Hindu parents,think about the underlying messages in #Diwali ads

How can we help our young ones process them? There’s no quick band aid.

Are we aware that everything leaves an impression on the subconscious, & leaving kids to market forces alone isn’t an option?

Some examples+
1.

“This Diwali, cancel out the noise or bring out your unheard side”

What your child hears: “firecrackers are a nuisance. I can buy earbuds to tune out the noise! Wow this is a neat solution!”

What parents must see: consumption is an alternative to engaging with festivals

++
2. “A Zen-ful Diwali”

What your child hears: “Oh what’s this Zen? This guy looks good. I want to be like him! Umm…being a classy Buddhist is cooler than being a noisy Hindu”

Parent: A sensitive Hindu child often becomes besotted with Buddhism after history lessons in school
++
3.
“Staying connected is celebrating the festive season the smarter way”

What your child hears: “Diwali is old fashioned! I must say festive season like a cool 😎 kid!”

Parent: It’s just (yawn) copied from USA. Soon we will be saying “happy holidays!” from Dasara to Deepavali
+
4.”Crammed frames are a sign of a happy Diwali”

This one is tricky. Zoning by age is celebrated

Parent thinks “so beautiful! It’s family celebration!”

Teens see “I need to celebrate Diwali My way partying with friends My age only! That’s cool - like these guys & gals here!”
++
5. This one is straightforward.

Schoolgirl actually says “I used to think Diwali was all about noise & smoke only”…till Realme opened her eyes to the beautiful bindi-less world of caring & sharing..

Kids hear: “Disgusting hindu ways of smoke & noise. I must move beyond this”
+
6. “Celebrate your way”

Wow! Fashionable young people having fun! Whipping up pasta to celebrate with your cat is Diwali too!Shooting YouTube shorts in your business suit, making your friends jealous by going on a solo trip is Diwali! Video games in western casuals is Diwali!
++
7/7
Troublesome trends:

a) Complete lack of inter generational bonding
b) No Indian-ness in clothing or decor
c) Unabashed celebration of individualism
d) Consumerism as the ultimate aspirational value

Young ones will find it irresistible.We must come up with our own solutions.

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More from @Indic_Angle

Aug 21
This image has generated debate. Which is a good thing

If we are stuck on the material plane of what it ostensibly represents, we’ve missed the point

Humans interpret everything that they take in through the senses

Images & words are not processed by the thinking brain alone
+
Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of psychology & neuroscience, or even plain common sense & a degree of sensitivity knows that the discussion about the image itself is irrelevant.

What matters is what the average person, especially the average child, perceives subliminally
+
Images have a power to set off an amygdala hijack. It simply means that there is a perception & an emotional stress response that happens deep down, away from the intellectual gymnastics of the prefrontal cortex, the ‘thinking’, rational brain.

Kids are especially susceptible
+
Read 5 tweets
Jul 15, 2021
There is deep confusion in the Hindu mind. Parents retweet their kid’s garba dance at NBA as a sign of Indian success, while studiously ignoring Hindu genocide,unconcerned about institutionalised Hindu-hate in Univs

The average Hindu has been successfully ‘other’-ed for them
1/n
How does one argue with a parent who insists that she personally hasn’t encountered racism at Rutgers, so it doesn’t exist? That whites appreciate Diwali and do yoga, therefore Indians are greatly respected? That we -(who see/read more into things)- are simply rabble-rousers?
2/n
Closer home in India, the same type of educated parents take pride in their children’s ‘independent thinking’ when they hold placards denouncing CAA/Hinduism…while keeping the kids away from being concerned with attacks on Indians in South Africa, Hindus in Pak/Bangladesh.

3/n
Read 6 tweets
Jul 2, 2021
Colonialism is continuing to hurt Hindu families.

Men were first to be English educated. Indigenous knowledge was devalued and left to the women.

It has created a generational divide too as many bitter women have pushed their daughters to westernise to get worldly respect.

1/
It started with men..our patriarchs started to quote Churchill, Dickens n were held in awe by society. Then they turned ‘rational’, ‘atheist’, ‘anti-superstition’..

But their children were largely ok because the mother still grounded them in Hinduism, though apologetically.
2/
The children were proudly schooled in English medium, and started laughing at the mother for her rustic, ‘uneducated’ ways..

She read shlokas everyday in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada..while the children learned about ‘social evils’ such as idol worship in social studies textbooks.
3/
Read 7 tweets
Mar 4, 2021
This is not going to be easy. Hindu students don't have their own centre because barely 5% would want to be associated with anything that even uses the word Hindu. It's been successfully demonized.

Most parents have raised kids without uttering the H word for 18 long years. (1)
Right now, most are probably unaware or disinterested in what happened to Rashmi. If parents know, they are probably actively warning kids to stay away from Hindutva and painting it as Rashmi and her parents' fault for 'coming out' as Hindus and making life hard for everybody (2)
These are the sad facts. Awareness is low, and interest is lower still. We are trying, parent by parent, child by child, to awaken people..it's going to be one long, hard road ahead to work towards equality. Results are uncertain.We need many more motivated people to pitch in (3)
Read 5 tweets
Mar 3, 2021
Absurd n frightening implications for the future.

Tomorrow if a child shares a photo of Satyanarayana puja at home or playing violin in a concert with vubhuti on his forehead, can anyone anywhere accuse/target him/her for just being Hindu?

vamseejuluri.medium.com/today-in-hindu…
@VamseeJuluri
It's important to realise that nothing stops this from happening in an Indian University soon. Will we stay quiet and normalise our own destruction?

Unless we speak and collectively call out the bigotry that has no place in a university, this is only the beginning of the end.
I appeal to people who will say 'Serve them right for sending a child to Oxford, as if there are no universities in India' - it is your problem too.

Indians in India: our universities are just a few years behind. Put your differences aside and unite as Hindu parents, please!
Read 4 tweets
Jan 30, 2021
Slow deracination by degrees:

Great-grandfather, a nityagnihotri, wants son to be respected in society,sends him to England for education.Traditional grandfather switches kids to English medium for a good future,takes grandkids to movie 'Sound of Music'..but not 'Maya Bazaar'
1/
Next gen, deeply appreciative of Indian classical arts, but encourages children to only sing convent carols. No upanayanam for son, because 'anyway they won't follow all this'. Doesn't tell children about gomata coz it never occurred to them that child may grow up to try beef.
2/
Next gen in turn, quite Hindu in outlook still. Occasional visitors to temples, don't know how to do puja but get offended if people try to convert them. Uncomfortable with the word 'Hindu'. Vaguely wishes to know more, but too busy to start. And too ignorant to rebut attacks.
3/
Read 5 tweets

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