Saturday 24 August 2013

The Adaabs, Tasleems and the Salaams


It is interesting to see how Muslim forms of greetings have changed over the years, especially in the Indian sub-continent. Recently, I went for a classical music concert where the Ustad/ musician greeted the audience with Adaab (along with the usual Good Evenings, namaskars, etc).

Adaab means Hello in a very formal way, and is a polite form of 'secular greeting'. It is followed by a gesture where you take your right hand towards your forehead, with back of the hand showing and the palm spooning towards your face (unlike the Army salam, which is your palm outwards touching your forehead!). Adaab literally means 'etiquette'. Even non- Muslims who are connoisseurs of Urdu language, practice 'adaab' in their formal greetings (poets like Gulzar, late Anand Bakhshi, etc.). Tasleem is also very similar to Adaab as a form of greeting. Literally it means 'to accept'. 

It is very rare to hear Adaabs/ Tasleems these days. Adaab and Tasleem are cultural greetings whereas Salam  is religious. Salam means 'peace' (Assalamalaikum/ walaikum-as-salalm, literally meaning 'May peace be upon you'). Adaabs and tasleems have been taken over by Salam now amongst the Muslims. The new generation of Muslims may not even have heard of the previous forms of greetings.
  Salam is Arabic and Adaab/ tasleem trace their origin in Urdu/ Persian tradition. The prevalence of Arabic Salam now, also points at the way Muslim identity is being constructed now, leaning more towards the larger Muslim 'Ummah'/ community. Adaabs and tasleems prevailed when the Hindu/ Muslim composite culture was at its height. Nowadays, Urdu is not the court/state language anymore. Thus the greetings which formed the bridge between the Muslims and non- Muslims, have been replaced by more casual 'Hello/ Hi', which also, points at the English languages' dominance in present times.

 The form of greetings' reflect the prevalent norms and dominance of a particular language' in the society. Prevalence of Adaabs/ tasleems reflected prominence of Urdu, and importance of the Ganga- Jamuni tehzeeb (Hindu/ Muslim mixed culture). Religious identities are more sharp and more symbolic these days (Jai Mata Di, Har Har Mahadev, Jai Ramji, etc.) and therefore, Arabic Salam which stresses more on the universal identity of being a Muslim.
(Although, salam has a better literal meaning of wishing peace upon the other!)
   

Thursday 15 August 2013

Rejection in Interviews!!


 There may be many self- help books telling you how to crack your interviews. After a Doctorate, publications, almost three years teaching experience, almost five years  experience of research (excluding PhD research), I imagined interviews would be nothing less than a cakewalk! But, I was so  wrong. (And, mind you, these are not even permanent posts, thanks to the job crisis in academics in Delhi, these interviews are for temporary posts of four- five months or one semester!!) In this post, I am going to share after many interviews, my personal experiences of, you guessed it right, rejections. How to clinch defeat from the jaws of victory! Special gifts require special skills, you see. Its difficult, but it seems that I have made a habit of it. Let me list a few pointers, based on my experiences.

1) Dressing up/ dressing down- First things first, your impression or how you present yourself! There is a very thin line on getting it right or wrong. I almost thought, that I had a particular dress which I somehow assumed was lucky for me! Alas, I wore it for every interview for almost a year, until it became the most unlucky dress anybody could have ever worn!

2) Be submissive/ argumentative- Its an interview, so there are bound to be questions. It is up to you if you show too much passion, then discussion can easily become an argument. If you show too much respect, and do not speak much or question the interviewer, you will be labelled as dumb, or as having no opinion! During the defense of my  thesis, my examiner (whom I respected too much) severely criticized my approach and ravaged a one-sided war on me. At that moment in my head, I kept arguing with myself how disrespectful it will be,  if I talk back and argue. And even before I could settle the debate with myself, it was over! I got my degree, but it left some unfinished business lingering, some loose ends untied! I still have nightmares about the unsaid things, how I could have argued with him!

3) Long/short interviews- I had gone recently for an interview in a DU College, where I had the longest chat with the panel as compared to the rest of the candidates. I told my friends and family, that I enthralled everyone (all panelists) with my performance, and everybody was spell bound looking at me. Long chats do not always get you the job , was my lesson here!

4) Conservative/ technology- In some interviews the questioners usually try and gauge your technical abilities. Some may even ask you to show a few practical tricks by naming the most recent mumbo-jumbo and explain your hold over them. But, the glitch here is technology is forever changing bhai. How much can you keep up?? If you know the basics, you can adapt to anything, but who can explain this to these impatient people, who want to employ a mix of Superman/woman and Iron Man/woman!

5) Familiar/ Unknown- It is always a tricky thing if you know somebody in the panel sitting on the other side of the desk. They can be impartial (sometimes too impartial), can ignore you completely, or even if they acknowledge you, you can not know if that is a good thing or bad. If they know your positive side, they are also well aware of your negative side! People who do not know you, have to make a judgement about you in five mins, that is unfair! It was often my argument whenever I failed my interviews, but when people who do know you,then reject you, that is scary! This excuse does not work then, and you face the toughest Reality check!

6) Brain Freeze... Yes, it happens too, sometimes you can get intimidated by the panel, or have something  entirely different thing going on in your head (Sports/lover/ sick pet at home/ universe/ Chetan Bhagat/Rushdie/politics), that even after knowing the answers to the questions being asked, you can tie yourself in knots. The answers may be simple, but you have to indulge in the art of making it complex right at that moment! Well, you are too intelligent for the panel of course, which does not understand your point of view and rejects you! (Losers!Them not us, of course!)

 My dear friends, just like formulas for success can be many- reasons/ circumstances/ situations can be many for getting rejected in interviews too. These rejections enrich your experience, can make you wise, and more importantly, make you buckle up for the next interview ahead! Good luck!(Luck, sometimes that works!)

Friday 2 August 2013

Portrayal of Minorities in Films- Bollywood/ Hollywood


  I recently watched a film where the hero (Hindu) dies while saving lives of a Muslim family during riots. I have always been puzzled and have noticed over the years the similarity in the portrayal of minority' characters in Hollywood and Bollywood. Due to my lack of exposure to world cinema (and most of regional cinema in India), and extreme exposure to both Hindi and English movies (thanks to my father since childhood, and now my husband post- marriage, who have both been fanatic film fans) I can only compare these two industries. Industries because they are in serious business, as they produce/ manufacture/ distribute, and provide employment to millions of people.
 Now coming back to the topic of portrayal of minorities in stereotypical ways, as supporting friends, or characters mostly to provide comic relief (Bollywood has had Mehmood, Johhny Walker, Kadar Khan, Johnny Lever, etc. and Hollywood has had Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Whoopi Goldberg etc.) or as important figures (like politicians or police officers). There was a period when Blacks and Muslims got portrayed as criminals or as Dons, and then heroes started romancing minority heroines which added to the tension in the storyline. A very interesting fact is that minorities in both industries have found employed in great numbers for both on-screen roles (heroes, heroines, character artists) and off screen jobs (writing, music, production houses, etc.) especially so for Muslims, in Bollywood.

 I had a Professor specializing in media studies, who had his own take on the film- 'Amar, Akbar, Anthony', a blockbuster hit of 1977, in which three brothers get separated at birth and are adopted by families of three different communities and are brought up by them. The way these three characters were portrayed, eldest brother Amar, the Hindu one, the most responsible brother, a police officer, who brings the family together again. The other two brothers (minorities)- Akbar and Anthony are mostly non-serious characters who create more troubles than solve them. According to my teacher, it was how Indian society perceives its minorities, where majority has to take more serious roles and decisions and be more responsible for the country.  
 There was also a brief period where all negative roles were being written for Muslims, and to be politically correct, and to balance a Muslim terrorist, an honest, patriotic Muslim police officer was thrown in the film's plot as well (Sarfarosh, etc). Similar films can be found in Hollywood as well showing Blacks as bad and good characters.
 It was the Hollywood which started showing a Black character as the President (Morgan Freeman in many movies) before Barack Obama actually became the President of the United States'. In India, Manmohan Singh, (from the minority  Sikh community)  became the Prime Minister while Indian films could never imagine a Sikh as PM, but only portrayed them as non- serious, adorable characters.
 Movies mirror society and its beliefs and prejudices, and its quite a paradox to say, if they are inspired by reality or they inspire people in real life.
  

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