'Quick Gun Murugan' , based on the tale of a South Indian Cowboy, reaffirms the fact that we Indians are fascinated and obsessed with stereotypes. Be it the ubiquitous mallu(esp in gelf) wid the funny engleesh axe-scent or the equally ubiquitous surd(esp in canada) who is the butt of all our lame jokes, stereotypes provide us with an endless source of amusement and entertainment. Alas, most of the
dumb and racist natives are too prejudiced to realize that stereotypes are merely a convenient albeit inaccurate oversimplification of reality.
For example, take the stereotype of the funny engleesh axe-scent mallu. There are a lot of mallus who speak fluent english, with impeccable accents; like Shashi Tharoor, Arundhati Roy,Nirupama Rao,
Govind Paliath to name a few. Or take the general stereotype of a South Indian. A lot of North Indians(country fellows) believe that the whole of south India is one single eshtate populated by funny engleesh shpeaking, wierd mannerishms making(a la Rajini ishtyle) 'Madrasis'. Apart from refelcting poorly on their knowledge of geography, such stereotypes also serve as an indicator of how racist and bigoted we are. It's not like all Sardars are dumb, nor are Sindhis dressed up for diwali every single day of the year. And all bongs don't speak like Pornob Mukerji. Nor are all
goltis either Naxals or IT professionals.Moving on,consider the stereotype of the Tambrams(Tamil Brahmins), the studious padips's(
redundant adjective?), who spend their entire childhood nerding to clear the JEE/get state rank(preferably both!). But not all Tambrams are like that. For example . . . .um . . . lemme see . . .Tambrams who aren't studious . . .there's gotta be someone . . . .
Spectrum Raja? Abhachaaram! . . .Hmmm . . . I give up!Maybe some stereotypes aren't inaccurate after all!
Life comes full circle they say, and as far as stereotyes are concerned the saying holds true!
Marathis make fun of Biharis (Biharis don't make fun of others, they wonly make the bhojpuri fillims),while
this parsi makes fun of the Marathis, and also just about everyone else . North Indians in general make fun of 'madrasis', and in namma chennai the 'Seth pasanga' are kalaichified(Maranai Kalai/Total Damage).The illiterate and ignorant natives(country fellows) make fun of the mallus. The Mallus make fun of the tamilians, the tamilians make fun of the Golti peopleoo. Golti peopleoo make fun of the OZ's and subsequently get beaten up. The
surds make fun of the OZ's while the rest of the nation
makes fun of the surds!And to top it all we have the audacity to call others racists! What to do?As a brown skinned native once said 'We are like this wonly'!!
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A tamil Brahmin who didn't prepare for JEE and who isn't a Nerd -> ME !! VISHESH UNNI RAGHUNATHAN !!
And yes I am the only Unni in this world who is not a Mallu!
And come on man, how can you say we shouldn't sterotype? Valsi, Symbol ! Adjually! waat pa..go take a holy dip in the koovam!
What kinda tambram are you?! You ought to be ashamed of yourself :P
And I didn't say we should not stereotype.If you pay more attention to the subtle and not so subtle hints sprinkled throughout the post, you'd realize that I have masterfully stereotyped all Indians as chaps who love stereotypes!
ps:Modesty was never one of my virtues!:P
govinda govinda. I hate this stereotyping da. South indian na idly sambar north indian na kaanji pona chappati cha cha. enna ezhavo.
this happens all over the world
super post da.
You got that part abt Tambrams wrong:) With a paradigm in me, you shouldn ve made the JEE statement:|
I respect you for this one fantastic equivalence: North Indians + Country fellows.
Keep up.
@Vishesh:
You ain't Mallu? Aiyo. My vodopone Onam greetings '25 paise' msg wasted! You just gave me a shock!
@Venchey:Happens all over the world da but we Indians take it to a different level altogether!
@Arc:Ahem! I shall be nice and not talk about ur iyerish anna univ marks!:P
And yen ivlo gaandu on the country fellows?Love failure o?:|
semma kalai.. even my dad felt it was hilarious
@venky: loved the way you addressed Jerrymox
@govind
you do have an impeccable accent.. i would go on to say that your english is neutered :P keep it up dude.. loved the post. and very valid point of we calling others racist. pot calling kettle black..
@Govind
Superb read. Loved it. Email me your number if possible to srinivass1@aol.com. I would lurrrve to speak to one of those illustrious Mallus with an impeccable accent. lol.
I completely concur with your take on stereotypes, especially the statement that it is an oversimplification of the reality. But at a slight tangent I would think a Bong speaking like a Pornob Mukherjee or a Mallu having a problem with the two strains of /n/ (where English has only one) is not an embarrassment at all. Whilst I for one think that it would be great for everyone to speak every language the way it should be spoken, my Linguistics exposure has broadened my vistas: there need not be "ought to bes" and mother tongue influence on the native tongue is nothing to feel "infra dig" about.
As for tambram exceptions: use me as one. I never even thought about JEE (clearing tenth Math was a labour for me dude! lol). Forget state ranks (my sis was one, and I was like "so you have become jobless, too? rotfl).
Somehow your posts elicit essays from my end. ;) :) Sorry about that. And have a blessed weekend! :)
@Govind's reply to Vishesh
I 'completely' trust you when you say modesty has never been one of your virtues. :Ps to the power of infinity. ;)
@arch: lol :P I didn't tell you I wasn't Mallu?
@Govind: of course I got it! and modestly? Well modify it and you get - mod style ;)
@Hantan:Glad he liked it!
My 'impeccable' accent has become more of a 'galeej' won due to yesyesyen instushaans!
And why 'neutered' of all words?!:0
@Govind's reply to Hantan
yes yes yan... instushaan...??? Gosh, you are amazingly hilarious! LOL
@Srini:Lol!Sure thing. I'd love to talk to the tambram who struggled with math.That makes you very unique!:p
And I agree, if everyone spoke 'impeccable' english(or any language for that matter) life would be so dull!
And your essays are most welcome, so no apologies reqd :)
@Vishesh:No offence meant! The main objective of my comment was to highlight my 'masterful' portrayal of stereotypes!:D
(As one great tambram once said, I'm incorrigible!)
ps:I like the mod style :P
@Paliath:
You can be delibrate abt the great Tambram who once called you incorrigible. I .umm, actually don't mind despite not liking even an ounce of publicity.
hahaha...
Good analysis.. its funny how everyone is making fun of everyone else...
Domain registration india
everyone making fun of each other, what a funny country..
thagarpann!!
@Workhard:Yeah!Makes life a leeetle bit more bearable :)
@Uncommon sense:True!The name says it all! Sense is indeed uncommon :P
@Nishal:Nanni!:)