Confessions of a Troubled Mind

Sitting by the seashore on a Sunday evening and admiring some photographs stuck to the walls led me to think of an encounter with this amazing American lady who had been staying in India for the past 7 years. In conversation, she revealed that she owned a boutique and a roof-top food joint, in the beach town of Pondicherry. It was she who introduced me to the concept of Cultural Sensitivity.

When I went all out complaining about the existing moral policing in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry (obviously being from North-East India, moral policing with reference to clothing is the first thing that a first-time traveler would notice, while traveling to so-called mainland India) and as to how ethnocentric they were. She told me only one thing, “Hey boy! You have come to their place and not them.” At that time I didn’t quite understand the gravity of those words.

With time, though, it all became clear, the idea of ethnocentrism is actually both ways; the fact that I perceived the local culture from my frame or perspective, which is predominantly western, obviously due to the cultural conditioning that I had received, which I now understand is a product of Cultural Imperialism. This Cultural Imperialism tends to instill a sense of superiority among most people from North-East who travel to other parts of India, which in turn makes us look down at people from other places and what we must understand is, they too have the same feelings. This is ethnocentrism, both ways, in practice.

Now, because these feelings have been culturally conditioned into us, they cannot be avoided but definitely restricted. Cultural sensitivity is extremely essential to understand and appreciate other cultures. Every culture has its positives and negatives and in any case, Culture is something that is ever-evolving, the definition of which is ambiguous.

Understanding other cultures by trying to be like them is an extremely different experience altogether. Anthropological research too lays emphasis on an emic perspective on things or rather than cultural traditions.

The experience of conversing with a ‘Bhaiya-Ji of UP’ about the political strategy of Mulayam Singh led Samajwadi Party and then discussing the positive and negative effects of the Polavaram Project with the Telegu folk. You cannot forget the Malayalis here, who do not stop a moment to criticize the widespread corporatization and consumerism that has ushered the ill effects of capitalism and most often than not they obviously quote the Plachimada incident.  Then you have the Tamils who assert how important regional politics is, for them by talking about how unjust the Rajiv Gandhi Government was, when it sent the IPKF to Sri Lanka and being insensitive to the genocide, then happening in Northern Sri Lanka. The Kashmiris talk about the atrocities of the Indian Army and the Government through the implementation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. The Marathi people speak about their proud Maratha Tradition and the never-ending tales of Chatrapati Shivaji and mind you all this happens over a cup of tea and a cigarette. 

We from North-East also have a lot to share but then it is very unfortunate that we prefer sticking to our circles. Yes there are those complaints of discrimination but unless there is also an attempt from our side, we will probably never overcome this problem. It’s high time that we change or we will land up being ‘the frog in the well’ who knows nothing other than what’s in the well.