[Reader-list] Indo-centrism On Sarai

[Naeem Mohaiemen]

There are many members of Sarai who are neither Indian, nor
Hindi-speakers.  But Indian members of Sarai seem so oblivious to
their Indo-centrism that they presume that we will be able to, or want
to, follow debates that are at this point even written entirely in
Hindi (I refer to recent posts where entire couplets are posted in
Hindi w. no translation).

This comes at the cost of many other debates that could possibly
happen.  I've witnessed items posted regarding Bangladesh sinking
without a trace/response.  Recently, particular "Indian" topics have
generated hundreds of replies, drowning out all else.  The only time a
Bangladeshi cultural producer (Taslima Nasreen) gets debated is when
what is at stake is how she was treated in India.  Only when Taslima
is a vehicle to debate Hyderabad values, Indian secularism, etc does
she become a person of interest.

Bangladesh/Pakistan/or elsewhere in South Asia does enter into other
discussions-- as a foil.  To insert immigration into the debate, and
of course the ultimate insult that can be flung at Suddha is that "he
is no longer in Bangladesh".

This weekend, I was talking to Manosh Chowdhury, who has just returned
from Japan to Dhaka. Unprovoked he started talking about how "we" is
used unquestioningly on Sarai to mean "Indian".  Even "South Asian"
means "Indian", or at least everything non-Indian is through the prism
of the "center".

But it's a bore to be the resident scold, or a token.  I fear
eventually most who feel suffocated by the recent endless debate (a
debate which is often between a few individuals, sometimes even
one-to-one, and yet it gets sent to the entire list) will have
Manosh's reaction.  They will drift away, exhausted.

As Jeebesh pointed out, it takes very little time to destroy a
cyber-community that has been built up painstakingly by Sarai over the
years.  Tyranny of the few threatens to do just that.