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...And a certain man went out into a field, and found a pearl of exceeding worth. He said nothing, but went and sold all that he had and with the money he got, purchased that field. Now this story was told in the town in later years and many men went seeking for treasure in strange places. But no one found more treasure and it was dismissed as a fable, a story to explain ill gotten gain or an attempt at cheating democracy. For the family of the man had grown large through the years and would tell their story to all others. They would even invite people over to look at the treasure, but for every person that saw the treasure there would always be another person to deny its existence. One day, a young man came to town, and as he heard the tale of the treasure offered to visit if he was paid for his time.  For some of the family was of the opinion that just time in their house would vindicate its existence. And an old man had pity on him and said,"We do not need you to verify the existence of the treasure, but give me a stranger's view of our house and I shall pay you for it. For I fear we have not been hospitable of late."

Interestingly enough, this young man is Indian American. His name is Hemant Mehta and he has been taking his visit seriously. In fact you can read all about it at http://www.off-the-map.org/atheist/ He even hosts his own blog, calling himself the ebaytheist.  The old man is a sometime painter named Jim Henderson who recruited Hemant to get an idea of what strangers feel when they visit churches. Off the Map also has a link to the Wall Street Journal's article. I got all this information off of Bobby who got it off of Sepia Mutiny.

I only wish there was some way to get Hemant to an Indian church in Chicago and get his feedback.

Like most Desi bloggers, I always peruse through the many different posts on Sepia Mutiny. I might even buy a t-shirt at some point. A lot of times, I get struck by the ferocity with which Anti-Christian commentors attack me. Well it hasn't happend a lot (or ever before), but it has happend today with Mutineer Manish's post on Harriet Miers has sparked a huge debate about Christanity and "spreading the gospel" as us Jesus Freaks like to call it. Here's what he wrote:

 The Central India Christian Mission is part of the Texan-xtian nexus:

The primary task of the mission is evangelism and church planting… It is the need of the hour to train the native leaders in India as much as possible. The Mission Center… is located on about 15 acres of land in Damoh District of Central Province [Madhya Pradesh], India. [Link]

The missionaries, Indu and Ajai Lall and their Bible college-trained brood, are apparently the Johnny Appleseeds of Indian churches:

Over 400 churches have been planted in central and northern India, in the country of Nepal and along the northeast India/Bhutan border. [Link - PDF]

  This has made a lot of people angry: there are a lot of comments floating around, but the basic idea is that Christians should just shut up and enjoy their salvation by themselves and not bring any one else into it. So here is what I posted:

 

Ok, it has come for me to voice my opinion on this. As a Pentecostal Christian Keralite out of India now currently residing in the United States. Those of you on this blog have made some serious unfair statements about Christians and Christian missionaries. As I am related to several missionaries. (Two uncles are pastors, another one goes on missions to Africa) It certainly hurts when I hear people making suggestions that they could be exploiting people. I know, that in the same sense that I couldn't make a blanket statement about all missionaries that they are all bad. I couldn't do the same that they are all good. But I have met several missionaries who sincerely care about these people. They care about the poor people in India, and those that suffer. And as Razib said, as Christians we believe the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ. Thus, there are missionaries working among the rich and poor of India spreading the gospel, because we have a burden for the lost. I understand that sounds demeaning to a lot of people. But I am sincere when I say that it is not meant to be. I can not speak for all Christians, I can speak for the ones I've met and talked to. We care deeply about our Indian brothers and sisters. I hope to see all of them in Heaven once I die. Thus I tell them about the love of Jesus Christ. I don't want their money or anything else. I don't know what else to say, I'm just trying to defend the missionaries, I guess. Please, take a look at the other side before attacking Christians in India and other countries around the globe.

Oh and to the first commenter. What the Spanish did was not at all the right way. If you spread the gospel according to the Bible, you will not be exploiting people or enslaving them. Have a good day folks, and may God richly bless you.

I had already marked myself as a Pentecostal Malayalee. Here is what happend next:

Daycruz,
Would you plz keep your Love of God in your Christian Blog. I believe you misunderstood this blog as a place to preach.

I have a small advice for you. Before you take others burden on yourself, just worry about your burden. That may lead you to hell or heaven or whatever you believe in. Dont forget that you live in a capitalistic society. First worry about your ass, then you can worry about other's ass.

I will never ever believe someone who says he is carrying someone else burden on himself for the sake of going to heaven. Its Just plain bull****.

By the way, is hell really that bad? ...not my HFO

 And so there. A whole can of worms got opened up. A lot of argument stems from this misconception that all Missionaries are attempting to bribe the lower-caste Hindus into becoming Christians by providing them with food and shelter. Well, here's my take: this sort of argument seems flawed to me because it denys the Dalits any sort of choice on how they wish to live their lives. It denys them a conscience by telling them that if they choose to become Christians they are just being bribed and not making a rational decision. It also makes a blanket statement of all missionaries. Not all missionaries are good and neither are all bad. There is always a mix. The missionaries that I have dealt with are wonderful people and really do care about the lost in India. Another thing is, how can Christianity really be Christianity unless I tell others about Christ. For isn't it in the great commision? The idea that we go out and preach the gospel to all nations? The discussion has gotten so vast that it's hard for me to keep track of who's saying what but go there and take a look and tell me what you think.

It's quite obvious that most Indians are usually classified as Brown. But a one month visit to India can easily make the classification of "Brown" fairly dubious. I myself lived in Delhi for seven years and remember clearly the treatment I received as one who was the darkest in the entire school. I believe some bitterness still lies with me even after all these years. I cringe every time I hear a Malayalee parent tell their daughter not to go out in the sun and cautioning her that she could "go black." The issue really got to the forefront a few months ago when Aishwarya Rai was asked on Oprah about the "skin-lightening" industry in India. Ms. Rai obviously skipped around the question in her usual irritating yet diplomatic style but it was obvious that Oprah Winfrey, an African-American, was not satisfied with the answer. Vikrum Sequeira addresses this point quite eloquently in a post entitled "Fair= Lovely" The writer's experiences in India with this seemingly national disorder provide an indepth look with a point by point analysis of why India is like this. Here is a good portion:

1. A fair-skinned person is considered attractive regardless of whether that person has a symmetrical face or a healthy figure. I've noticed that certain people who would not be considered attractive in the United States are considered beautiful here because of their light skin. The flipside is that some who are considered unattractive because of darker skin would be considered attractive in countries outside of India. The equation is simple: in India, light skin equals beauty.

2. In India, you can insult a person by calling her "dark." I've heard these absurd insults several times. For example, an acquaintance was trying to insult another woman by saying, "She's really dark. You know, really dark. She hides it with her creams and she keeps herself light but she is actually really dark." Good one! Zing! You got her good!

Read the rest here. Most of us who have been raised overseas have gotten over this stigma but it is still apparent in the older generation. One Malayalee uncle noted to me how "unfortunate" it was that I didn't get my sister's "color" (Note: color in the Malayalee sense actually means being light skinned.) "But," the ignorant man noted, "Some people get lighter as they get older." I, in some sense of utter resignation, just nodded and went on my way. But that man is not to blame, he is just outwardly expressing a belief that is internally structured through years of conditioning by a community. I remember when Aishwarya's appearance on Oprah was brought up at Sepia Mutiny, many individuals despaired that the famous movie star from India was not able to respond with the simplest answer of all: "It's because of the British". The theory, paraphrased, goes something like this: Because Indians were ruled by white skinned Britishers for a long time, we developed a inferiority complex which delegated the lighter skinned people to a higher authority and thus gave them deferred treatment." I would accept this theory if we hadn't already treated dark-skinned people this way. I have noticed in India that the poorest people always happen to be the darkest. I remember reading somewhere that in the Hindu religion, the lower castes were usually darker than the rest of the castes. This is really odd since my family was Brahmin yet I am extremely dark. 

By the way, correct me if I'm wrong on the Hindu part. Yet, religion or not, it is apparent that this is a cultural issue which has been encouraged by the Indian movie industry and the elites who are in place- and it makes sense that most of them are light also.

Leave your thoughts below.

No, we don't have more baby pictures. Some of the Portland guys took a trip to Seaside last weekend. I have the pictures up to the left. Just click on pictures yo.. or just click here.

Most of you all have seen or heard about what happened in Bombay a few weeks ago. Torrential rains, close to 1 metre of rains fell in 24 hours drenching the place. We were in Borivili at the time, and road outside the apartment complex looked crazy. Since it was a slightly graded slope, the water was flowing down, not collecting as it were in other parts of the city.

So here I was in Bombay....we're shopping in a mall...and I come across this....in Canadian Dollars this amounts to $44.55...yeah...now I can say India taught me how much my life is worth.

Click the video link below - ENJOY!!:
HeadOverHeels

It was actually taken at the HistoryMaker Conference I just went to.

I apologize to those of you who aren't Malayalee for posting all these things about Malus in general. It's who I am. Ashish, I'm not too sure-- his name sounds Hindi to me. Anyway, Sepia Mutiny has a great post up from Abhi about a new publication that is due to come out from the University of California press. It is written by Sheba George, a visiting scholar at U.C.L.A. The reason I post the excerpts from the Indolink article is because I feel many of the Nurse-Mother families in our community may see this play out in their own lives. If you don't know what I'm talking about.. read the excerpt below:

"Derived from her 2001 dissertation entitled, "When Women Come First: Gender and Class and Transnational Ties among Indian Immigrants in the United States," the book will be published by the University of California Press in July 2005.

According to Sheba George, the nursing profession is often viewed in India as a “dirty” occupation for women, partly because it involves touching unknown men. It is a well-paid occupation, however, and a current worldwide shortage of nurses makes it relatively easy for them to emigrate, bringing their families with them. However, their husbands are caught in a difficult dilemma. On the one hand, a working wife brings certain economic benefits. On the other, she breaks all conventions of the man being the breadwinner and unquestioned head of the household. Many of these men once held respected professional jobs in India, but are now relegated to laboring in blue-collar jobs, looking after the kids, and cleaning the house. To bolster their self-esteem, they take on leadership positions in church-going as far as to set up a new congregation if necessary."

As George explains: “Whereas with most other Asian Indian groups, the men immigrate first, in the case of Kerala Christians, female nurses have come first and only later sponsored husbands and families.” In the process they became the “uncontested breadwinners” while the men became “downwardly mobile, both economically and socially” resulting in “drastic changes in gender relations in their households.”

Go read the Indolink article here. Read the Sepia Mutiny article here.

I've heard stories like these from my parents all the time. But, as a commenter on the Sepia Mutiny post points out, the situation in Kerala is no different where the men are the main breadwinners. They still go out and "play church." I believe this might be the case with churches in the east coast where we see 30 malu churches in one city. One point though, she was studying a Orthodox church. Still interesting though.

My heart was beating faster and faster as I clicked on the link Jerry had emailed me. I was incredibly excited to see what was there. I was even more excited as I saw the title to the post: The Secrets of PCNAK Volume 1 What luck! What amazing fate that I would find such a treasure trove! I glanced through the first few sentences and I was overjoyed. The author was about to hand out secrets about PCNAK to the entire public. For those of you not in the loop, PCNAK stands for Pentecostal Conference of North American Keralites. The "in" event of the year for all "God-fearing" malus everywhere. Well I thought this fellow had posted something that I had been waiting for: An Expose (don't know how to put the accent on the 'e') on East Coast Malu conferences. Please don't get me wrong, I do not intend to make a blanket statement about all Malayalees everywhere. But I see this charade of "ultra-holiness" displayed by many in our community. Yet as a member of the youth, I can tell you that things are not as they seem. Thus, I was disappointed to learn that the author had written a pretty minor, although funny, post on the absurdness of some aspects of our culture.  Here is a quick excerpt from IndianBear:

For those that do not know, PCNAK stands for Pentecostal Conference of North American Keralites. Officially, it is a once a year gathering for Pentecostal Keralites (people whose family comes from Kerala, India) to meet together, share ideas, worship together and fellowship together. Unofficially, it is a place for people to arrange marriages, meet people they have met online, dress up real fancy, and party with a lot of Malayalees on the Fourth of July.

If you are a Malayalee Pentecostal (one who speaks Malayalam and follows the practices of the Pentecostal church) it is an unspoken requirement to know about PCNAK. There is no need to advertise PCNAK because everyone who can attend it already knows about it.

But someone feels it is necessary to make a PCNAK 2005 Xanga and friendster to “spread the word.” There are more uplifting and meaningful events to promote that Pentecostals do not know enough about such as MCF Retreat, Youth Fest, Passion Concerts, and other events, yet there is heavy promotion for PCNAK. In fact, if you are a Pentecostal and are reading this you have probably been spammed by PCNAK2005 already. The first question of course you have is, “How do they know I’m Pente?!” The answer is simple. PCNAK is watching you!

And the funniness continues!

As I said, this is not enough for me. I want to know the true inner workings of PCNAK. I ask those of you who will be visiting the conference this year to do me a favor. Write to me, tell me what's going on behind the scenes over there. Tell me what happens in the business meetings, tell me who the top dog is. I want to know. And I want to enrich everyone here. Please be assured that I believe many of my friends and family when they tell me that the conferences are a good time to get closer to God and such. I just feel that there is a lot we do not know, and I think we should start talking about it.

here's a cool picture from Rajastan...taken by a Flickr member. He has a whole lot more pictures of India at his Flickr page.

If you take India as a whole, there's such a rich mixture of culture, religion, traditions...you name it. Being Indians, we sometimes take it for granted and at times overlook what we have, but if you can really see India for India, you have a brilliant masterpiece that needs a few touch ups here and there.