Urban India -- The NRI Viewpoint

Please stop worrying. ``Indian values`` are just that - the values Indians hold at a particular point in time. Nothing more.

Kaalchakra,

True of any culture- any people-

NRIs and expat Pakistanis want their homelands to remain stuck in a time period that gives them security in the dog eat dog world of the west...

Well it ain`t happenin` yo.

dear writer, you are talking like an old man. society must move forward and no one can tell us what values are good or bad.

This trend is worrisome because their is no replacement as such of the older moral values. Capitalism is about acculturation.

How does one spell superficial?

S-U-P-E-R-F-I-C-I-A-L

Other synonyms: half-assed, poorly thought through, etc. etc.


Compared to this Farzana`s nonsense is deep thought and true intellectual analysis.

Yeah, it is almost always someone who returns from West who has to point out the changing values. What a hypocrite. It’s the same reason you were away for 4 years, and some of them can’t get visa like you did, so they make their Dubai in Bombai.

i remember being inebriated as far as i can remember...also, can you pinpoint where you see all the miniskirts?

Yet another NRI going hai! mera desh itna badal gaya. I have lived in Delhi for the last 20 years, and really the 2005 wasn`t that different from 2001 in terms of westernization. though remix videos have gotten slightly raunchy.

An overwhelming number of bachas are still acha, and going to a barrista and eating tiramisu doesn`t make them less religious. What is the panipuri test!! An outlook survey last year showed that today`s generation is if anything more conservative than our parents. We are less likely to demand social change, or fight for rights, we are happier with singing songs at mehndi.

As for the films of yore being family films, they were gore ridden and violent. Now of course if you want to go back to the 60s with Shashi Kapoor thats another story.

``We should be celebrating our glorious culture and singing paeans about our heritage, not abandoning it lock, stock and barrel to embrace an alien culture which our youth believe to be superior to our own.``

Have you seen any Ekta Kapoor serials lately.

The decline in cultural norms began when South Indians suddenly started feeling inferior to North Indians and started naming their kids Anish, Manish, Rajesh, Rajeev, Sanjay or Rakesh for that matter. Time was when sonorous names like Anantapadmanabhan and Sivaramakrishnan used to be the names in Tamil Nadu -- I am not discounting here names like Masanamuthu, Sangilikkaruppan, Karuppannasamy or Sudalaikkannu which also held sway over a large population.

Does a Punjabi return the honor? Have you ever heard of a Panchapakesh Talwar or a Panchnadhishwar Taneja? One would think that these names would be natural for the people of the Land of the Five Rivers; instead it is in the Cauvery delta (with its five major distributaries of the Cauvery river) that you have these names. And they are slowly being replaced by strange names that I cannot decipher.

Exactly what is Rakesh (Rak? + Ishwar, I presume) god of? Whatever it is, I am sure such a god went around wearing convertible pants and his consort (Rakeshwari perhaps? Or, shudder, Katrina) would be wearing hot pants as opposed to Rama wearing a dhoti with Sita in a sari.

#9 harimau

heh, heh, very nice.

Now here is a topic worth discussing. EVen in the north all the names have been updated and modernized, so believe me, you are not alone. Of course, there is this southern victim complex (bad, bad northies) so I shouldnt disturb that either :-)

Where are all the old names gone? My great grand-father was named babu lal and another great uncle was called Ram Prasad. But now somehow, everyone has a slick name like Abhishek or Kamesh or Rakesh. Thank god for the bengalis, they still use names like Buddhadeb or Saibal or Amartya.

BTW, good point about Rakesh. I couldnt find my dictionary of sanskrit names and do not recall what it means. Who will enlighten us?

Ref pmishra2 #10

[heh, heh, very nice.]

Thanks.

[Where are all the old names gone? .... now somehow, everyone has a slick name like Abhishek or Kamesh or Rakesh.]

I expect we shall soon have amongst us persons named Banish, Danish and Vanish to rhyme with Anish and Manish... sort of like the Kapadia sistes: Dimple, Simple and Pimple!

harimau #9

`` The decline in cultural norms began when South Indians suddenly started feeling inferior to North Indians and started naming their kids Anish, Manish, Rajesh, Rajeev, Sanjay or Rakesh for that matter. Time was when sonorous names like Anantapadmanabhan and Sivaramakrishnan used to be the names in Tamil Nadu -- I am not discounting here names like Masanamuthu, Sangilikkaruppan, Karuppannasamy or Sudalaikkannu which also held sway over a large population. ``

Aren`t you trying to overanalyze people here ?

pmishra2 #10

`` Where are all the old names gone? My great grand-father was named babu lal and another great uncle was called Ram Prasad. But now somehow, everyone has a slick name like Abhishek or Kamesh or Rakesh. Thank god for the bengalis, they still use names like Buddhadeb or Saibal or Amartya. ``

What is wrong with babu :-)

`` Regardless, the truth is, ladies & gentlemen that urban India has changed tremendously from my previous memories of her. There was a time when the Indian youth were just that, Indian. The average Indian kid was stereotyped as a studious child, well-mannered, brought up in a conservative environment where their lives revolved around their parents and their families. Their upbringing, regardless of their economic standing, were characterized by ``Indian values.`` ``

Things goes in cycles. Change is constant. Get used to it !!!

`` The age-old traditions, cultures and manners infused into their minds from the time they were toddlers. There were parental rules that had to be followed, at least pretended to be followed. Granted that the youth have flouted authority and surreptitiously broken rules from time immemorial, one had to do things in secret. Not brazenly and with a parental nod. This established, at least outwardly, a kind of moral uprightness and value system that was an inherent part of our societies. In today`s urban India, it`s all missing. Vanished. Khatam. How, I ask, did this all change? When? ``

value system ??

`` Today, the youth of Bombay are not very different from their Western counterparts. No more elegant half-sarees but miniskirts. No youngsters gleefully gobbling pani puri and drinking lassi at the local dukaan but Tiramisu at an Italian bistro. The ancient traditions, culture and heritage passed down for generations have given way to inebriated youngsters enjoying a night of revelry at one of the city`s numerous nightclubs. ``

The real issue is if youngsters wearing modern dresses think any differently than their ancestors. Wearing ``Western dresses`` do not make a society ``Western``.

Harimau,
It was Dimple, Simple and Rimple. Pimple is Rajesh Khana.
I think south Indian parents are naming kids Manish, Rajesh, Rajeev etc not bec of a complex but bec it its easy on the tongue. After all this kids are not going to remain in the villages, and in Bombay, Delhi, NY, LA etc names like Masanamuthu, Sangilikkaruppan, Karuppannasamy or Sudalaikkannu will be mighty hard to pronounce.

harimau, its a slow progress.
first rakesh, rejeev and juhi..
as the madrasis become more aryan, they will use bunty, bubbli, puppu and ginny.