In My Humble Opinion
Am I Malayali Enough?
Sept. 2023/written by Samyukta
Danger, Will Robinson
Aug. 2023/written by Sam
Language in its linguistic sense is a certain combination of sounds given meanings, encapsulated as words; these words are a combination of sounds ascribed various meanings within a society. Languages in a society are a means of communication for the purpose of survival and cultural discourse. Therefore, can language be considered as a part of our identity? This is a question I seek to explore, especially since it is one of personal significance to me.
In terms of my identity- First, I was born in India, so I am an Indian. Second, my ancestry hails from the state of Kerala - my parents and their forefathers are from Kerala, and so I am also a Malayali. Even though I was born in Chennai, Kerala is my second home.
Even before my brother and I could crawl, our parents took us in tow on annual visits to Kerala to visit our hometown, Kollengode. During our schooling years, we spent all of our summers there, and sometimes we were even able to squeeze in a Christmas visit. Our doting grandmother would always be there with her arms wide open to accept us in a loving embrace, which was in turn the warm embrace of our homeland and its culture.
There, Kerala and its richness surrounded us and became a part of us: its clothing, which we were promptly draped with, complete with with the sacred thread around our chubby waists; trinkets and old heirlooms; a staple diet of traditional food; the classical architecture of our big Kerala house; customs, practices, and rituals; recountings of forefathers, their lineages and upbringing. Read more…
A couple of weeks ago, I was on the phone with my mother when she asked me about Vivek Ramaswamy. For those of you who know who he is, you understand my surprise. For those of you who don't know who this human is, you're right not to.
Ever since I moved to the U.S., I get the "do you know *insert Indian person's* name here" at least once a month. When I was in college, it was about once a week. I never understood why people always think all Indians know each other, especially since they're also quick to point out how many of us there are. Until my mother mentioned Vivek Ramaswamy.
Here's an American candidate for the highest office in the land that most of us have never heard of and my mother has the skinny on him. And this is where the story begins.
Vivek Ramaswamy is a lesser known candidate for the 2024 Republican Party primaries. True to the contemporary Republican playbook, Ramaswamy believes in the elimination of affirmative action, in gender confusion over gender justice, the termination of federal agencies like the IRS and the FBI, military protection from undocumented parents and children on the Southern border, and that climate change is not a real thing, among a thousand other platform points that are as stale and vicious as every one of his Republican colleagues. Except Ramaswamy is a young, published, confident Indian-American, the very picture of the American dream. Not to mention, his parents are both immigrants from the same town my family is from.
This is exactly how he finds himself at the center of my mother's radar. Read more…