I personally knew one in my own very closed circle family who moved on to U.S by 60's and out of his 14 grandchildren 8 of them had become christian converts in U.S after marriage and if asked to explain what a brahmin is , they would only blink. Outhere I can see modern thinking and anti-brahmin thoughts posted by many n.r.i posters reflect the reality. Governors Bobby Jindal and Nikki haley's new found religion discarding their birth religion of mother land, support my stand.My question is , how to keep future NRI's under our own fold
shiv,
greetings.
if you don't mind, before i move into further postings in this thread, i would like to clarify or seek clarification on your initial salvo here.
re brahmins becoming christian converts, while it may be true in this case, i have not seen any before. i know of over 100 families settled in both canada and the u.s. one kannada brahmin married into a southern baptist household and his children are active southern baptists.
the rest, i do not see any proliferation of strong faith feelings. marrying to whites does not necessarily mean conversion to christianity. there are whites, particularly in pockets of the usa who swear by the bible, but there are also as many whites who are lapsed christians.
in fact the fading of western christianity is a fascinating facet of the last 65 years. today even that most catholic of catholic countries, italy, has a population decline due to women refusing to have babies and opting for abortion - one of the pillar tenets of the catholic church. again getting married in a church, is no indication of conversion.
surprisingly, it is the indian christians or muslims who are more fanatic about it and maybe insist on conversion. even that i have not seen, except marriages conducted twice and once more for the registrar. so, i would strongly question your assumption here.
bobby jindal or nikki haley are special cases. bobby claims to have a vision to convert. so be it. i know of brahmins in india who had similar visions to go towards christianity. nikki is a sharp politician who has been pretty ambiguous about her faith. these two are also ambitious politicians, and confirms my belief, that politics is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
can you also please let me know when and where anti brahmin thoughts are posted by nri members. i am quite sure that i am part of that crowd, that you have in mind. you may not like some of my assumptions. you may not like my analysis. you may not agree with my conclusions.
just because my summations are disagreeable to you, i think, you cannot generalize everything into 'anti brahminism', whatever that may mean. to me, this looks like what the dmk in the seventies used to paint those whom they did not like as 'தமிழ் துரோகி'. can we get off from that habit of name calling, and move on to civilized and issue oriented discussion.
i am surprised such epithets coming from you, because of late, i have seen that you have been in a querying and curious mood. to be curious is the first step towards understanding the issues. then comes identifying them, analyzing them, identifying the root causes, and finally coming up with solutions to resolve those issues.
'modern thinking' as opposed to what? what is 'modern thinking'? again this is a vague generalization which could mean anything to anyone. some more details needed here, if it is relevant to the thread.
to your last question, i think most hindus abroad are far more proud of their hindu heritage than what those in india give them credit for. they are also an enlightened lot in many ways. first thing they shed, is the caste. absolutely. the next generation who are born in the west do not know the evil of caste, only because, they marry among other hindus from not only other parts of india, but also hindus from south africa, west indies or fiji.
also, while some folks may seek solace in the scriptures, most are nomenclature hindus, visiting the temple occassionally, and turning to rituals for birth, death or marriages - very similar to most of tambrams here. meat eating and alcohol are not considered taboos, and vegetarianism (or even veganism) is one of choice and not by imposition.
i have only one regret - that somehow while the food habit gets really broadened, i am not so sure, that favourite palghat type of cuisine with its avials, olans, kalans, arachu kalakkis and ericheri, will survive to the next generation. to me that is a personal loss to the palate, and not a reflection of decline of the faith.
thank you.
