With time, the impact of any civilization, ideology, or culture becomes challenged as it migrates from a physical presence to historical remembrance. Empires and kingdoms that spanned half the civilized globe have disintegrated and it's members washed up all over the modern world represented by population percentages now instead of significance.
How quickly many among society may fail to remember the importance of historical events, and how those events still impact our daily lives today. Furthermore, this causes the ideals that past generations stood for to quickly be taken for granted, as their struggles become silently forgotten.
To some extent, such is the current situation of descendants of the world's second most populous nation, India.
As their diasporas are created worldwide, this community in Singapore from every nook and cranny of our grandparents' India, continues to face the common struggle of any minority community: Acceptance without Assimilation.
As seen throughout history, the concept of acceptance relatively does not come with ease. Genocides based on bigotry, massacres based on racism are still present. In today’s media enriched world the unique identity of Indians is often misunderstood. Motion pictures stereotyping our penchant for "song and dance", TV programs choosing to highlight socially unacceptable actions, lack of utilization of the mainstream media to our advantage [entrepreneurship / arts / sporting / social achievements] often present conflicting information to what an Indian really embodies.
At the same time, some among the internal Indian community themselves struggle with the importance and need of their unique identity. This coupled with internal strife and viewable "same race racism" has only added to the intensity of the issue at hand.
These obstacles have plagued Singaporean Indians as they go about their daily lives under the umbrella of certain racial stereotypes. These may include: The Indian Mother In Law, The Indian Auntie, The Indian Drunk, The Indian Wife Beater, The Indian Street Runt [Anjadi], The Indian Expat, The Indian Student etc. Some of these stereotypes shocking to note are much self-induced and propagated.
Members of the community have also either assimilated into the mainstream by removing their identity, or have altered their identity to maintain segregation from the general group. I.e. Reiterating that one is Tamil, Malayalee, Punjabi or Sindhi etc. as opposed to "Indian". Worst of all, these tactics of assimilation are going unreciprocated, as the Indian community remains silent.
In an attempt to expound, substantiate, and valuate the obstacles faced by the Singapore Indian community, it is the intent of KLKillahs to provide a potential voice in order to break the silence. This intent is best served by using the internet as our podium.
The sole purpose of KLKillahs is to provide a creative, humour infused take on local Indian happenings, with an emphasis on current and social affairs, to help promote a positive image for all Indians. This is not an exclusive community neither is it a forum for only the "known" contributors. In due time, KLKillahs hopes to grow to be the first stop for any information resource on anything Singapore Indian in nature.
Are you with us?
How quickly many among society may fail to remember the importance of historical events, and how those events still impact our daily lives today. Furthermore, this causes the ideals that past generations stood for to quickly be taken for granted, as their struggles become silently forgotten.
To some extent, such is the current situation of descendants of the world's second most populous nation, India.
As their diasporas are created worldwide, this community in Singapore from every nook and cranny of our grandparents' India, continues to face the common struggle of any minority community: Acceptance without Assimilation.
As seen throughout history, the concept of acceptance relatively does not come with ease. Genocides based on bigotry, massacres based on racism are still present. In today’s media enriched world the unique identity of Indians is often misunderstood. Motion pictures stereotyping our penchant for "song and dance", TV programs choosing to highlight socially unacceptable actions, lack of utilization of the mainstream media to our advantage [entrepreneurship / arts / sporting / social achievements] often present conflicting information to what an Indian really embodies.
At the same time, some among the internal Indian community themselves struggle with the importance and need of their unique identity. This coupled with internal strife and viewable "same race racism" has only added to the intensity of the issue at hand.
These obstacles have plagued Singaporean Indians as they go about their daily lives under the umbrella of certain racial stereotypes. These may include: The Indian Mother In Law, The Indian Auntie, The Indian Drunk, The Indian Wife Beater, The Indian Street Runt [Anjadi], The Indian Expat, The Indian Student etc. Some of these stereotypes shocking to note are much self-induced and propagated.
Members of the community have also either assimilated into the mainstream by removing their identity, or have altered their identity to maintain segregation from the general group. I.e. Reiterating that one is Tamil, Malayalee, Punjabi or Sindhi etc. as opposed to "Indian". Worst of all, these tactics of assimilation are going unreciprocated, as the Indian community remains silent.
In an attempt to expound, substantiate, and valuate the obstacles faced by the Singapore Indian community, it is the intent of KLKillahs to provide a potential voice in order to break the silence. This intent is best served by using the internet as our podium.
The sole purpose of KLKillahs is to provide a creative, humour infused take on local Indian happenings, with an emphasis on current and social affairs, to help promote a positive image for all Indians. This is not an exclusive community neither is it a forum for only the "known" contributors. In due time, KLKillahs hopes to grow to be the first stop for any information resource on anything Singapore Indian in nature.
Are you with us?
17 comments:
i am with you. Buttttt....whether i like it or not,i am ceylonese...i can't call myself an indian can i? boo hoo hoo! :(
101% dude...i'm a ghost reader whose been lurking ard for a couple of months. The site is a good read with some fodder for brain! Right direction! Let's kick some sense into the ignorant yindians!
Cheers
Dwagster
Yeah, I'm with you...Can i even write for you guys?
Do consider having a poll to check our sentiments toward the poor yazhpaanums. That wummy is enough to make me say I hate them.
interesting observation that some of the stereotypes we come across in the indian community is "self inflicted".
perhaps it is in reaction to the negative impression that people generally have of Indians. by proclaiming that "i am not an (insert stereotype)", it is an attempt to break away and create a more possitive image and perhaps integrate better into the mainstream.
this is great you guys... just what we need. Speaking of stereotyping, there is sth that has really got me hopping mad in recent years. Most of the streotyping and stigmatizing of indians can be attributed to our vry own media. you have to be freakin blind not to see it. how issit that every time an indian commits a crime his/her face (their very worst, oiliest pic is de rigeur) splashed all over the front page of home? Recall the handicap who murdered his wife, all the worst facets of our community gleefully and shamelessly published (weird isnt it, for a media that minces its words otherwise.) Or even trivial things like the fradulent woman. Yes folks, this is what we really need to know when the majority ( read chinese) are getting away with white collar crimes amounting to millions every day.
And dear Wummy sorry to dillusion you, it doesn't matter whether you are ceylonese, pakistani etc, to the insensitive and insentient manjans: You are BLACK (as in not pasty or jaundiced) and ergo you are indian.
BLACK=INDIAN=DRUNK=BARBARIAN/PHILLISTINE
A mathematical truth peculiar to singapore. Simple and sad n'est-ce pas?
this is great you guys... just what we need. Speaking of stereotyping, there is sth that has really got me hopping mad in recent years. Most of the streotyping and stigmatizing of indians can be attributed to our vry own media. you have to be freakin blind not to see it. how issit that every time an indian commits a crime his/her face (their very worst, oiliest pic is de rigeur) splashed all over the front page of home? Recall the handicap who murdered his wife, all the worst facets of our community gleefully and shamelessly published (weird isnt it, for a media that minces its words otherwise.) Or even trivial things like the fradulent woman. Yes folks, this is what we really need to know when the majority ( read chinese) are getting away with white collar crimes amounting to millions every day.
And dear Wummy sorry to dillusion you, it doesn't matter whether you are ceylonese, pakistani etc, to the insensitive and insentient manjans: You are BLACK (as in not pasty or jaundiced) and ergo you are indian.
BLACK=INDIAN=DRUNK=BARBARIAN/PHILLISTINE
A mathematical truth peculiar to singapore. Simple and sad n'est-ce pas?
good topic for a new beginning. i have always wondered why certain indians dont call themselves indians. esp the punjabis. they make it a special point to say that they are not indians but instead punjabis. like as if punjab is a country on its own and not part of india.
raj
wat was wrong with the previous site?
Punjabis don't label themselves "indians" because by indian, generally people mean the tamil speaking majority. And with the Tamil speaking majority comes labels aforementioned on your previous entry. Its highly amusing to see Punjabis and Sindhis sometimes go , " oh but you're indian" lest we make the mistake of forgetting Punjab and Sindh got independence years ago...
Hmm. I see what you guys mean. As guilty as I may be of once calling myself (insert-dialect here) instead of merely an Indian, I now realise the importance of referring to myself as an Indian and solely an Indian (besides the fact that it gets very irritating when you have to break it down to some stranger about what the history of your dialect is).
I am not of Singaporean origin, but living here has made me realise that when I say Indian, people straight away assume that I speak Tamil. And when I answer that I don't, they get confused and I usually have to explain to them that I wasn't raised in an Indian family that taught me how to speak the language.
If you see it from my point of you, I was at one point frustrated at the (insert racist remark for the majority of SG's population) for not understanding that India has a vast language capability, and just because I'm "of the fairer kind" doesn't mean I can speak Hindi or just because I say Indian doesn't mean I can speak Tamil. This irritated me, but I now see the bigger picture - that it really doesn't matter what language you speak (they are a lot of Indians nowadays who don't know a word of their language), but it's the Indian pride that is (as cliche as it may sound) quite necessary to be kept alive.
My point? I don't think young Indians nowadays should forget where they come from (India), but at the same time there is a little part of me that wants to keep my origins alive (dialect). People shouldn't forget that India is rich in its culture, and every Indian that you see on the street carries a different one altogether depending on his/her family background or social influences. However, we Indians shouldn't allow all this "I am of this dialect and of that caste" to stop ourselves from getting to know each other better (which is why I love your site and which is why I try everyday to learn how to speak Tamil and Marati).
My solution? When people ask what you are, say Indian but when they don't get it (because we all know that there are dumb people in this world), explain.
(I have no idea why I commented about this, but I just had to. Thanks KLK!)
<3
Thank you guys for the support. We need to get bigger. I hope I can count on your word of mouth viral publicity.
cheers
Thiagesh,
you want to write for the KLK? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Anonymous 2
Well thank you. That's better than being ignored.
Gaucherie:
Speaking of white collar crimes where millions get embezzled. TT Durai of NKF infamy is Ceylonese...sigh.Fuckin embarrasment.
In any case, i find your stereotyping of our chinese mates with regards to their perspective of "Black" people unnecessary and vendetta driven. it shows you up for the 'bitter cunt with a lack of objectivity' that you are. I also find your cowardly and malicious indirect referencing to them being 'jaundiced and pasty' extremely racist and out of line.I would also like to blow your misguided bigoted views out of the water by stating that yours truly had on many an occasion been mistaken for being Malay, and *gasp* even Eurasian.
Lastly you're a twat for posting the same comment twice.
Hi KLK-ites.
It is refreshing to see that you intend to stick to a generic indian identity rather than branch into geographical, religious and linguistic disctinctions.
We are a minority and we don't need further divisions. And it is time we consolidated and reconciled each other and moved forward as a community that has the ability to laugh at itself.
My support is with KLK which is leading the way towards the creation of a new integrated Indian Identity, where no one is left behind.
Div
PS: Hey KLKillahs, I wanted to do a post on Indian boyfriend's attitudes towards their indian gfs. If you wish to contribute opinions, please feel free to e-mail me at divyasangam@gmail.com
I am examining the following concepts in my article.
-Indian men expect their women to be subservient
-Indian men see it as their right to hit/abuse their women
-Indian men expect a stay-at-home wife
-Indian men prefer marrying a sexually inexperienced woman
Remember, these are not my opinions, but general opinions. The tone of my piece will be affected by the kind of response I recieve.
Responses from both men and women would be ideal.
Sincerely,
Div
oh wummy, I'm surprised people mistake you for a Malay or an Eurasian (neither of which is socially uplifting) but i'm pretty sure they're not wrong if they consider you a fucken pest. You must be one of those assholes who TRYS to intellectualize, thinking it'd boost your terribly low self-esteem or your super-inflated ego. Speaking of which, Div, you can use wummy as an example if you ever write about annoying Indian men who try to hide their inadequacies with nonexistent intelligence and a cool finish. And I reckon wummy has wife-beater potential: he would call his wife a cunt and beat her up everytime she says sth more intelligent than what he can imagine himself to be.
To anonymous(err the most recent one. Can't you fuckwits come up with bloody monikers.)
It is 'tries'. not 'trys'.its hard to take people who can't spell or who have flawed grammar seriously.
And don't you dare fuckin spell intellectualise with a 'z' you fuckin yankee bastard.
it's not 'socially uplifting' to be malay or eurasian?!! RACIST!! you ought to be ashamed of yourself. ;)
You suggest i might be attempting to 'boost' my 'terribly low self esteem'. Then you go on to say 'or' my 'super inflated ego'. So make up your mind you amateur psychologist. Or was that deliberate contradiction a "clever" attempt on your part to be "ironic".
Then finally you reaffirm the fact that you're a clueless idiot by referring to me as 'Indian'.Whyyyyy areeee youuuu peopleeee sooooo fuckinnnn stupidddd? But of course i won't deny i might have potential to be a wife beater. But that's another matter altogether.
Nvr failed to impress! I'm proud! All e best guyz!
Rgds
Azzy
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