I went to the Kodagu Community blog because of the link they gave to my video of the dance from the region. Never thought the trip would invoke such a response in one corner of the blog world. The blogowner says in a comment on the post-
Would you like Kodava culture to be shown to the drunk-tourists at late nights? (9-10 pm) I can understand if some curious people, who really want to know about the culture, are the audience.
Well, here is what I wrote in reply.
You go on a trip and you get labeled as half drunk or was it drunk tourist. I don’t think we qualify as a bunch of drunk tourist!
But did you see any disrespect in any of our posts towards the local culture?
Thanks for giving an alternative perspective. Didn’t know the trip would elicit such a response in a corner of the blogworld.
That’s ridiculous. How can anyone think like that ?
I usually ignore such comments and try not to waste my energy by initiating any discussion or dialogue with such people. It’s their guilt that compels them to react in a juvenile manner. I was “attacked” by a similar reaction in one of your posts. Mr. Hallan went berserk on my comment posted here:http://www.gonomad.com/traveltalesfromindia/archives/2007_10_01_archive.htmlUnfortunately, he could not comprehend my satire – or – may be he read my blogs (I write in Hindi) and came up with this stereotypical conclusion – “Hindi-Bhashis are born to hate English”. You are lucky that Coorg’s local TV station did not air a sensational news item – “Exploitation in God’s own abode.”
When people criticize, u know how important you are :)On a serious note, its quite ridiculous. But I guess people are very sensitive about their ‘culture’.
Cuckoo, I would agree I was surprised by the reaction but then of course I know very little about the ground realities in the district.Atul, what to do, being in teaching profession I think an academic debate is healthy :)Oh and Amrit (Hallan) is my dear dear brother-in-law 🙂 So you will have to forgive me for not discussing this further. But feel free to bash him or pick it up with him on his blog. He would surely respond.You are right Smita, people are quite sensitive about their culture and would surely not like to offend them. I reacted because I thought there was a misconception about us somewhere by the poster.
But I still think that the concerns are genuine. Mridula has rightly said “different perspective”. By simply saying that I dont want to react does not end the “YAKSHA PRASHAN”. The fact of???? drunken tourists can not be denied.Cultures never spread (?) by dance shows.Why to ‘show’ culture, it is matter of persistent efforts towards preservation of cultural heritage as most of the things are losing their relevance in the face of so called development. Dont forget, this very culture will be presented before the tourists as per their perception. The example of KALBELIAS of Rajsthan is relevant here also somebody has already mentioned the case of Goa. Every on e knows what for is Goa known in North India, is this the Goan Culture.
Wanderer, Atul was referring to another comment on one of my Agra posts that was made by my brother in law and that is where I said I do not want to discuss it further, and the reason are very simple, I can’t even try to be objective as Amrit is very dear to me.Coming to the Club Mahindra episode, I am of course willing to discuss it. That is why I wrote this post. And I made a simple point ‘we do not qualify as drunk tourists.’ Second, will someone ask the people who performed what do they want? I thought they came out of their own free will (with whatever limited choices they had) and performed. Whether it spreads culture or not of course is debatable.If you ask my personal opinion, I am of course humbled to have witnessed those dances, in however ‘artificial’ circumstances.
This honest you. But it is not the free will of the these participants but their MAJBOORI.
Wanderer, I agree they may have limited choices, I said this in the previous comment too or as you say Majboori. But someone will have to ask them that for the time being till they better options, do they care about ‘culture’ or making some money.
Thanks for dropping by. Have replied to your comment. Pls chk my blog.Best wishes.
Cariz, thanks for your reply. And I am glad we agree that there is no disrespect shown in our posts towards the local community. Thanks for hopping over here and letting me know of your reply.
I think that if I were you I would have said more or less the same thing i.e. the post is not meant to show disrespect and that the group did not qualify as drunken tourists, but as people genuinely interested in finding out more about the local culture. However, I would also have acknowledged the possibility of the dances being performed for people who would closely fit the description provided by the commentator, as such things can and do happen. That should not be reason enough, though, to deprive genuine enthusiasts, like the group with which you were travelling, of such a wonderful experience.
Thanks for your balanced comment Sidhu.