When Rama ruled Dinoland
“Sonu, why don’t you narrate the story of Ramayana?” I prompted my son, the words dripping heavily with maternal pride. Who’d said that when Indians leave for foreign shores, they forget their culture and heritage? In fact, a joke which did the email rounds said that Indians become more Indian when they go abroad! Guys and gals who lounge about in jeans and sneakers in Mumbai slip into kurtas and sandals in Massachusetts. Folks who gobble up pizzas and hamburgers in Bangalore make a beeline to Indian stores in New Jersey to stock up on dals and frozen samosas. Yes, we do become more Indian when we step out of India.
That's probably 'coz once we leave our 'desh', we are confronted with visions of our American-Born-Confused-Desi kids growing up on a steady diet of Dinosaurs and Power Rangers asking, “Amma, what was the name of that dude again…the guy with the ten heads?” That’s when frantic parents with grandparents' threats booming in their ears, “instill our culture in the kids” run from pillar to post or rather from Indian store to Indian temple, to bring up Indian kids the “Indian” way.
It was with this noble intention that I had jumped with great enthu into the world of "Amar Chitra Katha" with its fabulous collection of Indian fables and folklores. Every night I would huddle with my son and an Amar Chitra Katha and read to him stories of Krishna, Rama, Arjuna...On Diwali, we took him to watch Ravana Dahan in nearby Pennsylvania. We were quite proud of ourselves and our attempts to instill a sense of cultural identity in our little one…na, nah no confusion for him…he must know both Ram and Dino.
Soon after Diwali, we came over for our annual vacation and in front of the entire household, eager to watch their little US-bred babu in action I proudly presented my son, with his excellent grasp of his cultural roots. And promptly came the opener...
“A hundred million years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, Rama was king of Ayodhya!”
Talk about one American-Bred-Clear-Desi!
Image: www.photobucket.com
ha, ha that was so funny...kids are creative, aren't they?
ReplyDeleteLooks like the discussions on culture and communication have triggered this off. Yup, when our kids grow up, it's gonna be one dynamic remix of cultures. Isn't it exciting trying to imagine a world where rama, dino, arjuna, the power rangers, birbal, pokemon and countless other characters co-exist in peace and harmony? Openness to multiple cultures is such a simple but powerful concept.
ReplyDeleteMakes great reading :). kids can be original! like molu's comment on watching little krishna on TV opening his mouth to show the 14 worlds - amma, krishna has a telescope in his mouth!
ReplyDeleteyes, chris...it's a simple and powerful concept. I don't know about our generation, but i certainly have hopes for the globe trotting-exposed to multiple cultures-gen next--the ones growing up in our homes right now.
ReplyDeleteRoopa, I can imagine molu saying that--sounds so much like a typical sonu (my son) comment!
long live glocalisation !! ;)
ReplyDelete“A hundred million years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, Rama was king of Ayodhya!”
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely priceless. What start to the tale!! Has me grinning!
Hi Ganga:
ReplyDeleteI don' think he is wrong. Infact, he could be more right!
Ramayana happened a hundred million years ago and so did Dinosaurs roam the earth. He just put two and two together.
By the way, is Ayodhya in heaven on earth?
American-Bred-Clear-Desi - lol
Cheers,
Salil