Comments on: What is Indian ? A Culture Conundrum http://waternoice.com/2007/09/21/what-is-indian-a-culture-conundrum/ Online magazine for Indian Americans in the Bay Area Mon, 21 May 2012 15:29:36 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: R.S.Venkataraman. http://waternoice.com/2007/09/21/what-is-indian-a-culture-conundrum/comment-page-1/#comment-166 R.S.Venkataraman. Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:37:21 +0000 http://waternoice.com/2007/09/21/what-is-indian-a-culture-conundrum/#comment-166 hi arvind amazed to read your thoughts flowing so freely punctuated with a subtle sense of humour. just like your dad. keep writing more. would love to read them. love. lakshmi athai. hi arvind
amazed to read your thoughts flowing so freely punctuated with a subtle sense of humour. just like your dad. keep writing more. would love to read them.
love. lakshmi athai.

]]> By: R.S.Venkataraman. http://waternoice.com/2007/09/21/what-is-indian-a-culture-conundrum/comment-page-1/#comment-164 R.S.Venkataraman. Mon, 24 Sep 2007 15:05:27 +0000 http://waternoice.com/2007/09/21/what-is-indian-a-culture-conundrum/#comment-164 Excellent,indeed!Arvind,more than the lucidity of expression you are endowed with a vision and an analytical mind uncommon among boys/girls of your age group. You have your roots in a country which has perpetually been a melting pot for several millennia.No wonder the ethnic "idli" group throws up an adorable young specimen like you, with a thinking mind in a country whose "melting pot" status is just a century or two old.You have it in you to blossom into a famous writer for whom a Booker and ,perhaps , a Nobel prize may not be out of reach,in the foreseeable future. You are just wonderful! Love, Thaatha. Excellent,indeed!Arvind,more than the lucidity of expression you are endowed with a vision and an analytical mind uncommon among boys/girls of your age group.

You have your roots in a country which has perpetually been a melting pot for several millennia.No wonder the ethnic “idli” group throws up an adorable young specimen like you, with a thinking mind in a country whose “melting pot” status is just a century or two old.You have it in you to blossom into a famous writer for whom a Booker and ,perhaps , a Nobel prize may not be out of reach,in the foreseeable future. You are just wonderful! Love,
Thaatha.

]]> By: RSV SUBRAMANIAN http://waternoice.com/2007/09/21/what-is-indian-a-culture-conundrum/comment-page-1/#comment-162 RSV SUBRAMANIAN Mon, 24 Sep 2007 09:32:56 +0000 http://waternoice.com/2007/09/21/what-is-indian-a-culture-conundrum/#comment-162 Bravo Arvind! You have great felicity of expression. More than that I was impressed that you could bring your insight in the discussion of your chosen subject. America is much like India. Both of them are first geographical entities before being political or cultural ones. In about 75000 years of her past India received a very wide variety of races and peoples at different stages of their different cultures. Enclosed by the Himalayas and surrounded by the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Indian ocean, the diverse cultures got 'cooked'. While retaining much of their individuality all of them acquired one unique flavour - Indian. The South Indian Idli, the Punjabi Aloo Parantha, the Gujarati Dhokla and the Bengali Luchchi-Aloo have remained and yet all of them have become 'spicy' and Indian. In the 15000 odd years during most of which the Americas hosted humans belonging to just a few stocks, culture rather tabled out. The arrival of Europeans and later the many hued Asians and Africans have replicated the situation there too which India faced in the past. Not pasta alone, my boy, but Idlis, Paranthas, Tortillas, Sushi, Khimchi and whatnot would all go into making the American splendour in the very near future. Congratulations Mani Chithappa Bravo Arvind!
You have great felicity of expression. More than that I was impressed that you could bring your insight in the discussion of your chosen subject.
America is much like India. Both of them are first geographical entities before being political or cultural ones. In about 75000 years of her past India received a very wide variety of races and peoples at different stages of their different cultures. Enclosed by the Himalayas and surrounded by the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Indian ocean, the diverse cultures got ‘cooked’. While retaining much of their individuality all of them acquired one unique flavour – Indian. The South Indian Idli, the Punjabi Aloo Parantha, the Gujarati Dhokla and the Bengali Luchchi-Aloo have remained and yet all of them have become ’spicy’ and Indian.
In the 15000 odd years during most of which the Americas hosted humans belonging to just a few stocks, culture rather tabled out. The arrival of Europeans and later the many hued Asians and Africans have replicated the situation there too which India faced in the past.
Not pasta alone, my boy, but Idlis, Paranthas, Tortillas, Sushi, Khimchi and whatnot would all go into making the American splendour in the very near future.
Congratulations
Mani Chithappa

]]> By: Shefaly http://waternoice.com/2007/09/21/what-is-indian-a-culture-conundrum/comment-page-1/#comment-161 Shefaly Mon, 24 Sep 2007 08:59:48 +0000 http://waternoice.com/2007/09/21/what-is-indian-a-culture-conundrum/#comment-161 Interesting! And another Californian has a very different perspective on identity, seeing as he was born in the USA and except for travels has not lived in any other country: http://ben.casnocha.com/2007/09/hispanic-cultur.html Interesting!

And another Californian has a very different perspective on identity, seeing as he was born in the USA and except for travels has not lived in any other country:
http://ben.casnocha.com/2007/09/hispanic-cultur.html

]]> By: Basab http://waternoice.com/2007/09/21/what-is-indian-a-culture-conundrum/comment-page-1/#comment-159 Basab Sat, 22 Sep 2007 14:36:00 +0000 http://waternoice.com/2007/09/21/what-is-indian-a-culture-conundrum/#comment-159 Very nice article, Arvind. The 'third person' thing just cracked me up. Very nice article, Arvind. The ‘third person’ thing just cracked me up.

]]> By: Anand http://waternoice.com/2007/09/21/what-is-indian-a-culture-conundrum/comment-page-1/#comment-157 Anand Sat, 22 Sep 2007 04:11:56 +0000 http://waternoice.com/2007/09/21/what-is-indian-a-culture-conundrum/#comment-157 Arvind, my dear world citizen ! Wonderful read ! When your dad and I were growing up in the Delhi of the 70s we did not have to wonder if we were the sambar oriented Tamil Brahmins or the chole chakking Delhi Punjus. Delhi embraced us as easily as it did folks from other cultures. Guess that kept your dad in good stead as he went about becoming a world citizen, at ease at all times and places. No wonder, you feel likewise. Go on and pursue your dreams - become a lawyer or a lead guitarist or a social commentator. Visit places (would love to host you if and when you travel to good 'ol Chennai),and please do continue with your fine writing. All said, do not ever forget to keep those idlis and filter coffee hot whenever I come visiting ! Love Anand Arvind, my dear world citizen !

Wonderful read !

When your dad and I were growing up in the Delhi of the 70s we did not have to wonder if we were the sambar oriented Tamil Brahmins or the chole chakking Delhi Punjus. Delhi embraced us as easily as it did folks from other cultures. Guess that kept your dad in good stead as he went about becoming a world citizen, at ease at all times and places. No wonder, you feel likewise.

Go on and pursue your dreams – become a lawyer or a lead guitarist or a social commentator. Visit places (would love to host you if and when you travel to good ‘ol Chennai),and please do continue with your fine writing.

All said, do not ever forget to keep those idlis and filter coffee hot whenever I come visiting !

Love

Anand

]]> By: Lata http://waternoice.com/2007/09/21/what-is-indian-a-culture-conundrum/comment-page-1/#comment-156 Lata Sat, 22 Sep 2007 03:25:03 +0000 http://waternoice.com/2007/09/21/what-is-indian-a-culture-conundrum/#comment-156 Arvind, What a funny essay! You are an awesome writer. Who is the invisible girlfriend? Arvind,

What a funny essay! You are an awesome writer. Who is the invisible girlfriend?

]]> By: Kashyap http://waternoice.com/2007/09/21/what-is-indian-a-culture-conundrum/comment-page-1/#comment-155 Kashyap Fri, 21 Sep 2007 23:39:11 +0000 http://waternoice.com/2007/09/21/what-is-indian-a-culture-conundrum/#comment-155 So young, yet so wise... Arvind, you have the gift of humor. You provide comic relief to a serious topic at an age when I would consider you too young to appreciate either. Your metaphors are polished. Getting away with drawing parallels between Hitler, Shilpa Shetty and Jesus is no child's play. Congratulations for a great debut essay and please keep writing. Take Bellarmine's claim to fame from liberal arts to liberal smarts. You may not completely fathom the power of your pen, mightier than its nucular friend. So young, yet so wise… Arvind, you have the gift of humor. You provide comic relief to a serious topic at an age when I would consider you too young to appreciate either. Your metaphors are polished. Getting away with drawing parallels between Hitler, Shilpa Shetty and Jesus is no child’s play.

Congratulations for a great debut essay and please keep writing. Take Bellarmine’s claim to fame from liberal arts to liberal smarts. You may not completely fathom the power of your pen, mightier than its nucular friend.

]]> By: Srini http://waternoice.com/2007/09/21/what-is-indian-a-culture-conundrum/comment-page-1/#comment-154 Srini Fri, 21 Sep 2007 20:08:14 +0000 http://waternoice.com/2007/09/21/what-is-indian-a-culture-conundrum/#comment-154 Dear Arvind: I found a quote from Hubert Humphrey "Fortunately, the time has long passed when people liked to regard the United States as some kind of melting pot, taking men and women from every part of the world and converting them into standardized, homogenized Americans. We are, I think, much more mature and wise today. Just as we welcome a world of diversity, so we glory in an America of diversity -- an America all the richer for the many different and distinctive strands of which it is woven.” I stand proud to be an idli engineer and would be happy to see you be a lawyer -- so long as you finish your engineering first. Cheers Dear Arvind:
I found a quote from Hubert Humphrey
“Fortunately, the time has long passed when people liked to regard the United States as some kind of melting pot, taking men and women from every part of the world and converting them into standardized, homogenized Americans. We are, I think, much more mature and wise today. Just as we welcome a world of diversity, so we glory in an America of diversity — an America all the richer for the many different and distinctive strands of which it is woven.”
I stand proud to be an idli engineer and would be happy to see you be a lawyer — so long as you finish your engineering first.
Cheers

]]> By: patti http://waternoice.com/2007/09/21/what-is-indian-a-culture-conundrum/comment-page-1/#comment-153 patti Fri, 21 Sep 2007 18:53:59 +0000 http://waternoice.com/2007/09/21/what-is-indian-a-culture-conundrum/#comment-153 Dear Arvind, You have insight to me about the youngsters in general.You are not abcd(American born confused desi)like most are. They do not feel at home anywhere. You have your feet on level ground child. Be only human- world citizen That will end all problems!Love patti Dear Arvind,
You have insight to me about the youngsters in general.You are not abcd(American born confused desi)like most are. They do not feel at home
anywhere. You have your feet on level ground child. Be only human- world citizen That will end all problems!Love patti

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