This week, my very talented brother-in-law Raj Patel (Gurtaj's sister's husband) launched his much-acclaimed book, Stuffed and Starved (www.stuffedandstarved.org), in Delhi. And while Harper Collins India made a mess of the whole exercise (topic of another post), there were a few light moments. One of the panelists started with a speech about Indians wanting everything foreign. He started with the lowest creature in the food chain - the worm. He bemoaned how worms are killed with pesticides, and then 'we' import worms from Mexico to do vermiculture. He continued with the more noble seeds and grains, went through the vegetables, and reached the sacred cow - which, it seems, we also cross breed like mad, or just import, with disregard to our biological heritage. "But that's not all," he raised his voice even more, with a glint in his eyes, proud of having found another soundbyte, "We are now not happy with Indian daughters-in-law, and prefer to get foreign ones!!!" He could have not known that the girl turning crimson red on the first row was an 'imported' daughter-in-law, but there were Gurtaj's friends (some of them with a lethal sense of humour), Dr Vandana Shiva whom I had interviewed, my in-laws, a bunch of relatives, the culprit who 'imported' me, my in-laws AND of course Raj. They all bursted out laughing (some of them going as far as pointing at me) - with double the strenght they would have usually - because the pun was oh-so-unintended. And the speaker beamed even more, proud of having cracked the joke of the evening.
So now, friends, it is good to know where I stand in the Indian tree of life:
worm
seed
grain
vegetable
cow
daughter-in-law (imported)
Or should I say, in the food chain of essential consumatives???
Thank you, sir!!!
2 comments:
I didn't know that we (imported daughter-in-laws) had made it even that far on the Indian tree of life. I thought the cows were above us for the longest time. I am so relieved.
I also love how we (imported daughter-in-laws) are grouped with the 'birds and the bees' kind of category. I guess we now even hold a special type of caste within the society even if it is just above cow status.
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The family is lucky to have a daughter-in-law with such an amazing sense of humor to laugh along with it all. I guess otherwise we would not have made it this far. :)
hmmmm...interesting...its only in mind and its only in appearances..otherwise just wonder how any human being is different from others...hmm some mindsetting is different..unruly maybe but deep inside wanting the same...earth is one and the borders are arbitrary...races are different but emotions very same....
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