Indianness X - I, Iyer and Iyengar....

The title of this post happened to win the best team name during the first ever Landmark Open Quiz (now a highly anticipated and regular affair in Madras) in 1995. My being strongly associated with Tamil Nadu, despite not being a Tamilian, has lead to quite a few funny situations. This post is just meant to be a post. Nothing more and nothing less. These man-made differences do not make sense.

The two most important underlying fabrics that bond an Indian, Turk, Persian, Mexican, Brazilian, American, Italian, French, Chinese, Japanese, etc. are emotions and connections. Love, Pathos, Hurt, Joy, etc. unite us. The connections with the people in our lives makes it all the more interesting. One need not be of a particular caste/religion/sex/country to experience the various universal emotions. Relationships mean the same everywhere.

So now back to the topic, after the brief disclaimer. First of all, it all begins with my roots. Having a very Iyengaresque name, I am wrongly mistaken for an Iyengar. But then, my name would also pass for an Iyer, because Venkataraman/Radhakrishnan, despite being Vaishnavite, is in prevalence among Iyers of today. Guess, there was a time when the surname used to be the clinching distinguishing factor (obviously, Venkatarama Iyer and Venkatarama Iyengar are different).

While a Mishra can identify an Oriya person by his/her surname, (can be safely extended to the Guptas, Iyers, Mukhopadhyays, Shahs, Agarwals, Reddys, Pillais, Joshis, Singhs), it becomes increasingly difficult for a person like me. Each community has its own set of customs, languages, colloquialisms, cultures, etc. within the broad and myriad network of Indian ethos. While one must respect the values of one's own, reaching out to people must make us overcome these self-imposed barriers of a community. A subtle balance.

Recently, I had been to a Udupi Krishna Mutt in Los Angeles and I happened to see 40-50 people, most of whom could be claimed of "my type". It reminded me of our family gatherings and the customs/rituals involved therein. We are followers of Saint Madhwacharya, one of the trinity, with the other two being Saint Sankaracharya and Saint Ramanujacharya. Thus, I, Iyer and Iyengar could be termed as followers of the trinity in their own ways.

Honestly, I haven't got an opportunity, or rather, I haven't reached that maturity level to appreciate the differences between the Dvaita, Advaita and Vishishta-dvaita schools of thought. It merits mention that Dvaita was the last among the three and with surprisingly the least number of followers. Personally, I feel that these schools of thought emerged when the country was having a difficult time maintain its own identity courtesy the onslaught of the invaders, (more like Renaissance of Hinduism).

What about the people of Tamil Nadu, who are not Iyers and Iyengars? Is the heavy demarcation between Tam Brahms and the others leading to an erosion of Tamilian values? On a macro level, are the Vedas, Upanishads, Carnatic Music, etc. for the Brahmins alone? Is the present state of Indian politics with their shady secularist ideals an avenue towards endangerment of Indian values? Aren't our values veritably ours, no matter where we are from? What about the north-south, west-east division in India?

How many of us appreciate the Sanskrit works of poets like Kalidasa (reputed to be one of the greatest romantic poets of all times). How many of us appreciate the poetry in the compositions of Thyagaraja, Purandaradasa, Kanakadasa, Dikshitar, Sama Sastry, Swati Tirunal? How many of us appreciate the urdu ghazals and poetry of India? How many of us appreciate Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Faiyyaz Khan, and Ustad Amir Khan? If yes to the above question, then what about Madurai Mani Iyer, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and M S Subbulakshmi? What about sarode and veena?

How many of us waste a majority of our time, trying to justify the beliefs, sensibilities, values, etc. that we have embraced or have become passionate about?

Despite the so many questions, I would still like to maintain this viewpoint. Most of the values have been there for 1000's of years, and would continue to do so. India has faced many difficult times with frequent onslaught of invaders. It is just that the invaders are changing all the time. Importantly, we need to exorcise the demons within us, because, more than the values, it would be we, who would miss out on the various beautiful things in life.