[Update: Uberdesi kindly sent us the link for the ad which inspired it all. Now you can freak out, too!]
The commercial barely disturbed my reverie; I’m thinking about how much I hate moving, and that is exactly what I’ll be doing at work tomorrow, as we prepare for some renovating which couldn’t come at a worse time. At first, I can’t figure out what this spot is advertising, it looks like college kids, seems to focus on shoes and just as I decide that it must be something to do with the latter, I see it.
A girl, in somewhat cute, patent, MaryJane-esque shoes, in a library like setting…using a stack of exactly and approximately half-a-dozen books four books to step on, to reach a higher shelf. Or something. My brain shorts, because I’m so shocked and my inner pragmatist is all, “That’s so unstable! You’re asking for a sprained ankle.” The thought which immediately chases that maternal scolding is, “Eeeek, that’s not very respectful.” And that is why the shoes are “somewhat” cute; I can’t disassociate their shiny happiness from the taboo, the disrespect.
It wasn’t always like this.
Believe it or not, despite all the other random Hindu-lite rituals I grew up with, I never was scolded for touching a book with my feet. I think this had to do with two things:
1) I loved books so much to begin with and was very careful with them, since I’m vaguely OCD about things getting dirty or ruined
2) My room wasn’t so cramped that books were ever on the floor. They were on shelves. Or my desk. Or my bedside table. The floor was for my clothes, much to my parents’ disgust.
I’m surprised that this is also something I didn’t learn from my sundry collection of Hindu ex-boyfriends, though I vaguely remember hearing about it once in a while. For whatever reason, it wasn’t expanded upon or elucidated.
It was you who informed me of this prohibition against disrespect, and it is you whom I think of, in my tiny studio apartment, when I’m trying to re-organize my bookshelves. I take everything out and stack it on the floor, because there’s no other place to put anything and then I dust, rearrange, etc…but once in a while, especially now when I’m hobbling so awkwardly, if my feet even graze the tiniest part of a book or magazine, I freeze, feel guilty and then think of these cultural mores.
Thanks, mutineers. You’ve given me one more thing to get neurotic about…aww, you shouldn’t have. 😉
My high-level point is, this website has changed how I consider or interpret things, in a significant way. I will never think of the Sepoy Mutiny, the word “mutineer”, paneer dosas, Lemurians, ketchup, Scythians or a thousand other things without being reminded of this space.
That’s why when one of you emailed us a tip, which said:
A quiz on Indian independence and the first question is quite, ahem, mutinous.
…which pointed us to a brief, enlightening quiz in the Economist, I smiled and had to see it for myself. Indeed, the first question was special and it’s why I wrote all of this, because I love words and I find them powerful.
When a word’s definition is altered so dramatically, it’s not trivial, not to me. The last word of the first question of that quiz now means something very precious, and it always will. I thought you should know that, because I’m grateful to you for amending the dictionary in my brain, to accommodate such a delightful mutation.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I got a “seven”. 😉
I’m appalled at the idea of stepping on books. I actually like Payless for their vegan shoes but now I’ll have to think twice.
thanks for this post, ANNA. just yesterday, i was thinking the same thing – how much i have refined, and strengthened, certain pre-existing ideas i had, while being challenged and changing my views at the same time. e.g. i used the term DBD the other day, and realised that it’s not very widespread, even among the DBDs themselves 🙂 this space was much-needed, and is much appreciated.
i took the test, too, and also scored a 7. though when i looked at the ranking system, this caught my eye : 10-12 Excellent. You have the blessings of Saraswati and the memory of an elephant i’m not religious, but of all the hindu holidays, saraswati pooja was my favourite – not the idea that a deity is blessing our books (or violins or tae kwon do belts, as the case may be), but that education and learning hold such a high place.
If you click the link I just updated the post with (“The commercial“), you’ll go to their site, where if you check out the bottom left corner, you, too, can cringe at the image I reacted to. 😉
Eek on the shoe stepping. Shoes were always meant to be only on the ground and nowhere else. You couldn’t throw them about, you couldn’t put your feet up with shoes on and a various other things. I was once packing and had a pair of brand new shoes never worn on the bed waiting to be packed and my mother had quite a field day with that one. Long lecture ensued.
I’m embarrassed to admit I got on “7-9 Pukka. You have not missed your tryst with destiny. And you know what we mean” on the Quiz. Only 8 right! I got the first Mutineers answer wrong!!
Whats wrong with stepping on books? I am surprised that anybody would have a problem with that in 2007 but then hundreds of millions of people face in one direction to pray everyday so what do I know.
never, ever expect people not to have irrational beliefs….mistake number 1. humanity simply doesnt work that way.
on a side note, my parents’ housekeeper has this habit of putting shoes on top of the bed/comforter, on sofas, and, yes, on top of books, when she is finished cleaning. at first, my mom was hesitant, but after a while she just had to explain to her that this was a big (hindu) no-no. though even if not a religious/desi thing, shoes (and feet, sometimes) are just dirty – it makes sense to be judicious as to where we place them.
never, ever expect people not to have irrational beliefs….mistake number 1. humanity simply doesnt work that way.
Yes, but lets do our part by not perpetuating bronze age myths (to quote richard dawkins) In this case, Hinduism, they even predate the bronze age!
There’s always a conflict of the rituals too, one hot summer on a trip to Shirdi late 90’s, and in the areas where the flooring was burning hot it would rip your skin off, if you stepped on it. Footwear was strictly prohibited (temple). People just ripped off newspapers from wherever they could find (booths and paper stands) and stood on it until the Queue moved forward to a shady area. I remember protesting, no; paper is God (or Goddess) , I can’t stand on it, only to get a whack and being pulled onto a newspaper sheet my Sis was already standing on.
ACfD – I think a lot of it has to do with looking after the things we care about – i wouldn’t step on books for the simple reason that i treasure all my books and don’t want to ruin them. just like i try to keep my (nicer) clothes protected, or my jewelry, or furniture.
thats why i own a shoe rack.
ak, eeeeek! We aren’t even allowed to enter the house with shoes; they stay in the garage. Or by the front door. I HATE shoes in the house and was thrilled when I had three Asian roomies– they felt the same way and my predecessor, a white chick, couldn’t grasp how much it bothered them (not to mention how it effed up the white carpet). In other news, who puts WHITE carpet in a “college” apartment (this was when I lived in Davis, on the “G” line, for those of you who know of such things)?
ACfD – I think a lot of it has to do with looking after the things we care about – i wouldn’t step on books for the simple reason that i treasure all my books and don’t want to ruin them. just like i try to keep my (nicer) clothes protected, or my jewelry, or furniture.
What if the book is useless? Like the 4 copies of yellow pages I get every year. I put them to good use around the house.
unfortnately, most humans believe in these things. if you push them, they just get annoyed. best to let people be…i think.
my favorite shoe rack. it keeps shoes off of god. its holy. but, unfortnately, god is everywhere, even in the shoerack. therefore, using it is blasphemous. dammit. i just cant win.
Forgive the long quotation, but I couldn’t resist.
I grew up kissing books and bread.
In our house, whenever anyone dropped a book or let fall a chapati or a “slice,” which was our word for a triangle of buttered leavened bread, the fallen object was required not only to be picked up but also kissed, by way of apology for the act of clumsy disrespect. I was as careless and butterfingered as any child and, accordingly, during my childhood years, I kissed a large number of “slices” and also my fair share of books.
Devout households in India often contained, and still contain, persons in the habit of kissing holy books. But we kissed everything. We kissed dictionaries and atlases. We kissed Enid Blyton novels and Superman comics. If I’d ever dropped the telephone directory I’d probably have kissed that, too.
All this happened before I had ever kissed a girl. In fact it would almost be true, true enough for a fiction writer, anyhow, to say that once I started kissing girls, my activities with regard to bread and books lost some of their special excitement. But one never forgets one’s first loves.
Bread and books: food for the body and food for the soul — what could be more worthy of our respect, and even love?
It has always been a shock to me to meet people for whom books simply do not matter. -Salman Rushdie, Imaginary Homelands
ANNA, i know. the first time i saw those shoes on my bed, and then another pair on my books, i was mortified. i almost forbade one of my friends from coming over when he kept insisting on wearing his shoes in my apt (also white carpet – wtf?) – it’s not only dirty, but i felt it was kind of disrespectful not to follow this one simple request. i’m big on not wearing shoes indoors – it just grosses me out.
it was disrespectful. if you go to someones house, follow their rules. a bit messed up not to.
Sorry, the whole thing was supposed to be italicized.
Are shoes prohibited indoors in all parts of India? I’ve been to many Punjabi households in Delhi, and Kol, where people do not remove thier shoes. Maybe it’s an abberation.
Me? even my 2 yr. old removes his shoes when entering the house.
I’ve found Walmart usually has some vegan styles (if you don’t mind supporting Walmart). The high-cost shoes made/imported by vegan specialty stores are too pricy for me. I, too, usually end up at Payless.
Should we write to Payless to let them know our concerns? Not a complaint, exactly; but marketing departments are usually quite concerned about not offending their potential customers, and I’m pretty sure they’d like to know that they inadvertently are, in this case.
im used to taking off my shoes at the entryway of the house. i went to a punjabi house in india once, they said. oh. dont worry about that. the maid will clean it. thought that was odd…
do they have (very good looking) dress shoes for men that arent animal made? most of the ones i see are lame.
so when I step on the book, I touch it with both hands and then touch those hands to my eyes. I’m not particularly religious but this is like a reflex, and when I don’t do it, I feel…awful
scored 7-9 phew
North India doesn’t generally have a taboo against shoes inside the house. I remember my Southie friends were always vaguely uncomfortable with that. Some took them off anyway. I personally prefer the shoes-off model.
Anna, congratulations! That was my score too. Either I’ve turned too ‘ABD’ or you’ve turned too ‘DBD’, or both 🙂
now, now chachaji…abd’s can get high scores as well…
From whatever little i know of Hindu mythology i think books=knowledge=Goddess Saraswati and hence one doesn’t step on it. practically speaking u remove shoes while going inside so as to minimize cleaning work for the host since the roads/outdoors are not so clean in india as it is here. Both things probably makes/doesn’t make as much sense as the common practice here to say “bless you” when we sneeze.
I find this belief pretty interesting … Since though I was never raised to hold that as a taboo, all my Hindu friends did, and so I eventually got to see it a LOT .
Now, I don’t have any problem following the ‘Do not step on your books’ , since, obviously the book will get damaged by my 170 pounds … but what I do find at times odd is ‘Do not ever have your foot come in contact with a book’ … even if your feet are clean after a wash .. or if the book is just another piece of junk… and all that happened was that your foot just touched the book. I think feeling guilty/remorseful about such contact is just a symbolic reaction…
The ‘dirtiness of the feet’ is a heightened idea in India. I remember reading that ‘Shudras’ were supposed to be representations of the feet of a God, which was one of the reasons they were at the bottom of the social heirarchy… I’m not sure if this is merely because ppl used to walk barefoot , or because there is some more religious context to it. Anyone care to shed some light on this ?
Arrem said:
Really? Write to Payless to complain? I don’t know…I too cringed a little when I first saw it, but it was mostly an automatic reaction (fear of getting struck down by lightening perhaps? ;-)), but then I relaxed and realized it’s an American commercial where shoes aren’t seen to be an offending item. In fact, keeping that in mind, the ad is actually kind of cute.
I’d rather reserve my protests for something that’s obviously in my face in it’s offense. Then again..that’s me.
puli gets a 7. ok, i guess…
Found online….
The bengali version, though similar….
blogs…
By fluke, you mean? 🙂
This quiz (like the NYT weekly quiz) highlights how little of what is read is remembered, as also how much of what is provided as reading material is largely irrelevant to the main thrust of the story at hand. Then again, I’m just a DBD rationalizing his ‘low’ score 🙂
..is it just me, or does this entire quiz reek of india/hindu bashing/an intended cold shower to deflate the celebratory hoopla… ?
Whoa, how so?
I love multiple choice questions. Especially some of the intentionally stoopid answers. Too bad, they had only one of those.
P.S. I have blessings of Saraswati. D to the B to the D.
Wasn’t there a scene in Pushpak where the cleaning lady places the chappals on some magazine/book/photograph and KH winces? Classic!
Who is KH?
Here’s where my Hinduism comes into conflict with my status anxiety–in his seminal “Class: A Guide Through the American Class System,” author Paul Fussell goes so far as to provide a “living room test” by which you accumulate or lose class points depending on the presence or absence of certain objects in your living room. “Books on bookshelf” gets you a few positive points, “books on floor” gives you a lot of positive points.
Result–my (DBD) parents’ living room–no books on floor, my (ABD) living room: stacks of books on floor.
so….being a slob is high staus…hmmm…
Little known husband of ex-child actress Sarika.
Love this post! I have always cringed at the sight of feet/shoes on books. Books are sacred. Though recently, I was at a used bookstore when I accidently stubbed my toe against a sorry pile of Coulter books. I was going to do the book-touch-eye routine when I conciously decided not to. My interactions with books like with people can never really be completely accidental. If that makes sense…
Tamasha, that was a great quotation.
When friends and boyfriends use books as footstools, or even accidentally graze them while standing or walking, I freeze in shock. I can’t even believe that it is happening and it seems like the whole scene is in slow motion- the feet slowly lowering themselves onto books, the collision with a stack while walking. It’s like being in a car crash and being unable to scream. Seriously. Maybe I’m a little ridiculous.
Who is Sarika? 😀
(you had to know that was coming)
Puli–my interpretation is that it doesn’t mean “slob”–instead means–is constantly reading/buying more books so shelves are literally overflowing. But that’s just my guess. I will confess that I have basically re-engineered my living room based on Fussell (e.g., got a worn “Oriental” rug, a stone obelisk, some artwork (not by a family member)) but perhaps I am a bit obsessive on this front–I do entertain at home, though.
The shoes in the house comment is interesting. I was reading Ms Manners or someone like her giving advice on people who request others take their shoes off when they enter the house. Miss Manners thought it was rude to ask guests to remove their shoes…my thought was that it was more rude not to respect someone’s rules of the house…maybe its a cultural thing. We never wore shoes in the house and its almost automatic to take them off (regardless of the house i’m going to…have done this at white friend’s houses too)…my feet feel more comofortable without shoes…which may explain why i never have my shoes on while sitting at my desk at work! hehe..
KH = Kamal Hasan 🙂 Brilliant actor.
Shodan, remember what Mr. Buchheit said. Don’t be evil. 😉
During the phase when I was gradually becoming an atheist, I had a sliding scale for books and which ones could be touched with one’s feet, or stepped on etc. For a while, I wouldn’t “disrespect” books that were of some value, but didn’t care about telephone directories, junk mail etc. Of course, I grew out of that too. Now, I don’t follow those ancient rules, as long as I am not damaging books that I value.
thast a little scary. i dont think i thought of what my apartment says about my when decorating it. i just did things i thought would look nice to me, and would be comfy.