingly enough, I’ve had this one stuck in my head since watching the movie).

But other then that, a lot of the scripting was pretty smart, and the humor was quite witty.

So that made me wonder, “Am I out of touch with the things that are Indian these days? And have I ever actually been in touch with them?”

When we were kids, my sis and I never actually watched any of the Indian TV shows, or at least, I don’t remember doing so. And the only reason I’ve watched any of the movies that are considered to be Indian Film Classics (Like Kabuliwalla or the Appu Trilogy) is because we were made to watch them in school.

We were brought up on a steady diet of western literature and cultural milestones, and I never actually regretted the lack of Indian influence till I started working.

Luckily my grandmoms and school managed to plant a certain amount of Indian culture and history into my head. Enough that I’ve read the Mahabharata and the Ramayana a few times, and have a fairly decent grasp of Who Came First from the Aryans to the Brits.

But does that make me Desi?

I can cook a Full Indian Meal, and if Bend it Like Beckham is to be believed, the rest should be up to God.

But I’m not in the least bit religious! In fact, although I have a firm and unshakable belief that God certainly does exist - how else do you explain the everyday miracle of life? (And if you say science I’m just going to say “and how do you explain that existing then?” so don’t argue ok?) I’m completely and totally anti-religion. In fact, I kind of believe that if the devil did exist, religion is probably exactly the kind of thing he would come up with – after all it’s been behind some of the worst problems our world has seen!

But that is an argument for another post.

So Desi… what exactly does it mean? If our politicians are to be believed, then accepting other cultures and adopting other traditions makes us less Indian.

But what I want to know is, if we hadn’t always been such an open country, if we hadn’t been willing to accept other people, learn from them, take their knowledge and wisdom and make it our own, would we be the country we are now?

No… I really don’t think we would be.

Firstly, what is Indian? How far back do you need to go before you get to the pure Indian roots? One of the best and strongest things about our country is that it’s a total melting pot.

From the Taj Mahal to the temples at Thanjavur, from Appams to Sarson Ka Saag, our country represents everyone! So really, I’m not sure that there is any one thing that’s Indian.