tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5494111.post8828965732289304324..comments2024-03-07T02:00:01.286+05:30Comments on I, Me and Media!: Is it possible to be proud of one's Brahmin roots?Shobhahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08930302398862035268noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5494111.post-12692768551658855032014-11-24T15:19:43.689+05:302014-11-24T15:19:43.689+05:30Happened to stumble upon your blog. Read some of y...Happened to stumble upon your blog. Read some of your articles. Very nicely written. Thanks for sharing!!<br /><br />Cheers<br /><br /><a href="http://www.indiacityblog.com/lifestyle/ahmedabad/reasons-ahmadabad-best-indian-city-live-3807/" rel="nofollow"><b>indian city ranking</b></a>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00992394546272486468noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5494111.post-38183615459378402282013-11-28T17:21:16.835+05:302013-11-28T17:21:16.835+05:30A lot of people in our industry haven't had ve...A lot of people in our industry haven't had very diverse experiences. So they don't have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem.<br /><a href="http://www.timenspacemedia.co.uk/services.php/" rel="nofollow">Mobile apps for university</a> Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18138855304289351967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5494111.post-31338009069067365902013-06-14T15:17:47.275+05:302013-06-14T15:17:47.275+05:30Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your weblog...Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to say that I’ve really enjoyed reading your weblog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing in your feed and I hope you publish again soon.<a href="http://www.timenspacemedia.com/" rel="nofollow">Best advertising Agency in the world</a> | <a href="http://www.timenspacemedia.com/" rel="nofollow">top advertising agencies in pakistan</a> | <a href="http://www.timenspacemedia.com/" rel="nofollow">Marketing Agency</a> | <a href="http://www.shadiservice.com" rel="nofollow">pakistani matrimonial</a>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01762955271681064948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5494111.post-81680058042174162452013-03-27T17:55:54.523+05:302013-03-27T17:55:54.523+05:30I think rex said what i wanted to,well there wa sn...I think rex said what i wanted to,well there wa sno oppression or anything,I do not know where you come from.<br /><br />I come from land lord families on both paternal/maternal sides and even today in our village,people love us.They would not do so if we ill treated them or anything and we lost all our lands at once and my family started getting educated later and it was difficult to catch up with lot of city folks but we did.<br /><br />Please dont believe random propaganda and try to use your own intuition to make judgements.Subramanianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16723411343598300998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5494111.post-26470072156274406182012-04-21T12:41:48.324+05:302012-04-21T12:41:48.324+05:30Software development is an industrious mission tha...Software development is an industrious mission that is incomplete and trivial without Software Testing.<br /><a href="http://stctechnologies.cuzo.com/" rel="nofollow">STC Technologies</a>rosenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12859576042287641254noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5494111.post-86745426104314780042011-07-26T04:55:59.698+05:302011-07-26T04:55:59.698+05:30Hahaha. My feed reader just increases size. Never ...Hahaha. My feed reader just increases size. Never been pruned, unless the feed's taken over by a spammer, which happens often. And ya, I havent been on my own blog in months. I just keep it thinking I will write, but it never happens. :P<br />And yes, I am @anantha on Twitter.ananthahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01130501107980414641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5494111.post-36964563240361346332011-07-22T15:05:54.982+05:302011-07-22T15:05:54.982+05:30CONTINUED..
While I don’t consider myself as a Bra...<b>CONTINUED..</b><br /><b>While I don’t consider myself as a Brahmin per se, I am one by default, in terms of my upbringing; in terms of certain privileges I have enjoyed being one.</b><br /><br />What were these privileges? How were they obtained, i.e. at the expense of lower communities? If anything, being born a Brahmin these days is a curse, whether or not you identify with being one. Given that how we somehow are to blame for 'oppression' centuries ago, or that we're all millionaires today thanks to the money all our combined ancestors leeched off the lower castes, so therefore it's justifiable that you have 70% or more reservation for SC/ST everywhere.<br /><br /><b>Carnatic classical music has been a preserve of only Brahmins till now. This clearly means that Brahmins would have isolated everyone outside of their community in the spread of the art.</b><br /><br />Ridiculous.Kalaripayattu has been the exclusive preserve of the Nair community. Gatka is a Sikh martial art practiced with sticks, you'd be hard pressed to find non Nihangs practicing it. <br />Durga puja statues are made by a specific Bengali community.<br />There are numerous such arts that have traditionally been the exclusive preserve of an individual community.Why single out Brahmins for Carnatic music?<br /><br />I guess my comment is lengthier than your original post :)<br /><br />The point I'm trying to make is that you don't have to feel guilty for an imagined communal oppressive past. (Even if your ancestors actually were the whip wielding tyrants I depicted, how is that your fault?)<br /><br />Caste adversely affects us all, but crying victim or guilt tripping isn't going to solve anything.Rexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17825718280187799092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5494111.post-5797931759308695452011-07-22T14:35:03.022+05:302011-07-22T14:35:03.022+05:30I came across your comment on Kafila while revisit...I came across your comment on Kafila while revisiting the Rahul Pandit article, so here's my 2¢:<br />Your talk of 'oppression' sounds as though to say that there have never been destitute or poor among Brahmins. The caste system came about based on the division of labor; the original 4 castes were for priests, soldiers, craftsmen and laborers - the ossification and further division set in over the centuries. <br /><b>I haven’t seen many non-Brahmin priests</b>. <br />How many <i>brahmins</i> themselves, say you, or me, decide to take to the priesthood? Being a temple priest is not something lucrative to aspire for, they are paid a pittance for the work they do. Rest assured that if it were a great career path, the reservation brigade would have started clamoring!<br />One of the aspects of the 'Brahmin culture'(South Indian to be precise) is the emphasis on knowledge and studies as a means to success.<br />This is why the stereotypical career path of doing engineering followed by MS and moving abroad for so many Brahmins. Ridiculous reservation policies in South India further encourage people to study abroad; at least one can get there on merit.<br /><br />It so happens that the world has shifted to a knowledge economy over the last 2 decades. That holy grail of most TamBrams - the IIT engineering degree - definitely confers far better career & matrimonial prospects than a degree from elsewhere (to say nothing of manual labor professions that have been the mainstay of other communities). <br /><br />Today, if you find that TamBrams (how I hate the term) are very successful, it is due to the intrinsic value placed on education. Parents goad their kids to cram for competitive exams; the parents themselves tend to be working professionals or bureaucrats (again - thanks to knowledge work). <br /><br />Who's being oppressed here? It's not as though every Brahmin's ancestors went around in palanquins lashing the lower caste laborers with whips to make them work harder! <br />My great grandfather and grandfather both were railway clerks with large families. The hard work and academic ethic made my father and his siblings study hard and take up professional careers, and they have continued to impart the same values to me and my cousins. <br /><br />Whatever success you see today is entirely due to the individual hard work put in by people, and not because of 'hundreds of years of oppression'. <br />Portraying the SC/ST as the eternal victims has been the favorite pastime of politicians since Independence. Solid primary education for everyone should have been a priority, to enable the economically destitute to stand on their own two feet. Instead, the government took up a policy of handouts, which continues to this day with more and more communities agitating to be included under the SC ST label. <br /><br />Also, it isn't for you to decide which form of oppression was worse- Kashmiri Pandits being driven out versus your own vague assertions of Dalit oppression over the centuries (what have the two in common anyway?), given that you belong to neither category, where at least some personal experience would lend credence.Rexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17825718280187799092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5494111.post-63697253965344640952011-07-04T17:08:36.830+05:302011-07-04T17:08:36.830+05:30Anantha: Where is the comment box in your blog? I ...Anantha: Where is the comment box in your blog? I couldn't find it. Crazy! :-SShobhahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08930302398862035268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5494111.post-15944343610830003452011-07-04T17:01:46.521+05:302011-07-04T17:01:46.521+05:30Ha Ha :-D So nice to see an old face again :-) It&...Ha Ha :-D So nice to see an old face again :-) It's amazing people still have me on their feeds..YAYY! :-D Yes I do intend to write more. How have you been? Also you are as irregular as I am. But I miss the good ol' days. I don't like twitter so much. But I am sure a lot of us have migrated there. You are on twitter too?Shobhahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08930302398862035268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5494111.post-11020267936106633672011-07-04T14:27:28.553+05:302011-07-04T14:27:28.553+05:30So today you decided to show up on the blog reader...So today you decided to show up on the blog reader once again. May the frequency increase :)ananthahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01130501107980414641noreply@blogger.com