Shera di Kaum

So today  I am pleased to say that it's the end of term and that I handed in my work on time - in spite of feeling and looking like death warmed up. I am also glad to report that I'm on the mend and will be back to my zany old self soon. What better way to "celebrate" by doing an unusual second blog in a week!?

Now not only did I discover that I'm apparently the Queen of Procrastination - I have to admit...I did Google search quite a few weird things (green eggs and ham, Alsatian puppies, pumpkin designs, motivational songs and random celebrities) - but in my quest to avoid doing anything but my work and allowing my illness to take over all sense, I stumbled across a few politically challenged websites.
I don't get angry when I read them because the claims are just so unfounded, ridiculous and exaggerated that it makes me laugh. It makes me laugh even more when many of my friends jump on the bandwagon and think that they're being "social activists" by agreeing to this opinion and "liking" a ton of politically charged pages and links on Facebook manned by bitter beings who really have lost the plot and need to spend a day picking flowers. (My surveillance skills come in handy once again.)

I've never really blogged on this type of issue because I don't know what reaction will come of it, but at the same time it's been niggling me for years and really really annoying me because it just has. And I've had enough.
The reason why it bothers me is because it involves my ethnicity and people of the same ethnic group.
Now I'm Punjabi and I am proud of where my family hails from, but at the same time we're not a perfect bunch. I hate the way that Punjabis are depicted in Bollywood films.
We're generally portrayed as fun-loving, jolly,life and soul of the party - so far so good because that part is true. But at the same, we're presented as border-line alcoholics who are lary, loud-mouthed, womanising, thuggish people who fight like beasts over land disputes and are either built like the brown version of the Incredible Hulk or the Desi version of the Michelin Man.
Whilst this boosts the ego of some, it's a pretty broad generalisation to make. And a damning one at that.
I mean, some Punjabis are miserable little creatures *cough me* and whilst it is true that we are a generally jolly bunch of people, we don't seem to realise that the booze culture we have is our downfall.
In Punjabi culture, it's considered a feat if you can out-drink your buddies (good now, but watch how your liver pickles later). In my family, I've got uncles like that and trust me, it is so embarrassing. You actually can't take them out anywhere (never know what'll happen once they're "accidentally at the bar").
Yet the irony is this: religions in Punjab (the main ones) all tell us not to drink alcohol, but what does our culture tell us? ""Drink veer-ji, drink! Don't worry about tomorrow. Live for tonight. Be a true Punjabi with your glassy."
It's a face palm moment. Such a violent face palm, you end up with a nosebleed.

Another issue I have beef with, (pardon the pun as I'm a Hindu) is that the word Punjabi is now synonymous with being a Sikh. Now, before everyone gets their knickers in a twist, I know that the population of Sikh Punjabis vastly outnumbers Hindus, Christians etc in the region. I also have the utmost respect for them and have a lot of Sikhs in my own family. But it does not mean that one's identity as a Sikh, Hindu, Christian or Muslim should be confused with being Punjabi.  I wish people wouldn't confuse their religion with culture because this is where all the problems start.

I just despair at what has happened the original Punjabi spirit where everyone respected each other regardless of religion, cared for one another and were friends purely because they shared a vibrant. strong, beautiful culture and language.
I wish that young people today would just take a step back and put things into perspective and realise how much they have to lose if they give into these rifts, embittered people who vent about silly things - yes they are stupid in the grand scheme of things. We don't seem to realise this, forget race/ethnic groups, but we truly are the ones who can make a positive change so that our children and grandchildren grow up without backward, Orthodox thinking that stops progression.
We need to stop bringing up events of the past (no matter how grim, bloody or emotionally wrenching) into our present generation because it is messing us up and distorting us both mentally and identity-wise. And the sad thing is that, an overwhelmingly large number of young people don't realise this because they've been sucked into the propaganda that these embittered, angry, spiritually dead and unfulfilled people churn out.

Don't believe everything you read. Do some digging around and make sure this claim is true. Question it and listen to your gut feeling.