Identity Clauses
| December 26, 2006 | Posted by caroline under on identity, on indian roots, Uncategorized |
My mother is Goan, my father is Anglo-Indian..
but i have some issues with the goan identity.
first, let me state that i love goa—’despite’ all the ‘dirty’, not-as-authentic ‘indians’ moving in, ‘despite’ all the mix ups where people think I’m ACTUALLY just plain, old, nasty smelly Indian…and yes, i love the Portuguese twist on Konkani, the west coast swing-style jive on the rooftops and at beach shacks….i don’t admire the commercialization of our state, i don’t like the litter or the fights or the ravaging of our sand..goa is my home, too!
most of all, i despise the stuffiness of us old-school Goans. I can’t stand the fact that we’re all so quick to claim our Portuguese (aka westernized, whiter colonialist) roots and discard our Indian roots—who put the spice in our goa sausage, hmm? maybe partly the Portuguese, but let’s not forget the tan in our skin, the curl in our hair, the sun on our beaches!!!!
come on guys…..there are a large number of Goans who’ve been mixed with Portuguese roots and blood, yes…but our Portuguese surnames are not completely due to intermarriage with our fair European brothers–the majority of Goans were converted into the religion, and assigned the surnames of the missionaries presiding over them…many of us were Hindus, too, in another life…some of us even continue to hold onto our ‘Brahmin’ status (no one talks about it unless it’s behind closed doors)…
the Portuguese were not angelic in their conquest—nor is the Indian government the poor victim, now…
I guess the point of this post is to remind us that we have a history that goes far, far beyond the Portuguese–Konkani existed before they arrived, and we had temples and mosques (many destroyed by the Catholic fanatics) before we had those beautiful churches….
There is a decided nose-raised aspect to a large number of Goans I meet, and how they react to non-Goan Indians…
We may be different from other parts of India, but each area and community in India has its own unique traits—which is what makes the country so beautiful and versatile–the Anglo Indians have their military history and hill stations, the Punjabis have their resistance history….
We’re still Indian, y’all
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Yea so that’s about it for now..I’d love to hear responses or challenges
