Five years ago, I attended my first and last HOKANA FOKANA, the conference which is held every other year for Mallus who really want to marinate in Malayaleeosity. At the time, I was working for a non-profit and one of the organizers was interested in some of the post 9/11 stuff I was doing, so I was invited to speak at three of the week’s “Youth†panels.
Since they offered, and the woman who had contacted me was just wonderful to work with, I accepted. Thanks to her, I was treated to one of the strangest experiences I’ve ever had, once I arrived at the hotel in downtown Chicago, only to find myself among the most Malayalees I’ve ever seen in one place. It was a little bit bewildering, but it was edifying and fascinating, too.
There was so much to absorb: the regional cliques, the cousins from different coasts squealing as they spotted each other among the crowds, the Uncles strutting about, moustaches in full effect, declaring random things in voices so loud, the three or four white people who dared venture in to this quagmire jumped each time another Malayalee shout rang out. The energy (and scent of Drakkar mixed with Chivas) was potent. I’m glad I went. Everyone should, at some point.
I’ve often referenced my relatively “isolated†childhood– which so many of you share, according to what you confide via meetup and Gmail– and how unlike the other Malayalee Christian kids who grew up here, I never attended the Jacobite or MarThomite religious conferences which seemed to happen every few months, in different regions of the United States. Twenty years after my parents consciously blew off all of my Uncles’ recommendations that we attend that year’s FOKANA, my mother had a Eureka! moment in our kitchen, when during the one and only fight she and I ever had about my “settling downâ€, I shouted at her that if it were THAT important to her that I marry someone who was Malayalee and Orthodox, then perhaps they should have exposed me to actual Malayalee people while I was growing up.
“You never took me to FOKANA!â€, I snapped and there it was, the look of recognition and acceptance. “How was I supposed to find this elusive dream son-in-law of yours, Ma?†I had a solid point. Every wedding we had attended in the two years preceding that argument had one thing in common besides parents who were attempting to one-up the last event by inviting an additional 100 guests; the bride and groom had met at church, at one of the regional denomination-specific conferences or yes, FOKANA. My mother never broke it down like that again. Yindeed, instead of the now familiar barrage of “Is he Jacobite? Marthoma? CATHOLIC?? Ehm…Malayalee at least???â€, I was greeted with, “Found a nice boy yet?â€
So these strange mega conferences, they have their place in our imperfect, carefully negotiated lives lived in on the hyphen. Sometimes, they can be an opportunity for pure good, like when one of you coordinated a massive effort to “Get Out The Marrow†at the TANA convention which was held in DC this year. What better place to rep Sameer and Vinay’s cause, than at an event which had several thousand potential matches?From the news tab, a TOI story (“The dharma of diversity“), which I’ve included the majority of, here, so you don’t have to go there (thanks for the tip, Nanopolitan):
The United States and India both brag about their diversity — their respective diverse, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual societies. But what happens when you put 2.6 million Indians in the US? They bring their full range of plurality with them to a country that, much like India, allows full expression.
No Indian state or group or caste is too small or too big to form a representative association in America. So, we have everything here from NAMA (North American Manipuri Association) to BANA (Bhojpuri Association of North America), from the Bruhan Maharashtra Mandali to the Bangla Samaj.
Oh, how they multiply and divide. When one Andhra caste began to dominate TANA (Telugu Association of North America), the other went on to form ATA (Association of Telugus of America). GANA could not contain the forming of the Gujarati Leuva Patel Samaj and nor could KANA hold back the birth of the North America Nair Society. When Bihar split to make place for Jharkhand, folks here made sure everyone heard it by forming BAJANA (Bihar and Jharkhand Association of North America).
Sometimes, there are so many associations for a given state or community that they form an omnibus association of associations. Thus, we have JAINA (Federation of Jain Associations of North America) and FOKANA (Federation of Kerala Associations of North America). Conversely, a mere Tamil Sangam was not large enough to accommodate the voice of Chettiars (to which belongs our finance minister P Chidambaram) who formed the Nagarthar Chettiar Sangam of North America.
What would Aishwarya Join?
A majority of people from Karnataka express themselves linguistically through 33 Kannada Kootas across North America under the umbrella of AKKA, which stands for Association of Kannada Kootas of America. But that does not account for Karnataka’s Bunts, who speak Tulu (think Aishwarya Rai), or Kodavas speaking Coorgi (think Robin Uthappa).
So, we have a Bunt Association of North America (another BANA) and a Kodava Samaja of America (KoSA). Can Konkanasthas, who come from up and down the west coast of India, have their nose cut? They have their NAKA (North American Konkani Association).
I wouldn’t ever recommend cutting a Konk. They’ll mess you up. Confront one of them and the only person who will get cut is you. 😉 I have no idea what the next two groups mean:
Linguistic identity doesn’t fulfill caste affiliation. So, there is also a Vokkaliga Parishat of North America and a Veerashaiva Samaja of North America. And try this for size — a Bangalore geek in Boston is a member of both NEKK (New England Kannada Koota) and TIE (The Indus Entrepreneurs).
There are also professional bodies such as AAPI (Association of American Physicians of Indian-origin) and AAHOA, which is the Asian-American Hotel Owners Association, but might well be called PAHOA to account for the dominance of Patels. More recently, journalists and lawyers have opted for the larger South Asian identity with groups such as SAJA and SABA.
You know I love coffee, right? Well the best association ever is coming up, below:
Nothing holds a mirror better to our diversity and our penchant for forming groups than AIENA (Association of Indian Entomologists in North America). Think you’ve heard it all? Beat this. There’s even a Volleyball Association of Jats in America, called JAVA (because they meet over coffee), which is an offshoot of AJA (Association of Jats in America). Talk about boosting diversity in America.
Talk about boosting, indeed. If it weren’t for these groups, how would our Dads have an opportunity to puff out their chest and feel veddy important? When else would they get to wear the sort of “prize†ribbon I am more accustomed to seeing on elementary school Science projects or award-winning livestock, at the California State Fair?
I wonder if we’ll be like this in a few decades—lobbying for another office to be created within one of these orgs (“How about Vice-President of Online Outreach and Promotional Strategies?†) or splintering off to create a competing faction of Nairs of Northern California, so that we can be President of something too, since that bastard Sreedharan stole the election and shouldn’t be running things anyway. Goodness gracious me – no disrespect to all my Uncles—but…I sincerely hope not.
Not so fast…some of caste specifics i have read from second gen desis is hig-res stuff.
I agree with Shodan. A DBD myself, I found many (not all) of these cliques quite laughable really – the narrow caste-based orgs are not worth belonging to, IMHO – and the overall conservatism of the immigrant parents fairly depressing.
I would not mind belonging to an organization that represented a state as a whole or a community as a whole – Malyali Association or Bengali Association or Punjabi Association – because a regional identity based on language or cuisine is worth preserving (anyone can learn a language or cook a certain kind of food) but a caste-based organization? I mean, come on. The irony is that in India, we are constantly being exhorted to rise above the divisions of state and region in the cause of national unity (the whole plot really of the movie “Chak De India”). In the west, it seems that Indians not only cluster, but they cluster within extreme subdivisions of their identities.
Thats funny Neale. The East African Goans see themselves as different from Goans from … well Goa. I think they have since split up into two organizations since there are power struggles even at the sub-minority level. To make things complicated I have East-Indian (form Bombay) roots which are an even smaller minority which differentiates themselves from Goans. All this reaches the level of the absurd. This was all a little new to me since I was raised in the US.
I have to agree with the posters that theorized that our parent’s generation that moved to the US in the 60s and 70s were much more open to integrating with other Desis. I have heard conversations in my workplace where recent arrivals who were from a similar in India have disparaged other groups of Desis. I think in India this is a common mindset between groups in the India which I see carrying over the US recently.
By the way Anna great post it is very relevant to first and second gen desis.
To both razib @ 28 & ANNA @ 30,
There is going to another increasing kind of brown America from desh which will be mish-mash themselves; thanks to inter-regional marriages. Then the future ABDs have to go to more than one of these cultural organizations. Imagine their plight.
nil
Even funnier is the fact that i was born in Nairobi but we returned to Goa when i was real tiny. So, in theory, ….well forget it 🙂
…and don’t get me started about Mangloreans 😉
Neale @ 52,
You have touched my soft-corner for lists again. So here it goes… Now lets list the focal points the DBDs in America base their identities on and hence the propensity towards herding into organizations – (a) religion (b) mother tongue (c) caste (d) state and/or city they grew up in India (e) profession (f) food. Can anybody else think of anymore focal points ?
It will probably consolidate at that point, to widen the scope of the members. But belonging to multiple organizations is not a major hassle by itself. It is also an opportunity to meet more people, which might compensate for the risk of not being able to fit fully in either of them.
Neale and nil, there used to be an imaginatively titled organization called GEM (Goan East Indian Mangalorean) association of Texas I think. Think its defunct now. If any one you guys are in the NE area check out the Indian Catholic Association of New England. Mostly Mangies and Goans.
The real centre of gravity of the Indian Catholic community is in Canada though, specifically Toronto, where they even celebrate Bandra Fair !
Neale,
This is OT and moderators please feel free to delete, I am not sure if you know, I used to buy goa sausages on goacom.com and it looks like the shopping link is now inactive, do you by any chance know of any other places where they sell goa sausages?
dude… that was wicked. 🙂 it’s all good fun tho’. [as long as they dont take themselves too seriously]. i have good memories from my pre-teen years of exchanging some collectible car/animal cards, watching the girls grow a foot taller and sprout boobies almost as we watched, hiding slippers at weddings and playing hide and seek behind tents.
i still maintain the prime purpose of this is for people to get together, compare notes on property prices/kids’ report cards/deaths/births/suitable boys/mrs ghei’s new gold necklace/kulsoom’s blooming rotundity etc. the common ‘culture’ is incidental. having been part of ‘white’ (excuse me) family events as well – it doesnt change. it’s human ot gossip.
I am a malayalee DBD. I am reluctant to attend FOKANA or any other conferences or meetings. I find them too loud, arrogant and uncultured. One of them I attended for a few hours not too long ago had a Hindu religious sermon going on in one conference room, a drunken brawl in the other, shocked senior citizens ( read- visiting grandparents) walking around without a clue, bewildered and out of place. Embarrassed youngsters huddling and talking in whispers or quietly walking out of the entire picture. Ammas in the finest silk and adorning all the gold they own , walking around and yelling at confused wait staff. Total confusion. My good friend who was one of the organizers, invited ( insisting and threatening with dire consequences) me to stay for dinner which I politely declined making up an excuse and I darted out through the nearest exit stopping only when I was inside my vehicle. It was pathetic!
I don’t join caste based orgs either but do castes have their own subcultures that are worth preserving? In Gujarat I know Patels and Brhamins have unique ways of cooking. Some castes are known for the way they put sugar into their foods, other castes use lots of ghee.
I know in Gujarat there are also caste specific dialects. Some castes replace the Z’s in Persian/Arabic words w/ Js, others don’t. Some Surat based lower castes replace S’s with H’s (tho Surti Patels don’t).
I am against castes – they should be done away with but we are going to lose a lot of these interesting quirks and subcultures as the caste system weakens here and in India.
i didn’t know what fokana stood for, so i googled it. sounds like a lot of fun 🙂
brown, any other places where they sell goa sausages?
brown
Didn’t know you could even bring them into the country. I think i tried once, and they were promptly dumped at LAX. So, i drowned my sorrows in the Feni that survived.
I think technology has played a role for the young H1s/F1s not missing so much of home. It is very inexpensive to talk / video chat with folks back home and thru cell phones they are in touch 24/7.
Some people take it to the very extreme. I had my friends’ sister google talk to my friend when he was at my place telling him she woke up and is going to drink coffee and then hung up. He was talking to me while talking to his sister through his laptop (hands free). She is not computer savvy. So my friend uses remote desktop to login to his home computer to find and fix problems. Also people are using and manipulating VOIP phones which makes it pretty much the cost of a local call.
I would not mind belonging to an organization that represented a state as a whole or a community as a whole – Malyali Association or Bengali Association or Punjabi Association – because a regional identity based on language or cuisine is worth preserving (anyone can learn a language or cook a certain kind of food) but a caste-based organization? I mean, come on. The irony is that in India, we are constantly being exhorted to rise above the divisions of state and region in the cause of national unity (the whole plot really of the movie “Chak De India”). In the west, it seems that Indians not only cluster, but they cluster within extreme subdivisions of their identities.
Sharmishta @ 53, So finally the choice of belonging to an organization will be based on which sub-division you give the highest priority and is harmless ? Once again a problem of making a choice.
Thats the story of being an East Indian … even most Goans and Mangies don’t know you exist :).
I hear Toronto is like being in Bandra … as for Bandra Fair, East Indians started that. Okay, I’m just disproving all the points I was making about not being about labels.
As far as finding Goa sausages in the US, I think the site that used to sell them is now defunct. I will be traveling there in a few weeks and will be back loaded with quite a few (and some feni), if I can get them thru those pesky customs agents :). The forbidden quality they have makes them much more appealing. Sorry for the OT.
The irony of this discussion is that no matter what group we associate ourselves with to the vast majority of Americans we are all “Indians” and will be seen as a monolithic group.
Trying to find suitable sausage is NEVER off-topic.
(couldn’t resist, just couldn’t)
Having read all that, would you agree that I was a bit kinder in my post? 🙂 Thangawd my one and only HOkana was not like THAT.
Generally the rules are enforced more strictly for bringing in meat products, but the Ag department is fairly relaxed if whatever you bring in is pickled/preserved in any way (oil/brine essentially). As long as they are satisfied that the stuff you bring in is not carrying random microbes and pathogens, they don’t seem to throw anything out. Raw anything is generally taboo – especially root vegetables or anything that could be holding soil on it.
My years at engg hostels in India played a big part in my understanding of other Indians. Will never regret those years.
Hello! Last time i checked (one week to the day exactly) Goa sausages come from goa pigs 🙂
Probably depends on their level of involvement with another sub-identity organization. I’ve only ever been to local Sri-Lankan Association galattas–though I’ve heard from relatives how ‘ridonkulous’ the Tamil Sangam youth conferences can be(uncorroborated of course–has anyone been to a national Tamil-identity conference?)–and they broke up after a year over a baseless dispute concerning the number of Tamil v. Singhalese songs being played at a given event.
sadly, it did not end in dance-fight, but rather unanswered verbal salvos from both sides.
So? They can still be free of pathogens, right? (The sausages, not the pigs).
🙂 same for ismailis, sikhs, tibetans, sri lankan tamils, swaminarayans, thegays etc. I know someone who is totally going to call one-track-uncle on me, but hey it isnt bragging if it’s true.
… and you know Goan sausage is the best (rimshot)… sorry I couldn’t resist.
Neale, I’ve never had any issues getting it thru. Ofcourse I grew up in So Cal and used to sound like Jeff Spicoli and my “Wha..? food products what do you mean?” shtick usually got me thru, so my parents used me as the sausage mule.
Paging Dr. Gupta.
I’ve been behaving myself not making bad jokes and you just have to throw that one across, don’t you?
So did they do a body cavity search to find where you had hidden the sausage?
OK….the next time you are in possession of any….I will even go to morning mass and cook the pulao.
“Having read all that, would you agree that I was a bit kinder in my post? 🙂 Thangawd my one and only HOkana was not like THAT.”
oh, you were much too kind:)
I don’t get it – can’t all food products be irradiated to depathogenize them without changing their culinary properties? Is there some reason why sausages are always expected to have pathogens in them? I’m not saying that it should be eaten raw, just that it can be irradiated enough to make it safe to do so.
Considering the abundance of such regional/caste/language-specific groups, is there really any hope of putting aside all differences and working toward a pan-Desi cause? Do such causes even exist?
maybe if you just compliment them on how great the thayir-sadam is, nobody will notice the difference 😉
i haven’t been to any of the specifically youth-oriented conferences (and my one parentally-forced attempt to attend a session of the youth activities at the general conferences revealed a mismatch in age groups). i’ve been to a few national tamil conferences (when tnf and fetna alternated, and thereafter, just fetna). they were ok – on the one hand, i enjoyed some of the speakers immensely, esp. the literary types (i also have a weird obsession for tamil-language patti mandrams (debates)). the classical cultural programs are almost always top-notch, as well. but on the other hand, some of the programs are either mediocre or just plain bad. moreover, there is a lot of internal politics, as well as external politics, esp. vis-Ã -vis sri lankan tamils, and neither of these sit well with me
“wrap it up, son! wrap it up!”
if these are as good as you make them out to be, how come nobody’s started making them in north am. heck! near where i live there’s a whole cottage industry in kielbasa – all shapes and sizes. i had a buddy whose ukrainian neighbor used to make blood sausages in the backyard out of a large tub. probably could not get it cleared for re-sale anywhere, but it seemed to go down well for them.
I’ve never been to one of these conventions, my parents steered clear. I was talking to a Korean acquaintance, he mentioned they have yearly Korean-American lurv boats to match the kids up. Much simpler for them, I guess the only divide is between Buddhists and Baptists.
Hey! That advice should be given to Nil, who self-identified as a sausage mule upthread.
cough
I know that was too easy pingpong. I was speaking metaphorically of course but ofcourse you can imagine Jeff Spicoli saying, “whoa dude … no sausages there” :). Neale, you have a deal.
i’ve only been to the tamil, TANA and kannada kootta conferences and the use of english at these conferences was minimal to nil (essentially, it was only heard when non-native speakers or ABDs were addressing the audience). I assume this is how it is for all regional/linguistic-based conferences? what of conferences that span more than one language group?
really? I can’t say i’m surprised but i was recently told by some Chennai Tam Brams that in order to learn technically-correct Tamizh, that I should avoid India and press my Lankan relatives for tips.
Huh? Let’s start with making decent patties avail. in North America.
of course. sri lankans have far better preserved the literary form of tamil in their spoken form (which i have been told often happens in diaspora) – even to a non-native speaker like myself, the spoken form of sri lankan tamil (very obviously) closely correlates to the spoken grammatical form. i suppose very high-level academicians and scholars of the language have a better handling of sentamizh, but i wonder if even their version of sentamizh has been modified through the centuries. to some extent it must have been, except for those that are intensely familiar with the language of the more ancient, millennia-old literary works.
were you referring to the rift between indian and sri lankan tamils? i think much of it has to do with ltte issues….
oh no…i was under the impression that the lankan/indian split in organizational unity is because Selvam uncle from Chennai is not too thrilled about attending 15,000 Maaveraar Naal, suicide-bomber-glorification orgies involving the grand Marshall P-raps and his so-not-slimming camouflage.
that’s a lame reason, IMO – really, it sounds much better than the indian patti mandram-thayir sadam version 😉
Kidding aside, is there a conflict between, say, the extremist separatists and the moderate separatists at meetups? Is there anyone who might sympathize with the separatism (independence or autonomy) but not with the LTTE itself?
who’dathunk northam is overrun with libidinous grannies*!
*patties via thamizh.
I am too lazy to google – what is Fokana?
on that note – the sweetest ad I’ve seen in a looong while. 🙂
Oh, they are the same over-enthusiastic patties you see at the patti-mandrams.