Erotica, Brahminism and the hilarious Five point someone...

I walked into crossword and ambled as usual in the Indian section. Trying to see some good books on history, constitution, ancient history etc. I have been bitten by this bug and man the infection is spreading. Its like black coffee or beer. Bitter and unpalatable to start with but then in a really fetish sort of way amazingly addictive and satisfying. Basically I was looking out for some big book which will last me for a month atleast (at 20 pages a day. A little reading on the shit pot and a little before bed) . All of the books had jazzy reviews, glossy covers and dollar rates. I somehow stepped out of that world because I felt my knowledge growth should be selctive and controlled. Its like splits training in body building. you want to isolate a muscle and train it to breakdown. I just ambled by not impressed by the title untill I hit the "EROTICA" section... Vow... that transformed the whole experience.. I pulled a seat for myself and poured into one of the best EROTICA dictionairies ever come across.. literally every term had been laid out thread bare from sitophilia to necrophilia. With illustrations, drawings and clinical explainations. It was mindboggling. I wanted to steal that book (dollar rates remember). I did the next best thing. Hid the book in the travel and living sectoin. No one but me can find it.. hee hee.. Meanwhile I saw one elderly lady groan and complain about falling standards of social norms. It felt wierd because I could hear this background whining as I sat engrossed pouring over books and books of Erotica. I turned and looked and I saw her with two 20 something girls sitting. She just stared back and I smiled (genuine and corteus).. The girls were giggling and I think I saw them flush when they looked back at me. I said to myself, If I were twenty I would have cared a fuck for her aunt/grandma or who ever it was and went there to talk to them. She frowned back and told me "are you not ashamed sitting there and looking at nude women ?" "no aunty. why should I be ashamed. I like it", I said thumbing a nude photo album. The girls were silent and were flushing more. Somehow I thought to myself, here is someone offended by these books. But I dint intend to do it, and I was simply enjoying myself and having a good evening out without encroaching onto anyone. Is that wrong ?

I think like sex, food, friends, entertainment and hewnceforth dress are nothing but choices. Here I got sucked into this mammoth discussion spawned out by Srivatsan's blog and adequately debated by Senthil's blog. To give you a brief, it is about brahmins, their identity and its display. Srivatsan firstly pointed out that how a brahmin displayed his identity against all odds and how harshly the world in general (including himself), and an MNC company in particular (HP) judged the brahmin. He goes on to ask "what's wrong if a brahmin does the same thing, as a sikh does in India". Srivatsan's blog is more about the displays and trappings of brahmins rathar than being a brahmin or not. Is appearance itself function of identity ? I found myself asking. I had blogged about language and identity because I am convinced of that. language gives man to express and it is his first form of expression. Is appearance so critical ?. I am being simplistic here to say appearance. But includes, cultural practices, rituals etc.

Senthil's blog spoke about how inconvinent Dhothi is and how salwar is not traditional south Indian etc. It is a debater's point by point resopnse to Srivatsan. Some brownie points but nothing beyond that. No aspects of identity addressed. Vishitra made a beautiful point of answering the fundamental questions unstated in Srivatsan's blog and asked by me in the previous para (see in bold). In some cases it is and in some cases it isnt. Its purely individual choice and definitely a personal one. Being born brahmin, Iyengar (thengalai-vadagalai, madhwa) or iyer (smartha, iyers) is not in any way demeaning or lesser. Afterall some of the great thinkers are exactly that. Basava, Ramanuja, Subramanya Bharathi. Yes Brahminism has some really bad and retrograd practices. And they have to go. period.

1) Descrimination between people of various castes.
2) Too much ritualism.
3) Orthodoxy.
4) Too clanish a mentality.

The greats that they are never consigned the identity they were attributed to. The changed what the identity meant and stood for. Basava created the veerashaiva community. Ramanuja convered lowercastes to brahminism. Subramanya barathi taught a greater concept of Indianness and so did many other greats. What matters is what is acomplished in the world and how identity helps us lift people marginalised socially and economically and make them stand on their own feet, proud of their achievements. If this is not possible by identity. Identity is useless.

The 60s identity struggle in tamilnadu was a complex one of reaction to caste suppression, abolition of ritualism (masqureded as hinduism) and more importantly giving the marginalised people a chance to look up and feel better. No longer would chandala or ambattan be an abuse. It is manifested in the growth and identity of each community asserting itself for its share of legitimate political, economuic and social space.

So it is left to see what my dear friend Srivatsans' acquaintance in college seeks to achieve by asserting his identity. The key question is does it translate into a larger good ? I mean if it is, I would support that irrespective of what others say. If it isnt, its just another cerbral exercise of vanity. Good for his ego and pride. Nothing beyond that.

I studied in a pune colelge (B-School) and for every major college function, there would be one man in a dhothi and white shirt (yours truly). Sometimes the dhothi wuold go above my knees and reveal a beautiful set of calf muscles and thighs.. (I mean I thought so). Somehow my unabashed comfort with the dhothi made it damm cool in college. I have always worn lungi in my hostel.. its thin, airy and you know all the benifits...

It never really bothered me that the dhothi will slip off. I was good at that. Infact, I secretly wished it would slip off. I was a closet exhibitionist :D..

Infact, I was so moved by "mustafa mustafa" song when it came out in 1997 that I did a stage performance of that song including the electric guitar piece in the begining (with my voice)... Never really bothered me that no one except my prof GI and one fellow chennaiite (she always called herself madrasi and was embaressed to talk to me in tamil) understood tamil. Just two in my whole batch. But then, I was singing for myself and not for anyone else.

You think its wierd.. ever heard of kumar gandharv ? he sings with one lung and man his voice isnt traditionally beautiful but will keep you rivvetted and on a trip much better than the best grass..

Some of the biggest industrialists in tamil nadu were indegenous entreprenuers like PSG group, TVS, Murugappa etc. ever seen any of the board meetings you will have crisply clad directors in starched dhothis. I thought there used to be an ad for premier dhothis... I think it is wrong to say dhothi is not professional. Some may like it some may not.. infact If I want to, I wouldnt for a moment flinch to wear a dhothi. Ofcourse it will be on occassion and with a purpose.

let people judge others on basis of their dresses and customs at their own peril. History has been changed by these people wrongly judged. Remember the story of Dannanda and Kautilya ?

Anyway as I was walking out of crossword, adequately chastised by the elderly lady (she was lilke an aunt, and I could see the struggle in her mind. I sufficiently convinced her that I am not a bad guy - a rapist or a eve teaser. Just that I liekd erotica), I remebered sachin (Bong Machan) saying read "Five point someone" "dont miss it man. Its like our IMDR days. Eerilly simialr to Aapka apartments (ITs an apartment complex where my friends used to stay. Its on the road just before roopali on FC road)".. I picked up the book and instinctively turned to the last page. I was glad that it was just Rs. 95. I told myself "This is fiction, but at Rs. 95 and Sachin's reco what the heck..", I succumbed.

The book was amazingly mindblowing. I was readig about IIT and was imagining about IMDR and fergi campus. the hanuman tekdi, our trivial trials and tribulations. The only sad thing (which saruabh also agreed too ) was that our group of seven had enough life experience language skills, hilarious annectodes to have written the very same book. I just felt that, man we should have done it. Anyway.. Kudos Chetan Bagath. That is a beautiful and alltime favouirite reads.

I think Indian writers are surely coming of age. I just wish the amazing thought purge that is happening continues and tells more endearing stories.