[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”. 😉
Umm, I got an 11/12. Not sure how – I had to guess on all the questions involving numbers.
Turns out, she’s ex wife of KH. Tells you how much I know. 🙂
Would it be ok if we stepped on an empty piece of paper? Just curious how far this goes.
Tamasha, I didn’t realize you were quoting someone famous, when you left your elaborate, beautiful comment upthread, so I thought you were coming out. I was all, “OMG, Tamasha is teh gay!!1!” 😉
Ex-wife of a brilliant and versatile Indian actor. 😀
(you knew that was coming)
This is the best thing I have read all day. 🙂
I got 8 🙂 does that make me a good ABD or a bad DBD? 😀
I can never touch a book with my foot and confess to cringing inwardly when I see anyone doing it.Its something that is so ingrained from child hood . I don’t know if any of you fellow Southies did this on VijayaDashmi : put out books/instruments in fromt of Goddess Saraswati to be blessed. Once you have participated in a ritual like that , its next to impossible to shake the feeling of reverence for books. I am so glad that there are many of you who feel the same way.
Its irrational but as irrational as fearing the number 13 etc.
50 Puli 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.
Just make sure you don’t have 1) a motorcycle or 2) a bowling-ball bag/carrier in your living room! 😉
re: kissing books, it’s simply an external manifestation of an internal thought/feeling (respect for knowledge). I grew up with touching the book to my head if dropped, but now, sometimes I do it, sometimes I don’t. Ultimately, what matters is the internal, not the external – which can be feigned. But, it’s pretty harmless and not being forced on someone. It’s about as irrational as people standing up and clapping at the end of a Dawkins lecture. Different strokes for different folks.
i have a display shelf with a bunch of souveniers form travel. i have a samurai sword, and some art statues from various countries. brown leather sofas. glass tables. tan oriental rug, and whatever dorky book i happen to be reading at the time.
Why does every brown boy have one of these? 🙂
going to japan and not buying a samurai sword would just not do….that along with the japaneese doll are the 2 coolest souveniers from that place.
Puli, According to Fussell (I don’t really know, that’s why I’m using him), a “display of collectibles” in living room is a big no-no. So, those souvenirs have to go! Art statues–yes! good!
Take it again
in a few hoursafter a few beers, and if you still get 11/12 hats off to you!What I want to know is how KXB did. He’s posted almost all stories on the newstab that had links into the Economist website, like he reads it all day or something. 🙂
nah..i like my souveniers…had a lot of fun colllecting them. i also strech the definition of souveniers. not what most people would call souveniers.
ah, yes. and a piano. the only problem with that is that little kids like hitting things that make noises when you hit them.
Well, I can’t claim they aren’t lame, as far as the shoe spectrum is concerned. Also, my feet are, like the rest of me, female, so I haven’t looked closely at their men’s selection.
Actually, I said write not to complain, but to inform. South Asians (and other Hindus/Buddhists/Jains/etc.) are now part of the American landscape, and most American companies wouldn’t want to include anything in their ads that creates negative feelings towards their products, even on an unconscious level. (I’m not saying ‘boycott Payless’ or anything. I also always make a point of thanking the clerks there for their non-leather shoes and that fact that the materials used are labelled.)
10/12 (I missed the # of Brits in India in 1901 and stupid Rahul Gandhi’s politically incestuous family tree). What now ABDs! w00t!
… I don’t know, my family doesn’t step on books, nor do we store them anywhere where they can get “dirty” (e.g. hard floors — sometimes for interim moving they’ll be placed on the carpet or on a low stool). This is just out of respect for written knowledge, not for any religious reason. I’ve always grown up with a healthy respect for books and their proper storage. Even now I have the hardest time boxing them up because I worry that they’ll get damaged or weather-worn.
I can’t speak for Delhi, but every Punjabi household I’ve been in folks remove their shoes. (this may have a class dimension, or simply selection bias on my part, though). My fam certainly always takes our shoes off — I actually always get super grossed out by how unhygienic it is to track in the outdoors with your shoes, particularly if you have carpets. What I’ve seen is folks who have indoor and outdoor shoes because the floors are usually so cold. Your indoor shoes are your slippers — they can be cheapy plastic flip flops or proper cushioned/warm things, but they are worn strictly indoors so as not to spread about nasty germs and dirt. It’s like Mr. Roger’s neighborhood. 🙂
Japanese houses have a similar custom of taking off shoes at the entrance, right? Got a 9/12. Stumped by Gandhi-railways (I thought wristwatch), the soldier number during mutiny and Kashmir question.
I might add that I used to find the feet-touching-books prohibition a bit silly and excessive. However, my attitude has changed now that my own thesis is bound and sitting on several people’s shelves. Granted, it’s thick enough to give one a good bit of lift — but if I catch anyone actually using it as a stepstool, I will personally strangle him/her! 🙂
Did someone mention Sarika – that woman looks gorgeous even now and at her age (last seen in Parzania I think). And so does Dimple who looks more beautiful with each passing year. The same was true at one point with Shabana and Sharmila, and of course Hema Malini looks better than her daughter even now.
Ooo, or worse, to even out a table leg. I always do a double-take when I see “book as stabilizer for furniture.”
Camille@68.
Thanks for clarifying. I agree it’s gross and unhygenic, esp. in S. Asia, carpets or no.
May I come to your house? 🙂
Touching books with our feet, asolute no-no. How does this group react to reading books in the loo?
LOL, sure. How could I turn someone away after going on and on (in stereotypical fashion) about Punjabi hospitality? 😉 The bigger question is, veg or non-veg?
Simple practical issue as far as my experience goes – I found myself spending more time in the loo than I cared or needed to thanks to the interesting book in hand and thus decided it’s not worth it.
I need to do this. I am late to work more often than I want :-(.
Perhaps magazines and newspapers in the loo to cater to shorter attention spans.
Okay, I’ll admit to doing this all the time. (But with other people’s books, not my own thesis. 🙂 Though I think I would be so happy if anyone actually wanted to read my work, I wouldn’t care where it was read! I don’t know if other authors feel the same.) I do draw the line at bathroom + religious scripture. It’s not as if God’s not there, of course, but I don’t like to think of Him watching me then. 🙂
so was i! and i was too scared to say since i have only just ‘met’ tamasha – didn’t want to get more personal than necessary. but then i was very confused by her recent blog posts. i had a long moment of surrogate sexual orientation crisis. and then i saw rushdie’s name…
I am also not very religious but just cant think of stepping on books deliberately and feel guilty when I do so by mistake . I remember my gf laughing when after stepping on her US weekly by mistake, I did the usual “touch feet” gesture to it. I think it amused her more since I hate that publication and always give her a hard time when she reads it.
Oh ..and also seems like I am not missing my tryst with destiny. 8 🙂
Guilty of spending more time in the loo than I should because of books. But, I used to do that in India too. 😀 What can I say, once a bookworm, always a bookworm.
..I dunno, I kind of felt reading the answers that they were talking about millions of emasculated sycophantic traiterous sepoys led by a sanctimonius luddite killed by an hindu ingrate, India a backbroken country of pagan religions with people capable of no originality of thought or mind, and oh yes, end the illegal occupation of $mir…
This is a great topic!
In high school we had those desks where you could put your books on the shelves underneath it- I swear something used to hurt me internally when I saw people resting their keds on the books of the person in front of them.
For me, books, pencils, ghungroos, musical instruments should all not come in contact with the feet. Basic respect. I study kathak dance, and it is even rude to show the bottoms of your feet to your elders or even peers. The idea is that anything that provides you with wisdom and knowledge should never be desecrated by what lies beneath (our feet!!).
What I want to know is how KXB did. He’s posted almost all stories on the newstab that had links into the Economist website, like he reads it all day or something. 🙂
I DO have a job, you know 😉
I got a seven. I think that’s fine for an American-born kid.
I’ve also heard of the “Do not step on books” rule. Of all the pecularities of growing up in a Hindu household, this was not that big a deal.
bass drums, distortion pedals on guitars. sustain and sustinudo pedals on pianos, etc, etc, etc….
Having grown up here, I knew that we were not supposed to step on books. However, I had no clue about never putting books on the floor until my husband, who grew up in India, came home one day to find all his books neatly lined up on our closet floor. Ohhhh boooyyyy.
ahh…a bookshelf to go with that shoerack anyone?
Puliogre in da USA:
Those technical aspects aside, it more so means you should not put your foot say, on TOP of the piano, or on top of the drum part of the drum set. Are you getting me? 😉
holy godly scandinavian furniture.
The concept of respect when it comes to inanimate objects is very person specific (respect between two people will obviously depend on both of them). Thus while to you putting your feet on something is a sign of basic disrescept, to another probably because he/she considers feet holy might be a sign of respect. The idea of respect is very much ingrained in our own mind and colored by our perceptions, what we think is right or wrong and thus what we consider as showing respect.
do you mind the “blue man group” piano smasher?
” i have a display shelf with a bunch of souveniers form travel. i have a samurai sword, and some art statues from various countries. brown leather sofas “
“Why does every brown boy have one of these? :)”
KILL BILL.. MAYBE ??
Since we are talking footwear, does anybody else instinctively right a shoe/flip-flop if you see it lying upside down?
naw. i got mine in the pre-kill bill era
Well said Meenakshi
Puli, this feels better when done barefoot, anyway (in my opinion).
Yes!
Ooo, the worst offense (in mis-shoe-stacking) is when someone will put one shoe on top of the other (sole to top of shoe). People do this all the time in the gurdwara — it drives me NUTS.
if someone put some shoes on top of an expensive pair of my shoes i would be reaslly annoyed.
funny. whenerv i play concerts, i walk on wearing shoes. sit behind my instrument. take my shoes off discreetly. play. put shoes back on. stand up. this is because i wasnt allwoed to wear shoes in the house growing up, and as a consequence always practiced bearfoot.
naw. i got mine in the pre-kill bill era
Did you get one of these too !!
Or even a DBD!
I always appreciate the links you put up on the news tab, KXB. Thanks much!