SNOBS MADE IN INDIA.
The greatest and the oldest culture called snobbishness was the hall mark of British, Right from the days, they started their recorded history, which is only e few thousands of years. George Bernard Shaw was perhaps the only British subject who made mockery of the snobs in England and I have only read some of his pieces and bits. We can certainly say that snobs existed in Britain as long as one can remember and in their own phrase ‘may be as old as the British monarchy.’ The connoisseurs delight in the subject called snobbishness.
The greatest threats for those snobs are now made in India snobs, and their control of every thing and anything, with which they can show off to whom? Billions of poor and hungry human beings and their sufferings filled lives and as if to add insult to injury, these snobs particularly shows off to such people and god knows what result they expect from their shows to those unfortunate humans who don’t want anything to do with any material other than their cheap food, which itself has become a rarity.
The appalling and gravest nightmare of any country is the increase in the number of such people who accumulates anything and every thing from any where by stealing, buying or destroying so as not to be useful for others. One of my uncles who was a photographer with Indian Air force proudly sent his children, a son and daughter to schools in Ooty, and managed to bring them up to be the most Irresponsible , selfish and most sadly snobs of the highest degree. Both did rise to higher levels as dreamed by my uncle and his son was a Lt. Colonel in the Army married to a doctor while his daughter became a doctor. Both of them never came back to Kerala and were feeling it to be degrading them to be identified one from the middle class backgrounds. God knows what lies they were telling their circle, but I was sure that one of my cousin who married a self made man who rose to the level of full colonel from the barracks of a jawan once, met my other cousin and to her utter surprise refused to acknowledge his roots saying point blank that she was mistaken and he is not the person she may think he was.
I also remember this happening when my father and cousin went all the way to New Delhi, Where this guy got married. My father’s intention was to represent bridegrooms’ father who was no more alive. Having served in MES my father knew it was important to dress up ‘properly’ in military officers’ tastes so as to get entry to the marriage hall and had gone prepared. But his cousin who was a pharmacist owning a Medical Shop in Kerala went as any Keralite to attend the marriage ceremony, with white dhotis and white shirt. He was rudely told not to attend the function in such attire along with his wife too had to stay away from the function, for which they have traveled 2 to 3 days in Train to make it ,as a true and responsible uncle would, but was deeply hurt by the behavior. Sensing the hurt feelings my father too opted not to attend the wedding and took the couple, who was so upset, for a jolly ride around Delhi, which they thoroughly enjoyed and was always grateful to my father for having stood with them at such an occasion?
Now most of the people referred are no more alive. Even the Ex Military, whose wedding I was referring to, ended up so degraded and at times after his retirement he did show up for some of the family functions and always made a buffoon of him saying he needs a spoon and fork to eat during wedding feasts which normally is served on banana leaf. That alone could have been forgiven but for his remarks on the guests who comes as a response to our functions are ridiculed for their attire of dhoti and Shirt. The last thing I heard of him was during his mothers’ death in Delhi after which he put the body of his mother, who was shrunk as a result of sickness, in the trunk of the car to carry home and to bury later. Look at the fate of a real snob. My uncle would have been cursing his so called ‘wisdom’ to put his children in convents so as to create a snob out of an ordinary human being. Our Army, Air force and Navy though can not be blamed for their patriotism and braveness on the other side is to be blamed for such degradation of human values. According to me every man is born equal and though situations may differ, each person deserves equal respect.
In my life I always respected people irrespective of their caste creed richness or the ability to speak a language which is not ours, but still we clone ourselves to look and behave like those hated lot. If you still don’t get a comparison, you may read ‘Rich man Poor man’ and its sequel Kane and Able or the other way round if my memory is vague.
It was the story of a snob who is rich and a real man who was poor. If you still don’t get the plot then god only can save you.
Thoughts of, balakrishnan mechakkat. For more visit ‘solitairebala’ in google
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