we didn't start the fire

[swatkat]

I watched a horrible play yesterday. Do you realise how hard it is to giggle without actually making any noise? I want two and half hours of my life BACK.

+

If you follow metafandom, you have probably already seen this, but if you don't, read deepad's post now: I Didn't Dream of Dragons. I found myself nodding along and simultaneously feel very grateful about my cultural background and think of my own bilingual angst, about which I will probably post something soon (when I have time to sit down and write).

Comments

[jaybee65.livejournal.com]

That was a wonderfully thought-provoking post.

And I would like very much to read about your bilingual angst!

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

And I would like very much to read about your bilingual angst!

I try not to be very emo about it, because it usually comes across as privileged little girl complaining about how hard her life is, but then there are posts like this. *g* It's not that I didn't grow up reading books in Indian languages (in that way my experience is very different from hers) - I did, because my family ensured that I do and my cultural background made it possible for my family to ensure that I did not miss out on these things (and people wonder why we are so smug about ourselves!). But then there are these inevitable issues, like dragons. Or fairies.

[jaybee65.livejournal.com]

Somehow, I don't think you'd come across as emo. The more that thoughtful people like you take on these issues, the richer we all are for having new perspectives!

A good friend of mine is actually illiterate in his native language: thanks to the vagaries of postcolonial politics in his home country, he can *only* read and write in English. I was amazed when I learned that.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

A good friend of mine is actually illiterate in his native language: thanks to the vagaries of postcolonial politics in his home country, he can *only* read and write in English. I was amazed when I learned that.

Um. I know people like that. Or people who can read or write in their mother tongue, but not very well. The other day I was telling roga, when she asked me about the languages I spoke and where I learnt English: I grew up bilingual. Most people from my background do. I also went to a English-medium school (and there's a whole class issue there which I won't go into now), so... Of course, because I come from a so-called 'culture conscious' family, my parents were very careful to ensure that I did not become one of Those People, who claim not to know their mother tongue very well. In our family, you make fun of Those People (Again, not going into the class issues involved here).

[jaybee65.livejournal.com]

Learning about this phenomenon was a revelation to me!

Now, my friend's situation is also complicated because he was an ethnic minority (Chinese in Malaysia), but that only highlights the complications of the colonial legacy even more.

The whole subject fascinates me.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

Learning about this phenomenon was a revelation to me!

One of my favourite ways of teasing my friend A. is asking her the meaning of a random Bengali word. She often claims that we make them up (we do, at times, but not always).

It's not very funny when you think about it, though.

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

my parents were very careful to ensure that I did not become one of Those People, who claim not to know their mother tongue very well.

Heh, me and my siblings are Those People, while my uncles and aunts all made sure my cousins were completely bilingual. It's... interesting when we get together because you know there are some issues of cultural superiority at play. :P

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

It's... interesting when we get together because you know there are some issues of cultural superiority at play.

Guilty.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

Somehow, I don't think you'd come across as emo.

And now that I think about it, I may not sound emo to you, but for a significant number of people in my country to whom my familiarity with the English language is something to aspire towards? Very much a privileged little girl complaining about how hard her life is, while reaping the benefits of the same.

[jaybee65.livejournal.com]

Point made. However, it seems to me that your awareness of some of the awkwardness inherent in your position is all the more reason why you ought to consider writing about it anyway.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

Sigh. Yes. I have to get those thoughts out anyway. I hope to do it over the weekend.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

I wish I could say something intelligent and thought-provoking, because the whole cultural identity and bilingual angst issue is an incredibly interesting subject, but I can't for the life of me think of anything. Should you ever post your thoughts on that subject, I will read them avidly. And perhaps contribute an opinion, if all goes well. I can't imagine you coming across as emo, BTW.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

I try not be emo, but you know, things like this always come with a double edge. For a significant number of people in my country to whom my familiarity with the English language is something to aspire towards, and my angst, therefore? Very much a privileged little girl complaining about how hard her life is, while shamelessly reaping the benefits of the same.

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

That was an amazing post that brings up some cultural issues I hadn't been able to articulate.

[sajia.livejournal.com]

Here from deepad. Bangladeshi here; I look forward to exchanging long alaps on our beloved heritage of legendary snootiness. I shall friend you, if only for the answer to life's most pressing question: is there Feluda/Topshe slash? Or even Feluda/Jotayu slash? Which would not be at all sexy, but you never know with Livejournal.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

Or even Feluda/Jotayu slash?

You do realise that you just broke my brain? Cannot. compute. ARGH. *facepalm*

Although, the Professor Shonku books are very slashy, if you think about it.

Also, it's a pleasure to meet a fellow Bengali on LJ! My family is also from East Bengal, actually - they moved in 1947. *g*

[sajia.livejournal.com]

I haven't read more than a couple of the Shonku stories. I don't really think there's anything incestuous in Feluda's relationship with Topshe, although I do think Feluda must be either gay or - more likely - asexual. I've always had a huge crush on Topshe, although on the whole I like the fact that Ray didn't make him a mindless skirt-chaser a la Archie.
The sexlessness of Bengali children's literature is worth a post on its own; it has its upsides and its downsides. One of its upsides is that until recently, middle class Bengali children didn't enter the whirlpool of sexual competition and rivalry until they left high school. I speak as someone who did enter that vortex when I was a teenager, in the nineties, and was nearly destroyed by body-image disorder and self-loathing.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

I found Topshe rather boring, in fact. My favourite Feluda character will always be Lalmohanbabu, followed by Maganlal Meghraj (as played by Utpal Dutt).

The sexlessness of Bengali children's literature is worth a post on its own; it has its upsides and its downsides.

Oh, oh, oh! Another topic very close to my heart! I see the downsides more often, I'm afraid. Bengali children's literature is curiously sexless and *girl-less*, because women are sexual subjects, and *only* sexual subjects, and little girls are worthy of being the topic only of 'social message' fiction (like, you know, stories about marriage and sati and dowry and so on) - because those are the only stories that can be told about women, because women are awesome heroines (and let me digress to express my complete and undying love for the many fabulous women in our texts) who can suffer and cry and die (so that their men can reflect and react). Because the sexless world of the boy hero and the asexual image of the macho Feluda are a part of a world where the man is self-sufficient and awesome, and women are present as annoying little sisters and distant parental figures and never, ever *people*, with individual subjectivities (which is why Byomkesh Bakshi is awesome). Because it is a part of the fantasy of the brahmachari/vagabond (baundule is a better word) hero, while the woman is defined in terms of home and nurturing and Mother Earth. And I will shut up now, because I'm rambling incoherently at this point.

[sajia.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on Bengali heroines, although I will always cherish the Uttam/Suchitra movies. I've always ranted about Devdas (and isn't Majnun in a way his Arab Muslim precursor) as the model of the self-indulgent narcissistic Bengali hero archetype.

That your irises were mirrors
reflecting me at twice my size
but I am not Medusa that I can blind your eyes.
That your lips were an angel's
singing of me to the sky
but I am not Helen
that I can make you lie.
That your spirit was a djinn's
granting my desire
but I have no lamp
that I can contain your fire.
I hold a picture of Suchitra Sen
when will I fit into that frame, when?

[hihoplastic.livejournal.com]

Haha! That's so funny. I would like a picture of someone attempting to hold in their giggles.

I still need to reply to your comments. Don't let me forget! Hee. ♥