New meaning to “white wedding” in India

Last updated on: May 7, 2013 at 6:40 pm by Svend White

New meaning to “white wedding” in India 2013-05-07T18:40:58-05:00 Svend White

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Every now and again, societies deconstruct. I think that societies experience "Freudian slips"" in a manner not unlike people.

My wife Shabana was doing a web search and stumbed across a sobering (though, sadly, not all that surprising) new business model in India (see her blog entry on it): Renting out people (preferably "tall, light-skinned men") to masquerade as relatives at well-to-do people's weddings.

Amrit Dhillon writes in The Times that the Best Guests Centre in Rajasthan

…offers three categories of guest. The “deluxe”, at £10, is a lofty, fair-skinned, English-speaking guest with an elegant line in small talk. The “standard” is educated, speaks Hindi but looks like the average local and costs £6.

The “budget”, at £5, is a Hindi-speaking school-leaver of darker hue, reasonably well groomed but less polished. They are under instructions to smile, be friendly, join in the dancing and singing, and appear to be having a rollicking good time.

The racial overtones here are obvious and disturbing, but I find the class implicit class assumptions most striking The darker, less sophisticated "budget" guest is expected to be the down-to-earth party animal, the guy who not only keeps things fun but, I suspect, "keeps it real."

Today, Bollywood pays lip service to the virtues of the Indian heartland (e.g., the absurd idealization of village life of Shahrukh Khan's "Swades", a plastic propaganda film worthy of the Soviet tradition of Socialist Realism) at the very same time it brainwashes Indians into identifying with "Beverly Hills 90210."

Freud would have a field day. So would Aime Cesaire and Frantz Fanon.

P.S. I note for the record lest any accuse me of India-bashing that I don't think this phenomenon is unique to India. I can imagine a similiar enterprise doing brisk business in Lahore or Karachi.

Still, I wouldn't be surprised if India is a little more schizophrenic than Pakistan about this due to its fervid embrace of all things American, and the concommitant internalization of its neoliberal pecking order.

Perhaps I'm biased–I'm married to a Pakistani and despite my being a "gora" (Urdu for "white") have had a connection to Pakistan all my life–but it seems to me that while Pakistan has more than its share of problems (which are dissected down to the minutest detail in the international media) one at least sees some resistance to the global monoculture among those benighted Pakistanis. Whether out of post-colonial foresight or just diehard conservatism, many Pakistanis still resist the Borg, perhaps in vain. I'm not sure the same can be said of post-ideological India, which seems to eagerly await assimiliation into the neoliberal, postmodern Hive.

Strange but True

Previous Post

September 26, 2005

Lessons learned from the PMU Experiment

Next Post

October 2, 2005 Jews, Muslims, black magic & pornography

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category American Politics Animals in Islam Anti-Semitism Christian Jihadism Christianity Culture & the Arts Current Affairs Denmark Dogs in Islam Family life Film Gender Great MP3s Hate in America Imam W.D. Mohammed Interfaith Dialogue International Affairs Islam and the Left Islamic Thought Islamophobia Jihad Judaism Legos Link of the Day Marriage Misc Modernity/Post-Modernity Mormonism Multiculturalism Music Muslims in the Melting Pot Must-Listen Podcasts Non-Muslims and Islam Pakistan Pictures Pigs in Islam Polygamy Pork Progressive Muslims Race Relations Really Important Stuff Religion Required Reading Robert Spencer Scandinavia Science Science Fiction Sex in Islam So-called Globalization South Asia Star Trek Strange but True Studying Arabic Stupid Muslim Tricks Sufism/Tasawwuf Television The "Miami 7" hoopla The Corporate Media The Danish cartoons The GWOT The Jihad against Islam The Middle East Vikings! Wahhabism/Salafism Washington and the Middle East Web/Tech Women in Islam

Select a Month March 2014 February 2014 November 2013 September 2013 July 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 September 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Return to me, for I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than what?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Prayer Burnt offerings Worship Fasting