Calling by first name !

When the de-racinated become the self proclaimed saviours of an ancient civilization.

Neha Srivastava shared Sahana Singh's post.

"Civilized" folks teaching "barbarians" some civility, Stage 2. Stage 1 was colonization, Stage 2 is when mentally colonized take over the task as the colonizer claps approvingly. Macaulay will be proud.

For those who don't know, not taking the name of someone is a mark of respect in Indian culture. We never call elders by name, including parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. If one has to take the name to resolve confusion, one would add a relation-wise suffix to show respect, even if one is not related, eg: Neeta Mausi (Neeta Aunty). In India, any random stranger can become uncle or aunt or sister or brother because we choose to give him respect. You ask directions from someone by asking "Bhaiya, wahan kaise jate hain?" (Brother, how do I go there?") Our old family maid was lovingly referred to as "Chachi" (a term for aunt), till the day of her death. I have several couples around me who never referred to each other by name until they absolutely had to. Some would sometimes even come up with funny nicknames so that its easy to call each other without appearing disrespectful.
But instead of recognizing the beauty in our culture, these stupid activists seek to blindly destroy it, because we must imitate the West.

 (via Sahana Singh)

Colonization and alienation from one's civilization works like this. A bunch of campaigners are teaching women in Indian villages to call their husbands by their first names, which is obviously not being received well by the families. And BBC, of course, dutifully reports on this to showcase the backwardness of India.

Does anyone remember movies in which the husband would call out to his wife "Arey o Chunnu ki maa tum sun rahi ho?" We urban kids would laugh at this but still understand the underpinnings of the culture.

I had a dear uncle. He would never call my aunty by name. When talking to me he would refer to her as "your aunty", when he spoke to my mother he would say "your sister". And yet, how much my uncle and aunty loved each other. He represented that bygone era in which husbands and wives were shy to call each other by name and would use all manner of synonyms. That era has largely vanished with westernization. But in remains in the villages. In this article, no effort has been made to explain the culture other than make it sound backward.

How irresponsible is it for social anthropologists to go and disrupt the societal traditions in villages rather than find creative ways to expand women's freedoms? Helping the women to become self-reliant for instance? Now that I know the methodology of data collection by social science researchers I feel even more disgusted.