I am an indian should be the first thing i should have written, isn't it?
No,i wouldn't do that. I dont have to prove to this world, that i m a proud indian. I am proud being an indian despite anybody's approval or hatred. I care the least.
But i wanted to write about the discrimination's i had gone through just because i am a tamil girl, inside the country, by indians for being a cultured indian.
It started during my MBA days in bangalore. Freshly out of madurai- not exactly a small town- but a conservative big city-
I was totally awestruck by the beauty and posh life style in bangalore.
Right, the college started,during a lunch time, i was having meals (thali- as they fondly call in bangalore) , was eating rice with sambhar from the college canteen. The food was pathetic.
Food from southern tamil nadu is famous, especially our non vegetarian items in madurai can challenge any best food in the world. I am a girl used to typical south indian flavor and always loved south indian food.
I cannot live without rice . Period
One of my college mate, a married girl, who studied mba with us, asked me," hey prathipa, are you eating rice, it makes you put on weight, you know- eat chappathi or roti, thats good for health, you south indians, especially tamilians love rice, isn't it? i seriously dont understand how you guys have it?!!!! -
I was dumbfounded, not sure, whether to continue chewing the rice in my mouth or to touch the remaining rice in the plate. It was very embarrassing at that point of time. I felt like an idiot for eating rice, though i love it to the core.
Its obvious- i did not touch the remaining rice and did not eat at all after being belittled in front of those posh class mates of mine.
One of my best friend asked me,
" why yar, tamilians look so dark? they are indians only na? other state people even keralites look so beautiful, why tamils are ugly?
She asked me these wonderful questions with such innocence, i was totally clueless how to answer.
Basically a hot tempered person- i replied ,
" you northies are so fair, but i dont find anyone beautiful, at least we have good features, which you guys dont have"
She was hurt, after that incident, she hardly spoke to me. I haven't bothered about her friendship, because i knew it wasn't worth it.
My words were not from heart, it was just to give her back i said those words.
Recently, when i was in hyderabad, same kinda question from my closest friend- i must agree- she is not a north indian, she is a telugait.
I have roamed in and out of hyderabad for 1 complete year, but i havent found great beauties there. But my friend thinks only fair looking people are beautiful ,her attitude is tamilians are ugly. Again my poor temper could not keep itself in place.
I replied ," Come on sailaja, i have roamed around hyderabad, but i have not found single girl who is stunningly beautiful, so please stop this non sense"
For this she kindly replied," yeah, but we are fair"
I felt like banging my head on the wall ( A recent study in the internet showed banging your head on the wall- reduces the calories in the body it seems, holy heck)
The next incident is from my trainer from cognizant , her name is pallavi joshi. She is a very nice selfish girl. but always good to me, so i have never had any serious issues with her.
"She asked me, prathipa dont mind, why do south indians wear bright colors? this question just happened, because, i gave a yellow highlighting in a file we both were preparing, i was so into the action of finishing the work, i have not observed the color i gave for highlighting it. My karma...
That- please dont mind, words had kept me silent. hence i kept my minding mind in silent mood, did not want to create any havoc in office is also a reason)
For the past few years i have been accused of crime i have not been committed for ..
Ex
- why i am dark-
I myself dont know. my father is fair, my mum is wheatish, so the confusion is with the mixed complexion marriages i guess. Sorry amma, appa, but you are the reason. Though i m not blaming you both. I love being dark (though our own tamil guys dont)
why we are eating rice?
Ans:-
For this, i have a counter question, why you guys eating chapathi, it is so rough and tough. Its not easily chewable like lovable rice, and most importantly, its not white in color as per your theory. It looks wheatish and ugly , you ugly wheat eaters. We eat rice, because we love rice, its tastier than heaven. If god appears in front of me and asks me "what do you want in life" i reply- a lifelong rice eating journey. Satisfied
Why are we wearing bright colors?
Ans:-
We are supposed to be bright. Right, that is why
Why we wear so much gold?
Ans:-
You buggers, check out the market rate of gold now. No metal has the value of dear gold. We are the people believe in savings. Hence we buy gold and wear it all over our body.
If i had to write about the discirminations i had gone through , sorry one blog post is not enough, i must write a book.
But the purpose of writing this is- don't be racist inside country and dont hurt the sentiments of others.
Tamilians are bright people who happens to be very patriotic over their language and culture. But we never stopped others being patriotic. Right?
If you dont like tamil? go away, dont talk to us. But never insult our intelligence for loving our language and no one has the right to insult anybody's looks.
That is not insulting to us, that just shows how foolish and naive you people are.
It am not blaming anyone particular here, i just jotted out the incidents happened in my life.
A tamilian girl
Prathi surendran
Hello, Prathipa howz you??
ReplyDeleteHey, did you had a recent unpleasant experience that made you to remember some of those instances ( i will list them as cultural insensivity and illiteracy of our countrymen towards various intra-cultures present within our country) from a long list of such painful pinpricks and taunts ??
When I read this post, I was reminded of some of my school days memories in Maharashtra- eg. "does Christians also exist in Kerala? I thought they are only found in Goa", "Are all Keralites coconut climbers?", "How come you speak so well unaccented Hindi and English? Aren't you from South India?" "Does Christians always have Pork and Beef in their diet?" "Why do you all from south keep moustaches?" ....etc etc.
Anyway, almost all this bias, is on most occasions made out of ignoreness and less out of hatred.In reality, this all are just a pointer to our countrymen's lack of knowledge about different cultures that are present within our country. And, this is the most basic reason that later on takes the shape of discrimination, taunts, teasing and groupisms etc etc
A prime example of this is the behaviour of many people including very senior Govt. officials, eminent personalities towards our compatriots from North-East.Situation being such bad that Govt. had to bring laws against them being called 'Chinkis'.
And it is not as if only Southies are discriminated against, if you see Northerners also get discriminated against, especially if they are in less number or is a loner in a big crowd. It is a common thing for people in south to call all northerners as Hindikaran even if the guy is a Bengali or an Oriya.And to consider them as arrogants even if that is not the truth in most cases.
Another thing is that it is not always Southerner Vs. Northerners, sometimes people within region also discriminate or quarrel within themselves.Recent events are in plenty.
Tamils vs Keralites
Kannadigas vs Tamils
Marathis vs Biharis
Bengali Muslims vs Bodo Assamese
Marathis vs Kannadigas
Punjabis vs Haryanvis
etc etc etc...
But, then it is not as if this is an issue that is unique and restricted just within India.Recently I was chatting with a Afghani Pasthun, and in his opinion all those apart from them in subcontient are dark, ugly stretching from Punjabis in north to Bengalis in east to all Southerners.
So, it can vary from region to region in how default biases that is present within different people varies.
And, as I remember since you got relatives in SL, that country too is a great example in how all different ways discrimination can take place.In the eyes of an outsider, both Sinhalese and Tamils are dark and look almost non-recognizable from each other.But then that is not the case if you happens to talk to them regarding their views for each other.
Well, any idiot with single brain cell can recognize Tamils are darker than Sinhalese.If u have any doubt please refer the genetic studies of Sinhalese article in Wikipedia.Sinhalese are mainly originated from bengalis and keralites. You should do a more research about srilankans,Sinhalese have some light complexion than tamils because their skin color allele is slimier to the bengalis. Most probably srilankan Tamils have some light complexion than indian tamils because the have mixed with the Sinhalese people.
DeleteWhat is wrong with you??? Sinhalese are originally migrated from North India NOT Kerala...learn some history not fairy tales
DeleteI must agree, your comment blog is much better than my original blog :) i m sure i cannot compliment you more, ever considered becoming a writer, i m sure u have all the qualities!!!! :)
ReplyDeleteThis post is very inspiring one that exposes the dignity of The Tamils and our culture. I am proud of you as a Tamilan...Thanks for such a nice post ....continue
ReplyDeleteThanks parithi sir, reading ur blog post, its a great honour for me :) Thanks
ReplyDeleteHello Prathi,
ReplyDeleteLet me introduce myself to you so that my thoughts don't carry an identity that is not intended.
So, First, Let me congratulate you for writing, and writing it so well. As per your profile I can see you may be considering writing as a profession. period.
Now, To become one, let me tell you, you must read lot. Trust, a lot means not a bunch of books.
Let me list out some points you should analyse particularly for this post.
1. Why are you dark?
Com'on why should anyone be white? You should always go back into the history to analyse these things. How come people arrived at a solution that white is a color of beauty. Let me tell you. Go back to history. Cleopatra is considered beautiful, not just a next door girl. The world celebrated her. Stop. Do you remember who invaded earth during 15-19 centuries, Spanish,French , English. Damn them they are whites. People showed respect towards them and white started to become the beautiful color. You should read about what "Dravidam" means, how "Aryans" invaded India.
2. Why do we wear Gold?
Do not justify something just for the cause of justifying it. Com'on Isn't your reason funny? Wearing gold is not our tradition. No, not because gold is an investment. As a MBA student, you will know how to invest directly on Gold and the difference between ornamental gold and investment.
I am not going to talk more about the history of ornamental gold and it link with Tamilians. Go read Madam :)
why we are eating rice?
That is what our land was suitable to cultivate and we accustomed to it. My personal advice is that "Rice has lot of carbo hydrates. Curb its consumption in your menu" :)))
Now, Read on carefully. I'm not counter-arguing with you. I'am trying to make you understand that this discrimination has a long past, yet to be unleashed by you.
I'm honestly sad that writers of today do not read deeply into anything and they come out with a surface knowledge about a subject. They never mine the subject. Have you read CB's "2 States" I have some disagreements with something in the book. But, the notable point is that he have made some research before writing that.
Now, Discrimination is a big big issue that has various faces. I'll quote this to people " Every problem is like a coin, you must see the other face, before you react or take a stand". Let me tell you discrimination is a dice. It has six faces, may be, even more.
I made this comment to stir your curiosity which will make you "Read History".
Thank you,
Wish you a successful writing life ahead
Shylesh (@Koothaadi on Twitter)
Hi shylesh
ReplyDeleteThanks for ur time for reading my blog post. I truly appreciate it.
But i dont understand a fact that, why you have replied as if, i m against being dark
My first comment itself says, i m a very happy dark girl and i never felt inferior abot it in my entire life. Very very happy dark girl infact. And about gold too, i have said its a best investment, that is what u were pointing out too, isn't it? so y disagree with my comment- is what i m curious???
And discrimation is something everybody is going through, i m sure as a tamilian even u r aware of it.
My point is that- without knowing a culture no one must insult others... that is what i said.. may be i communicated it in a way u found it-as i was insulting.
Brother, i love being a tamilian and being a dark dravidian, i love my color, my language, my history. I m fully aware of it and respect it. With a touch of my sweet mud, i swear i never insult anyone from my place and from my language.My blog is about my personal experiences, for writing it, i m sure, i need not read history and i seriously did not understand why history need to read for writing your own experiences.
Note the point- i love history, but what i wrote is my personal views on discrimation as a tamilian girl in a strange non tamil speaking land,.
But as a human, i detest anyone insulting anybody, to be honest...
I hate north east indians been called chinki's i m totally against it. which shows i m indian too ,, a patrioitic one.
So brother, my communication is - dont discriminate others when u dont know the culture. its a advice or a suggestion to the people who discrimnate others.
And about Chetan bhagat, i m a huge fan, i have read all his books, but 2 states is downright insulting in many ways, which i have personally mailed and messaged him as well.
Hope he doesnt do if often in future.
Thanks my dear friend
UR negative comments are always welcome,this is not a counter attack too, just a verification reply from my end
Thanks
Prathipa
Let me give you a suggestion. Please increase your blog's font size.
ReplyDeleteWhat I tried to convey is that "As a responsible Writer/Tamilan/patriotic Indian , it is your duty to stand against discrimination in any form. I really appreciate that. But, Not only that I want you to understand the underlying facts/history behind the birth of this discrimination, but, I also wanted you to make people understand them. I'm telling that you should have made that friend understand the true reasons behind her ill-thought and you should have "be-friend" with her. If we start to ignore people for this reason, then who is going to tell these people the reason. Who are going to make them change??"
Tell them we are same by blood and skin is not going to make a difference.
# - Discrimination in your personal life is very small/ mild. There is lot of types of discrimination around the world,especially in Tamilnadu :-(
2. Gold - Ornamental gold is not an investment.
You can buy and sell gold as "Coins" or "documents" as an investment which earns more profit. Ornaments (Gold) are not a part of our culture. These were forced by Aryans.
Let me throw an extra intersting fact for you : ரவிக்கை தமிழர் பண்பாடல்ல, முகலாயர் கொண்டு வந்தது. பழைய பாரதிராஜா படம் பாத்து இருக்கீங்க இல்ல :)
Thanks once again shylesh
ReplyDeleteHaven't you heard a proverb, u cannot satisfy everybody in this world, if you try, u end up satisfied no one.
I havent lived inside tamilnadu for the past 7 years, which i regret.
I agree with ur comment discimination around the world is huge, americans and british itself fight for their english. So yo comprendo.
But i m sorry to say, i disagree with u few areas,
u have note the point, i havent discouraged of ill treated my friend, it is she who did that.
And i m not a person, who can go and tell and change everything.
The enlightenment should come within, i agree it depends on how to grow up too and ur parents and ur friends play a very important role.
Within TN- i have seen actor vijay was getting ill treated by many for being a flop hero for the past 5 years,
So i havent been totally ignorant or naive about life or people.
Trust me, i have worked in corporate, have known for speaking to any kind of people with their own kind of language.
I dont show my anger or vent it out. Its just that, there was girl , a sri lankan girl in my class, she was insulting without any reason from the day 1 since i joined the class. She is a sinhalese, can u go and explain that girl about ur worth or ur nature. I m so sure, she wouldnt listen or even repect my words. If u dont agree with this point, i m sorry i have to consider u little naive, but a brilliant naive-though..its a compliment :-)
But brother, we cannot change everybody's opnion, coming back to the SL gilr, without any reason, she made my life hell, during my mba days just because i m a tamilian. Inge aaraichi mukkiyamillai nanbare, nan kadhai elutha villai, yosithu eludhuvadharku, enaku nadandha unmayai uraikiren, idharku nan yosikavum, alosikavum vendiyadillai enbadhai thangaluku marubadiym unartha virumbugiren
About gold, my points, whats wrong in wearting it, why u guys are insulting for wearing it,...but u said..aryans, dravidians..not necessary to dig all those... we are in present aren't we?
who wants the details of who created who..
Ipo oru north ponnu enkitta vandu, y u wearing this much gold, apdinu ketta, i definiely wont google and find the results who had worn gold first, That is outright ...whatever
I would say...we like it...
Few points i really agreed, like about complexion, its true what u said...
But we can define discrimination...but we can only feel when u experience it...
I felt pain and i wrote it. I seriously do not want to feel history for what i felt. I disagree this one.
Thanks
Prathipa
Good Debate between both Prathipa and Shylesh...Both got very much convincing points regarding their respective POV
ReplyDeleteBut it was little tasteless on Prathipa's part to label Shylesh as a "brilliant naive" just becoz he happened to hold a variant view from that of yours.
On other hand, Prathipa is very much pragmatic and correct when she says that she cannot be expect to go and correct each and everyone who happened to have biased or preconcieved wrong notions about her and her culture.
Btw, Prathipa why no new posts ??
its nice yaa
ReplyDeleteyey prathi macha really nice ma!!!
ReplyDeleteநான் நானாக இருக்க பெருமை படுகிறேன்.அவரவர் உணவுமுறை,ரசனை,விருப்பம்,பழக்கம் என அனைத்தும் தன் தாய், தந்தை,உறவினர்,நண்பர்கள் என தான் வாழும் சமுதாயத்தை சார்ந்தே மனதுக்குள் புகுத்த படுகிறது.அரசி விளையும் மண்ணில் கோதுமை சாப்பிடுவது எப்படி சாத்தியமாகும்.அவர்களக்கும் அதே நிலை.அதை சிலர் புரிந்துகொள்ள தவறுகிறார்கள்.நிறம் ஒரு வேற்றுமையாக கருதபடுதல் எங்கும் நிகழும் ஒன்றே காரணம் நம்மில் பலருக்கு அழகு என்றால்வெள்ளைநிறம் என்று ஆழ்மனத்தில் ஓர் எண்ணத்தை திணித்துவிட்டார்கள்.அதனால் தான் முப்பது நாட்களில் அழகுபெற ஆவலோடு மேல் நாட்டு கம்பனியை ஆதரித்தது வருகிறோம்.அழகுக்கும் நிறத்திற்கும் நிறைய வித்தியாசங்கள் உள்ளது அதை அனைவரும் புரிந்துகொள்தல் வேண்டும்.என் கண்ணனுக்கு கண்ணம்மா அழகாய் தெரிவாள்.அதேபோல் வடமாநிலநண்பனுக்கு சைலஜா அழகாய் தெரிவாள்.சீன நண்பனுக்கு சீயா.அமெரிக்கனுக்கு ஜெசிக்கா,இது மாறியும் தெரியலாம் அது தனிப்பட்ட விருப்பமாக இருந்தால் நல்லது.உங்கள் கோவம் நியாமானது.ஆனால் கோவத்தை குறைதுகொள்ளுங்கள்.காரணம் உங்கள் அளவுக்கு அவர்கள்ம எண்ணங்களும் செயலும் மேம்படவில்லை.இனி பெயர்களை குறிப்பிடுவதை தவிர்க்கவும்,..பிழைகளுக்கு மன்னிக்கவும்..
ReplyDeleteso much u wrote here, i have seen it too!!!
ReplyDeletewell, i grew up in toronto where color wasnt a factor. we had ppl from africa to china. so everyone mixed and we saw each other as humans. then i started med school where maj of my friends turned out to be south asians - 2 of them were indians, who were so obsessed about color. I am not a light skin person, my sister is, my mother is. but that was never an issue with my family. but these would bring it up all the time. First time where i thought, wow, racist ppl still exist. My friends always made it sound like a joke but hey, its whats in their mind that comes out.
lot of successful hindi actresses, so called evergreen beauties are tamil: rekha, sridevi, vaiyanthimala. these north indians are so ignorant, they think its color that matters. i personally think south indian girls have great features and they r stunning. deepika is better looking girl in north at the moment. but i bet all north indians think she is one of them. lol
as for telugu ppl and color obsession. hold crap. my friend came here when she was in high school so i guess she grew up with that mentality too. i rmr sitting and watching movie - athadu with her mom one late night. and she knew my love for prabhas. and she is said he is so good looking. i am like yea, tall and cute smile. she is like no no, so fair. i am like fair doesnt make him handsome. the whole family mentality was fair = prettier.
as for bright colors, tamils wear it the least. north indians wear freakilsy colorful colors. lol
even though tamils are dark, they r beautiful. perhaps, they dont spend hrs at parlours but naturally pretty.
as for food, my sikh neighbors says cooking rice is only for special events...its expensive. lol
girl, dont pay attention to this hooligans. ignore them :D
These are wonderful, many of them are lovely. Enjoyed
ReplyDeletethe post really considerably.
Stop by my blog ... arrow sheds
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI so agree Tamilians in general are very ugly. And also they are not vegetarian like this writer claims . In chennai, all you get is chicken , mutton and even beef(am not exaggerating ) biryani. Ewww,,,
ReplyDeleteRacist comment :-)
DeleteThis one is definitely a Malayali . Eff off Mallus !
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI'm a tamilian and i'm not black,why every tamilian its black? its a big lie that!!! everyone says '' tamilians are black'' im not black,im fair...whats the problem in it??? when i take sun,i got more brown,thats just skin color,we all r indians,what matter if black or brown or fair..we all was born in bharath!!!
ReplyDeleteIts not about you being fair or dark, i totally agree, complexion based comparison is just nuisance, all i meant to write was how the racism inside our country affects the ppl ..more over, even a person looks like aishwarya rai, without a good heart, beauty doesn't hold a light there!
DeleteOf course, we are all born in india, but discrimination's we face everyday cannot be silenced or avoided! Good day
Hi Prathi,
DeleteI came across your blog. I am a tamil paiyyan born and raised in the US. I appreciate your bravery and honesty in writing about these hardships you have faced. Remember you are not alone, many have experienced things similar.
Please ignore the haters/racists and keep the the great work!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteNo Indian (ranging from Kashmiri to Punjabi to Tamilian) is pure.
ReplyDeleteHowever, one can easily say that darker the Indian more purer he/she is.
Genetically speaking, Tamils are the most purest Indian while Kashmiris/Punjabis/Sindhis are the least and other-states people fall in between.
Using genetics test for the presence of ancient-Indian genes(higher these genes darker the skin cuz ancient-Indians were black/dark-brown),
=> Average Tamilian got 85% South-Asian (ancient Indian), 5% European, 5% Middle-East, 5% East-Asians.
=> Average Sindhi/Punjabi got 45% South-Asian (ancient Indian), 22% European, 30% Middle-East, 3% East-Asians.
I am a Tamil boy who is always proud of my heritage.
I have never faced skin color discrimination because of my quite fair skin (which was certainly due to lower ancient-Indian genes comparing to my beloved Tamilians).
However, when my Tamil people are discriminated or made fun of their skin-color/features, I personally get insulted.
Scientific points I stated before are the reason why most Tamils are dark.
Thousands of years of mixing made some people fair while keeping the rest as dark-skinned.
Dark people exists in all states with Tamils leading over others (obviously due to the location of TN which was least prone to mixing; other reasons include ancient kingdoms' strong resistance to migration of foreigners)
=> Regarding beauty,
It lies in beholders' eyes. When I was in India, I didn't like African and Chinese women.
Over the last couple of years in United States, my perception of beauty evolved and now I like all kind of women regardless of skin-color/race.
I am pretty sure, every other human (including millions of color-obsessed Indians) will evolve like me if he/she hasn't yet.
Things like advertisements which portray only fair skin women can be successful, and movies which ridiculously show off only fair skin actress as heroines should be criticized. Aforementioned things are worse than racism in a country in which max 20% of population is light skinned.
Good and bad people come in all colors and ignorance exists in all kind of people.
Many of my friends do think only fair-skin women are beautiful.
Some others like me appreciate all colored women as long as they possess good feathers.
I personally know one Russian guy who is in relationship with one dark-chocolate color Tamil girl (her parents oppose marriage).
My colleague (very-dark Goa girl) is married to white American guy.
Many (if not all) White Americans/European men go crazy over some dark Indian women whom most Indian men don't find beautiful.
=> Regarding eating habits,
We better act according to what medical reasons say.
Eating rice for dinner is definitely not advisable, but fine for Lunch.
In this rapidly globalizing world, as most non-Indians avoid using hands to eat, we also better avoid using hands in public places (only hands at home, after eating curd-rice I can't avoid licking my palm :P I know you too)where south-Indians are not majority.
@Prathi,
I just added some genetic facts and my thoughts to your wonderful blog and its comments.
Good luck!
"In this rapidly globalizing world, as most non-Indians avoid using hands to eat, we also better avoid using hands in public places" - inferiority complex. Eat in a way as you feel comfortable, don't care a shit about this so called western wannabe s, they are not going to feed you. If you don't have freedom to eat as per you wish then you are a slave.
DeleteAwesomeness ! ;) Tamil vazhga. !! :)
ReplyDeleteAwesomeness ! ;) Tamil vazhga. !! :)
ReplyDeleteAm a malayalie and am fair 75 % people in kerela r fair and light brown. And other little percentage is black but who cares? Never give up in front of any one my tamil brotherz n sisterz we all are humans...dosent matter how u luk like its about how u behave us humans..see in palastine they r fair, dose that fairness solve there war? No..itz all about talent. Prove to the world that am a tamilan and am a good example of human. We are buddha people ..we showed the world how to live us human. We are vivek ananda people remba all this..and live proudly.
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteI came across your blog when I was searching for racism in India with different key words, among them is “why tamils are so ugly” as suggested as frequently searched phrase in google in regard to “tamil”.
I’m a tamil from trichy. I am living in the United States from 2005, I had stayed with North Indians, Kanndigas, Telugus and Keralites. As with any Tamilian,I have faced those question that you have faced and read a lot to really answer those questions to myself first and I would like to share those answers with you.
Why I’m Dark?
As you may have read, First and simple reason, Melanin is the cause of the dark skin. As a part of human evolution, the skin tones are dictated by the amount of sun rays on the region. Most of the regions surrounding and closer to equator will have people who are dark skinned with high amount of melanin to support their skin from being destroyed (Skin Cancer and other diseases) by harmful UV rays from the sun to which they are exposed almost 12 hours a day. Limited amount of sun rays is important for the production of a vital ingredient “Vitamin D”. This can be best explained by the fact that in cold countries White People throng the beach for sun bath during the short summers where the sun shines mildly to give their skin the opportunity to produce the necessary Vitamin D. On contrary when the same white people start living in places like Australia continuous long exposure to sun increases their chance of increasing skin cancer, in fact Australian White People top the charts on Skin Cancer. When Dark Skinned people like me start to live in Cold Countries, our Melanin prevents us from absorbing enough Sun light in the short summers and thereby making us deficient in Vitamin D, it takes quite some time for evolution to shape my future generations to get fair skin to absorb more amount of sun light if I continue to be in US or Canada and the inverse will hold true for Australian whites.
Beyond that tit bit on science, there are socio-anthropological reasons for Dark and Fair skins in India.
Why North Indians have Fair Skin?
Not all North Indians have fair skin, there are dark skinned North Indians even in Cow-belt of India, most of them will belong to the lower caste. Most North Indians we come to meet are from the creamy layer of North India, atleast 95% from the higher classes of India. North Indians are mix races from Alexandar’s age till the advent of British. Continuous invasion of Caucasian, Middle Eastern, Central Asian, Mongolian races on Native People of North India (Native Dark Indians) resulted in that mixed races. You may have read about Rape of Nanking, but believe it or not, North India had been through more Rape in the last 1200 years than any other race. Most North Indian ancestors race origins could be traced (if possible) to one or other horrifying events in the 1200 years of North Indian History, everything from their dressing sense, color, food, life style and behavior is influenced by these invasions. Whats interesting is that integration of lower caste people with even the Invaders was quite not to the full extent, which could be one reason (there are also many other reasons) why the suppressed masses were secluded away from the race mixup. Most Mongolian – Turkish Invaders inseminated the women where ever they invade, the Mongolian Ruler Chengiz Khan’s gene is found as long as the Yugoslavia (Balkans). Invaders like Mohammed Gazhni, Ghori and Timur has raped and killed as much as they looted in the whole of North India. While Mongolian Invaders played havoc in East India, Southern India had relative peace until excepting the invasion of Malik kafur and one or two low key Mohammaden Invasions in north of Andhra and Karnataka . This race mix up is the cause of more Fair Skinned people in North India. Though most North Indians like to think themselves as pure Aryan Breed, there is no true Aryan or Dravidian breed in India. I’m sure most North Indians won’t accept it, the truth is bitter.
Ok So Why Some Tamils and Most Keralites have Fair Skin?
ReplyDeleteIn case of Tamil Nadu, Since it was safe guarded most of the times from Northern Invaders the race mix up was quite low, before Harihara and Bukka, the Northern Parts of Andhra and Karnataka was ransacked by the Muslim Invaders who did follow their principle of insemination, while the southern part of Andhra or Karnataka was still a far reach for those muslim invaders as they succumbed to their fight for their own political instabilities in their northern kingdoms or strong holds. When the Vijayanagar empire was created it became a wall between the muslim invaders and the Southern India. By the fall of Vijayanagar Empire during the reign or Rama Raya, it was estimated that 10,00,000 people from that southern parts of empire migrated into the fringes of northern Tamil Nadu. After the destruction of the last great southern empire, the Muslim invaders did have a free hand for short time in the early 16th century but with the entry of Maratha Confederacy, the Muslim Invaders or Rulers cannot forego with a good level of Southern insemination. But I think, the Nayak rulers, Muslim Invaders and Maratha invaders do combine together for atleast 30% of reason for why some tamils other than the Brahmins / Iyengars to be fair skinned also the trade and religious interactions have their own scores in count of fair skinned people in Tamil Nadu. Incase of Brahmins / Iyengars they clearly were races from north probably 1000 - 1500 years back who had been more of a endogamous group who didn’t mix much with native races, they were respected by both the Nayak Rulers and Maratha Rulers which could have prevented them from being disturbed racially as in case of other races.
In regard to Keralites, it’s a different question altogether. Have you ever noticed what most people notice as the beauty of Kerala girls, its their dark curly hair and the fair skin. For most of them the curly hair is really curly and the fair skin makes them look awestruck beautiful. Curly hair is a clear indication of Negroid Origin, most People in equatorial region will have the features of Negroid origin (Including the Tamils, Aborigines in the equatorial countries, excepting the South American Equatorial people [which by itself will be a separate and interesting research]). While the Fair Skin is something from the Central Asian / Middle Eastern / Caucasian origin. When these two feature combine together you get the good looking Keralite. A perfect mix up. The Social reason as I came to understand is, the Kerala Part of Tamil Country has continuous trade relationship with the West from the Romans / Greek / Arabs/ Jews/ Christians. Since that strip of land (Kerala) had continuous migration from the Jews to Syrian Christians to Arabs to Brahmins from the North India, there was a huge mix up of culture and people. That’s the reason you will be seeing considerable Jews in Calicut and surrounding areas and quite strong numbers of Christians and Muslims in higher percentage than any other state in India. This trade route caused a peaceful mixture for quite a long time that both primary origins (Negroid and Fair skin) are mixed up in appropriate proportions and that’s another reason why the behavior, food and culture tend to be quite different than that happened with race mix up from north Indians. But the obvious question arises on why there are dark skinned people in Kerala too? the reason is again the same, since it was a peaceful mixture, the people more close to the shore (where trade really happened) mixed up easily while the people away from the shore close to the mountains and in the mountains of western ghats didn’t mix much and even some of them were kept away from being mixed by Caste.
So what happens in future for these fair skinned races?
ReplyDeleteIf there are no race mix up in the coming years may be 10000 years, evolution which switch to more darker skin tones even among north Indians and other fair skinned Indians. Else, as now, dark skins and fair skins will continue fighting among themselves who is better and try to humiliate each other out of ignorance.
Saying all that, If you want to answer politely, you can say “I’m dark because my race was not part of the race mixing that happened much in North India and fringes of South India”. If you want to answer like me then it will be “Yeah, every morning in Tamil Nadu, after we wake up we go to paint shop get ourselves painted black/brown as we tamils love black and brown, Do you want to come to Tamil Nadu? We will paint you Black and Brown and you will love it”
Why do you eat rice?
ReplyDeleteAs someone responded earlier in your blog, regions with more rainfall, hot and humid are good for growing rice. Rice is the staple food of the Southern and Eastern India. Across the world all South East Asian (Including China, Korea and Japan) countries the staple food is Rice. People will have their staple diet based on the crop that’s available in abundance in their place. That’s the reason we eat rice while the North Indians eat Wheat.
Rice will make you fat, so why do you eat that?
If that’s the case, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese would have been the most obese guys on the planet. The stereotype of rice eating causes obesity is one of wrong notions being propagated even by Doctors in India. Not just rice, anything you eat beyond a limit will be bad for health. If you continue eating 10 chappathis and parottas in every meal you will definitely become obese. As in the Tamil saying by Avvaiyar “alavukku minjinaal amirthamum nanju”. But there is really a small part of truth in saying too much rice filled with Carbohydrates is bad for health. When we are young from our late teens to college (when we will be roaming around and doing lot of activities than sitting in chair, even girls in our houses will be doing lot of activities until the late 90s generation) our intake of rice increases dramatically than we were kids. So the stomach and intestines enlarge to accommodate more food (rice) as we grow. Suddenly after college when we get to work most of us take upon the sedentary work and life style. Though the life style has changed the stomach still is expecting more food and that incites the extra-large food (rice) craving. Which causes obesity and in turn causes the heart / diabetes and blood pressure problems. In case of rice its easily digestable as required in a tropical climates while wheat gives the necessary heat for anyone in Cold climates or near cold climates (even Deserts will have severe cold temperatures in the night times). In the modern world we have an opportunity to eat different foods regardless of our region of evolution or climatic conditions only the future has to answer how they will impact human evolution.
In case of Tamil Nadu, we had traditional paddy types like Kuthirai Vali and Kollu Araisi and many others which were lost in time in the last 40 – 50 years. Thanks to green revolution, we ended up having hybrid varieties like IR 8, IR 20, Ponni, Andhra Ponni and Sona Masoori which disregarded the health benefits of our ancient varieties and just gave more count of paddy bags for farmers in the initial days. But Great Souls like Nammazhvar and his Belgian friend have saved those varieties and encouraged farmers to go in for the ancient crops, and few Farmers in Tamil nadu even have started adapting to traditional crops and real organic farming. So until we eat such healthy rice we ourselves will say “Yeah …yeah….chappathi is the goodest for healthna”
As usual if you want to answer politely, you can say “Rice is the staple food of South and East India and even in case of Eastern nations like China, Japan, Korea and all South-East Asian nations. So its no wonder we eat rice while North and Western Countries eat wheat based food”
If you want to answer like me then say “yeah, we are so poor that we even eat raw rice or paddy. we couldn’t afford Chappathi which is a luxury for the starved Tamils….if you come to Tamil nadu you will be surprised that nobody knows even the spelling of Chappathi….poor souls let them rest in peace”
Why do you chose Bright Colors?
ReplyDeleteAll the time I thought North Indians are the one who chose Bright colors…it surprising that they are saying you are the one choosing Bright Colors? How about holi, if you ever participated in that festival you could see how much bright color obsessed the northies are.
Why do you wear so much gold?
This surely would have been a question from the so called Modern North Indians are rest of the Indians. If you see this mindset is a new thing that is been propagated to more and more Indians trying to be posh and ape Americans in every part of their life. The true thing is they really look like half-baked apes. Because they couldn’t leave their ethnic racial identity and at the same time they want look modern. So most of them will have a mindset of medieval era North India or Old India and on the outside try to cover up with their outside appearance and behavior as westerners and one among them is not wearing gold. While most Tamil girls brought up in a society of people taking pride in wearing gold jewelries instead of fake jewelries continue to wear so in spite of such ridiculous comments. Infact they end up thinking about such questions and change in the culture and really have a free and independent thinking which makes them to staunchly wear what they feel is good, unknowingly such Tamil girls are representing the epitome of real modern western thinking than those people who paint themselves outside with sewage inside their mind.
I have been with many North Indians, other than a couple of guys most North Indians I have met didn’t have the mindset to listen and provide intellectual answers for any questions or arguments. I have some North Indian friends who are really great guys and girls, but alas they seem to be a very small section of the large population.
ReplyDeleteI have encountered numerous questions from North Indians asking why Tamils think and behave as if they are not part of India. My polite answer was, take any disasters in India, right from the 1962 India china war, the monetary contribution from Tamil Nadu will be the number one be it Gujarat earth quake or Kargil War. More than any other state or ethnic group in India, so whom do you think is more patriotic?
The first person who ever got arrested for being a sathyagrahi other than Gandhi was a Tamil Women named Thillaiyadi Valliammai in South Africa as a part of the Non-Violence Struggle announced by Gandhi. Gandhi’s discovery and building up of Sathyagraha strategy was owed largely to the Tamils in South Africa not by large numbers of Gujurati Business men or North Indians also present there. Infact Tamils are the strongest supporter of his non-violence movements when Gandhi started as a novice to his shot up to fame until his time in South Africa. That’s one other reason why Gandhi learnt to read and write in Tamil.
In case of Nethaji, Most of his troops were comprised of Tamils from the Malaya and Rangoon area. Nethaji himself has acknowledged the love of Tamils in the fight for Indian Independence. Many tamils died as a part of the rail road laying project on the rain forests of Malaya by the Japanese, but even those who endured hard times still praise Nethaji. The tamil business men Nattu Kottai Chettiars has contributed immensely (monetary) for the Indian National Army than any other ethnic group in Malaya at that time, nobody can prove this wrong. Its there in the British records. Other than West Bengal Nethaji’s Forward Bloc can win election seats only in Madurai and Surrounding areas of Tamil Nadu. Not in any one of the states from the so called Patriotic North India Cow-Belt.
I really don’t want to miss out on Sembagaraman, the Patriotic Tamil who bombed British India (Mostly Chennai) from the German Ship Emton. Just one Indian man influenced Germany in first world war to fight against the British, while the patriotic brave North Indians like Sikhs, Jats, Rajputs were fighting for the British in Eastern Europe and middle east and cherished the British Slavery.
I’m not a Tamil fanatic or North Indian hater, as you have written in your blog most Tamils face these uncivilized questions from North Indians and so called other Indians due to their ugly mind set of race superiority (which I can write a book on their stupid theories [they think most Tamils and dark south Indians are all untouchables who became touchable only after Independence]). I thought we should get the answers ourselves first before answering others and my effort is towards that.
the most tamils of today have afro or negriod feature, your ancestry migrated from the African continent in after the drought in Africa. historians have proved this factor,the migration happened on the indian ocean and touching Australia , the aborgines and Australia and tamils have been classified has been same people who migrated from Africa. there is nothing ugly being dark. the person characters and conduct behavior matters a lot. the problems with tamils is lack of history and inderiority complex. British who built madras, and the same with Kolkata. even the malayalis and Bengalis, kashmiris come under proto dravidan family. Kannadigas and telegus are not dravidians. they have an entirely different history over all. the nairs in kerala are Scythian in origin same as Punjab people. Know some real history and truth will liberate you rather than feeling insecure
ReplyDeleteFor an anonymous who had commented on my foto, sir ji, my foto was taken indoor, being a dark girl,the foto was not clear at all, hence edited to upload here, not to make myself colorful and for the cheating part, what you give, you expect back, i have seen so many other states ppl showing arrogance to tamils! So ur comment is not true!
ReplyDeleteI am a Tamilian girl and here is my experience with other Indians . ( Note : I am fairer than an most Indians on an average and even more so than other south Indians )
ReplyDeleteMalayalees -
Mallu : Are you sure you are a Tamilian ?
Me : Yes I am
Mallu : But you are too fair yaar !
Me : I speak Tamil and am an exponent of Bharatnatyam and Carnatic music . I am very much a Tamilian .
Mallu : Is it possible that one of your forefathers could be a Malayali ?
Me : I am a pure Tamilian by lineage .
Mallu : But , you don't have the Tamil accent either . Did you grow up in TN ?
Me : Yes I did .
Mallu : OMG You are the only Tamilian who are good looking and can speak English without that accent.
( By now , I lost my temper )
Me : Is Kerala full of fair people ?
Mallu : Yeah Malayalees are the fairest among South Indians.
Me : Then how come you are black ? ( she was )
Mallu : It is just me . Other Malayalees are fair .
Me : Is it ? I have met a lot of very dark people from Kerala.
Mallu : Still we are fairer than Tamilians .
Me : Really ? What is the use dear ? You still come to our state begging for jobs !
Our friendship ended right there .
I forgot to add that this Malayalee didn't even ask for my name . She only asked where I am from and my caste name . I ignored the caste part and just said I am a Tamilian.
DeleteTelugus -
ReplyDeleteTelugite : Where are you from ?
Me : Tamilnadu
Telugite : But you are too fair to be a south Indian .
Me : Hey it is not true . Not all south Indians are dark . Not all North Indians are fair.
Telugite : But most of us are dark right ?
Me : It hardly matters yaar . We are doing very well in all sectors.
Telugite : That's true . We south Indians study in IITs and Ivys . Colour shouldn't matter . Don't mistake me yaar .
Me : No problem buddy.
She is still a good friend and will always be . I have always found it easier to reason things with Telugites than Malayalees . It only takes small efforts from my side to get them act in a mature way.
Kannadigas -
ReplyDeleteWe met in a mall and she approached me like this.
Kannadiga : Do you think this dress will suit me ?
Me : Absolutely,but the navy blue will go better with your skin tone than red. If you wanna go red , choose the deeper , earthy shades.
Kannadiga : Will you please wait for me ? ill wear this and show you .
Me : Sure buddy ! ( I waited for her )
( She came out looking absolutely gorgeous )
Kannadiga : How do I look ?
Me : Fantastic . Go for it ! :-)
( We both billed our apparel and then she asked me ..)
Kannadiga : Where are you from ?
Me : Tamilnadu
Kannadiga : But you don't look like a Tamilian at all. Thought you are a North Indian.
Me : I thought you are a North Indian as well ( remember , this is a complement among other South Indians )
Kannadiga : Yeah . Lot of people have told me that ( grins )
Me : Now that you have seen me and I have seen you , we should stop calling South Indians dark . Besides , the darker girls are hotter than us anyway . Look at Rihanna and Beyonce !
Kannadiga : True yaar . Do you mind exchanging numbers ?
Me : Not at all .
We exchanged numbers and we stay in touch with each other. She is a great friend.
Kannadigas are by far the best among Indians as a community . My experience with them has always been pleasant . They are decent , gentle , warm , smart and down-to-earth . They follow all the nice etiquettes . We Tamilians should try and learn manners from them and they are some of the very few people who are worth learning anything from.
North Indians -
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not , these guys do not single out Tamilians for bad stereotypes ( Or have I just been lucky enough to meet the right ones ? ). As long as we are approachable and carry ourselves well, we should do fine with them .
I always got along with the girls and even shared room with them during my college days . I didn't know Hindi then and they translated every word of their conversations for me . The fact that I didn't speak Hindi , didn't hinder our friendship at all. They are the first people to get me come out of my conservative ties ,that came with being raised in a small town of Tamilnadu. They made me feel alive and taught me to live life without inhibitions . To just let go and live without worries !
I had saved the best for the last . Here is a sample of my conversation with a Tamil guy .
ReplyDeleteA Malayalee friend of mine who subscribes to Kerala superiority theory ,introduced me to this Tamilian guy.
Mallu : Hey dude ! Meet XXXXX , She is from your state .
Tamilian : Hi
Me : Hi
Tamilian : Which part of Tamilnadu are you from ?
Me : YYYY
Tamilian : You don't look like a Tamilian at all !
( Mallu was thoroughly pleased with this )
Me : But I am ( gritting my teeth )
Tamilian : You are actually very fair and are fashionably dressed ( in an accusatory tone ). Tamil girls are usually a lot darker and are conservatively dressed.
Me : Hmmm ( sighs )
Tamilian : ( Turned to the mallu girl who was and still is, 10 shades darker than me and paid this compliment ) You mallu girls are always fair I know . You girls are also usually better dressed ( the girl herself was poorly dressed and was a repeat-offender when it comes to fashion ).
( The mallu girl was beaming ... )
Please note the difference in attitude he showed towards the Tamil and the Malayalee girl . Believe me , of all the guys I have ever met , our own Tamil guys are the very worst . They rarely miss an opportunity to embarrass us Tamil girls in public . They offer way more credit to Malayalee girls than they deserve , give astronomical levels of hype even to the worst looking ones among them and feed their ego every day. Fortified by the assurance from Tamil guys , they are convinced of their superiority and come to us Tamil girls expecting royal treatment . And when we refuse to feed their ego , it results in bitterness from their side.
After this conversation , a North Indian guy who was watching this conversation from a distance ,came to me and said " I didn't know that being fair and fashionably dressed is a crime in Tamilnadu !! Sick of them ! You don't have to put up with them and I know you can't fit in. Join us for lunch from tomorrow onwards "
I joined the North Indian group and decidedly stayed away from Tamil guys . My life has changed for the better.
I have always loved my language and have wished nothing but the best for my state but has always been treated like an alien in TN because of my fair skin. Nobody could make me feel as bad as other Tamilians. I mean the guys ( not even Malayalees ).
Tamil girls on the other hand , have always been a delight. I could discuss with them on any topic under the sun and could have meaningful debates with them . Love ém .
Hope our guys change for the better.
Bold article, but ur hatred towards a mallu/kannadiga girl shows ur inferiority complex of being dark. Also i guess CTS is not a TN govnt company,where people have to beg the job. This is a very much racist comment from you.To get a job in IT company you dont have to beg, instead u hv to give interview and after that company is placing you in different states, not the respective government. So please dont use the "begging" word , as it is applicable to others who are staying out of their states for their jobs.This attitude from ppl like you makes my state TN as bad infront of others.
DeleteTamil girls are definitely ugly and black. And if you don't have a problem with being black, there is no need to write an entire article and post comments on it. Just accept that you are black and live with it.
ReplyDeletedont b racist!!
Deletealso i work with CTS but at Bangalore, not at my native place!
Deletewe all are Indians ,I think there is no need for this kinda arguments. all girls of India are beautiful by heart irrespective of colour,creeds,whatever.so boys should respect girls and have to treat them as equals instead of complimenting or arguing about how they look. our colour depends on our races.so there is nothing to be pride or to get humiliated because of physical features. it all depends in our heart.Being an tamilian,i am proud to be indain girl irrespective of my looks
ReplyDeleteI am happy for you Prathi and
ReplyDeletefor your bold article and all the best to make tamilians proud by your further articles. keep writing
Keralites are NOT the fairest South Indians! Please take a look at Tulus, Tamil Brahmins, and Konkani people...pretty obvious they are much FAIRER.....
ReplyDeleteAm a malayalee who was born and grew up in Delhi. and as goes....no you are fair like us, you speak unaccented Hindi and english...the usual....we spoke Hindi and English at home ...but enjoyed everything keralite...avial, sambhar, olan, kalan anything uniapoam, ada, payasams, yum...I married a very dark Tamil Iyer who was balding. .......somehow I never got attracted to loud guys, even if they were fair or Greek gods....and even now what drass me to a person is the intellect and innate honesty...
ReplyDeleteI feel sorry for people who think their anthropology or their melanin content of their ability to dress nattily should be factors in deciding your social acceptability index or success.
Sorry for the typos....dang the autocorrections
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