We, the Telugus (was Re: Discussions on electronic medium)

D. Sreenivasa Rao (dsr@VNET.IBM.COM)
Mon, 21 Jul 97 18:32:06 -0400 

:>
:>There is something attractive about this medium which draws us here.
:>Perhaps the people we meet in daily life are not knowledgeable enough.
:>Perhaps they don't care. We have come to this forum, because it is a
:>wonderful place to exchange our ideas. This is a place where we can
:>drop our usual inhibitions in face-to-face discussions and talk to our
:>heart's content. A lot of us have strong views on certain topics. It is
:>hard to resist when are our own cherished ideas are attacked by
:>others.
:>
:>For those who care, my advice on electronic discussions is this. Spend
:>as much time as you want in fighting the other person's ideas if they
:>clash with yours. Cyberspace is not the place to keep quiet. However,
:>it is pointless to extend the fights to the person himself. To put it
:>simply, "contest an idea, never contest a person". If somebody attacks
:>you personally, deflect the discussions to the idea. It just drains
:>too much emotional energy to fight a person.
:>
:>Ramana

For some reason, our (meaning Telugus) dissensions and differences on
matters ranging from social to literary to political seem sharper and
more pronounced than is usual for any "ethnic" group (note the quotes).
Through the years, I think it has made us incapable of defining a
Telugu character in any of these (and other) areas. In religion, for
example, we have dilly-dallied with saivism, vaishnavism, buddhism,
and of course atheism among others, but have been unable to make a
significant contribution to any one of these that profoundly impacted
the national psyche. In politics, while we have on the one hand our
Bengali bretheren who have rejected anything but communism, and on the
other hand our Tamil brethern who have rejected anything but regionalism,
Andhra is home to extremely leftist movements as well as parochial
casteist political powers. We were the ones who fought for linguistic
seperation of states, yet love of language is far from a rallying
issue for us. In literature, we have swung from one extreme to the
other, and although we may not say it, most of those in either camp
would like to see the other simply go away, and we are uncompromising
about it. For better or worse, we do not have a defining character.

Although it seems nice and P.C to say all this is because we are
"accomodating and tolerant", I think it seriously hurts our sense of
pride, belonging and the legacy that we pass on. We seem to come across
as a culture perpetualy struggling to find its soul and define itself,
and in the process perpetually uneasy with itself, unable to influence
anything around but easily swayed by fads and movements that invariably
end up passing on. Somehow, cultures and ethnic groups that have not
clearly defined their niches seem to fade away into history, unable, as
I said, to influence anything that comes after or leave a legacy for
its members.

I am not lamenting the imminent death of Telugu culture, I am only trying
to understand what that culture is all about. I am not suggesting that
our differing views are unhealthy, I am only wondering if we tend to
carry these beyond a point that they become unhealthy (not on this forum
or in our personal/social relations, but in general, as Bapa Rao garu
aptly put it, in building up of our institutions). I am not for any sort
of uniformity, I am only trying to see if the Telugu culture is vibrant
and strong enough to survive the spoils of time. We do not have leaders
and spokespersons that have defined and articulated any single issue
and etched it into our collective consciousness as a people to carry on
and identify ourselves with, and nobody seems to be on the horizon.
Our differences are often so sharp and uncompromising that we seem to end
up destroying any legacy that an occasional leader might leave.

Am I worrying too much? I wish I was. With an off-spring a month and a
half away, may be that is what happens... :-)


--sreenivas--                        dsr@vnet.ibm.com


ps: I realize this is not exactly within the Telusa charter; my
    intention was to start a discussion and understand this better
    in the context of telugu literature.