#even in Mother India

[devilsskettle]

stoker (2013) / sharp objects (2018)

[violet-primroses]

Please note this is from an Indian who grew in America. Some of these things may not apply to you.

To multilingual parents,

I’m begging you, do not speak to your child in English/whatever the official language is in your country. They will learn that learn that language literally everywhere else. You are their best shot at learning their mother tongue.

My parents stopped speaking to me in Urdu when I was child. My Urdu is now so bad that I cannot call myself bilingual. It’s so bad that I feel ashamed whenever I have to speak it in front of someone who is fluent. It’s so bad that I could not speak my own grandmother because my Urdu simply wasn’t good enough and by the time her English was, we were just awkward relatives. I don’t even remember the last time I spoke to her.

You are your child’s only chance their mother tongue. They’re not going to be able to learn it elsewhere. The Spanish classes in America suck, and those language learning classes can only do so much. Speaking to your child in their mother tongue is the fastest, easiest, and best way to make sure your child has at least some connection to their mother tongue.

And it’s not just the benefits of being bilingual that this is about. It’s about making sure your child can communicate with their relatives. It’s about making sure they don’t lose their culture. And if your child can speak their mother tongue, your grandkids at least have a chance.

[transpigeon]

[lvrby-katsuki]

LET'S GOOOOOOOOO I just managed to get my mom on the anti-monarchy movement

[daomaikeng]

peopleseseses for my birthday i didn’t really get gifts this year, i told everyone to give me money so i could buy what i wanted. tbh i wanted to support small businesses, especially shops in this fandom that give better merch than 1d themselves. my grandmother has told me to pick anything and she’s gonna pay for it, hopefully it will mean my mother won’t be as nosy as always and will allow stuff even if it’s from a foreign country. pretty please drop your links in the notes !

[foxglovedforest]

why do my fucking family keep motherfucking lying to me

[misha-moose-dean-burger-lover]

both your parents are doctors? i know how overworked doctors are in india currently they must be so busy?

yeah, and yes, they really are.

[teruthecreator]

noelle holiday anthem noelle holiday anthem noelle holiday anthem noelle holidary anthem noelle holiday anthem noe

[moved-19871997]

.

[ad1thi]

been thinking a lot about desi!tony (and am maybe venting personal experiences through fandom but who's to say?):

When Tony gets early admission into MIT, his mother immediately calls his mausi to check whether she's free for a pilgrimage

"Its very important to thank the gods for our good fortune beta," she says; cupping her hand around the flame and pressing it to the top of his head thrice in succession, "the gods have been fortunate to us and so we must show our gratitude"

He manages to finagle out of it, but he can't quite manage to convince his parents to let him go to MIT alone

"You're 15 puttar, you're not nearly old enough to go on your own," his ma fusses, "its bad enough that you're leaving home so early"

When they reach Cambridge, his Appa pulls him aside when his mom is busy settling things into the room

"You come from a family that once sat on the throne of Rajastan," Harish says solemnly; and Tony feels the weight of his father's fingers digging into his shoulder, "Don't forget your roots"

The thing that takes Tony by surprise, is money

Vaguely, he was aware that his family was rich and that he was well taken care of- but he never really truly understood what it meant until he met Rhodey

"The thing is Tones," Rhodey says in between bites of instant ramen, "you've never had to worry about money. So you've never learnt to budget. Now see me, I had to pay for everything myself once I got a job. Taught me a couple of life skills"

The next day Tony applies for a job at the college mess

It doesn't pay much, and Tony's social life takes a severe hit once his 'friends' figure out that he's no longer going to pave the way for them to drink (amongst other things) all night long

But the first time Tony pulls out a wrinkly $5 bill to pay for his burrito; he feels extremely accomplished

His parents, naturally, don't feel the same

His mother offers to send more money; his father threatens to cut him off since he seems to have "figured it all out for yourself anyway, what do you need me for?"

"Its not about the money Ma," he says in an even tone, squeezing Rhodey's hand everytime he feels like yelling, "Its about financial independence"

"Your father doesn't slave every single day in the office so that his son can sling food onto a white man's tray like a bloody slave," his mom yells furiously, "I thought I taught you better than you belittle yourself for money"

She cuts the call before he can say anything further, and he looks helplessly at Rhodey; burying his head against his shoulder

It takes 6 months and many, many phone-calls; but his parents reluctantly agree that the job at the college mess is good experience

"I still don't see why you can't get a job as a mechanic or something," his father says, "doesn't this take your focus away from your studies?"

"Never forget Tony," his parents emphasize, "Rajputs are lions, and a lion bows to nobody"

The words haunt him for the rest of his life

tbc

[westmeath]

Jigen in Athlone.... what will he buy (he's waiting for lupin to come out of mother india with their takeaway)

[billgavemeextrachips]

I’m still coming down from the visit with Bestie, Eddie’s fucking fantastic show, aaand that yerba mate I drank at midnight to stay awake with my brother while he drove us home...

So I’m delving into Chummy’s backstory- like, writing brief bios for all four of her grandparents, delving. And I save a picture of her mother to my CTM pictures folder for reference.

Paul McCartney fans already know exactly what I titled that file.

Wow you guys. I’m up at the wrong 4:20. Methinks I should attempt to sleep. Elaborate fangirl backstories will keep til morning. Thank God I have off work tomorrow. ^_^

[gen-z-art-is-absurdism]

coincidentally I'm writing an essay on languages (nothing serious just an english assignment) and it's crazy to think that the tumblr english dialect started out because some fuckers in turkey decided to put seeds in the ground and then thousands of years later some fuckers in crimea decided to ride four legged mammals

when did tumblr collectively decide not to use punctuation like when did this happen why is this a thing

[tasveer-e-ishq]

i hate praising govenments for bare minimum but some indian education policies have been such bangers icb we went from that to fuckass n/e/p. yes there have been some drawbacks too but policy makers used to actively think about intersectionality and draft policies which would help a huge number of people. some examples:

1. the midday meal scheme formally launched in 1995 by the central government (it had already been implemented at state level in tamil nadu) was for providing children with free nutritious food once a day in government schools. a huge chunk of population here still lives below poverty line. so, it was impossible for these families to afford education if they can't even afford food. here comes midday meal! now parents didn't have to worry about feeding their children as they will get food at school AND they also get good education a win-win! midday meal is very strict, diet charts are created for everyday! it also provides great employment opportunities to women from low-income families as they can be hired to cook the food. there are no exceptions or eligibility criteria if you're enrolled here you're gonna get food plain and simple. (now an ideal world would have been when everybody gets free food but do we live in an ideal world)

2. the right to education act of 2009 forbade schools to fail or expel students before they pass class 8. so india follows a 10+2+3 education policy and when you're in class 9th you are registered for the 10th matriculation exam and then you pass 10th and move on to +2 phase anyways, this no detention policy meant that every student gets a chance to pass 10th matriculation. before this act, many students who couldn't pass an exam had to repeat a year or dropped out altogether. the drop out rate was huge in low-income families and families which belonged to the lower strata of society (re: caste) as they couldn't afford to repeat one year. after RTE students atleast had a chance at getting the matriculation certification. (this was changed in 2019 lmfao now schools CAN fail students we love asshole policy makers don't we)

[lespuni]

Nothing so soothing to the mind than when you're panicking about money cause of some upgrade to your card that should come with it if it's free and has no cost anyways than when you call customer service and it's outsourced

[janetsnakehole02]

This is probably my last post on the whole “Liz is dead” situation but I want to talk about my great grandmother, who is currently 92 years old. When I was growing up, hell even now, she’d tell me a lot about her own stories, mostly about how terrifying life was under both the British Raj and Nizam rule (her side of my family is from Hyderabad - Google the Nizams and the Razakars if you’ve never heard about them, that’s a whole other thing of its own).

Something I remember very clearly is her telling me about this one song she was forced to sing in her school - she went to a Christian convent school - and the song was about the greatness of “George Prabhu and Mary Rani,” aka George V, Elizabeth II’s grandfather. Recently my mom was able to film her singing this song so that we could listen to the lyrics, which are originally in Telugu, and roughly translated it means “we’re singing in honor of George and Mary, who are the rulers of India and have brought great fortune to India, and we see them as our father and mother.”

This is just a really difficult reminder that when we’re talking about why Elizabeth II and the royal family don’t deserve our respect or condolences, many of us have very personal stories that run deep through our families. “But she was a mother, a grandmother, a person” and I don’t care because she and her family were in the business of dehumanizing and erasing the identities of millions of other mothers, other grandmothers, other PEOPLE. Why else would my great grandmother be forced to sing a song in their honor? “But she wasn’t responsible for India” fair enough, her darling grandfather had a great time doing that, but how about you go and talk to Kenya? Or anyone in Africa? Or the Caribbean? I’m sick and tired of being told to “not speak ill of the dead” when REALLY I and millions of others should be getting an apology from anyone who wants to ��praise her legacy” and talk about how “revolutionary” she was.

edit: i got the george’s mixed up before. george v is elizabeth ii’s grandfather. george vi is her father.