Politically correct.

In today’s world, being politically correct is an IN thing.  Everything gets narrowed down to the specifics.  It’s almost like we need more complications in life because what we have isn’t enough, hence Political Corrected-ness. No Adjective is complete if there isn’t a qualifier for the adjective (which is redundant). If someone says “Man is a very resilient creature” brings in a firing squad of feminists, who would say “Only Man? What about the woman?”  If someone observed “She is a drinker?” they get corrected “No, she is a social drinker?” I sit there wondering “Social drinker? As in gets very giggly, loud and approachable when she is drunk?” and then I get corrected “She drinks only at a party”.  Someone says “I need 5 cups of coffee a day” and someone else says “so, you are addicted to coffee”.  I sit there thinking.  “So I am addicted to water? I drink water more than 5 cups everyday” and then someone says “Its addiction only if it’s bad for your health”... Wonder how they figure that... Have they heard of the proverb “A little poison, good medicine; Too much medicine, good poison” Every day some doctor’s “research” comes out with new stuff that is “good” for you and “bad” for you. In the past decade, a new diet has come out most every year that is good for you. Ever wonder who makes the money from such news and such research? Is such a research relevant?

 

Here I am at a restaurant and I get talking to this lawyer who was also waiting to be seated.  As is the norm, she asks “what is your mother tongue (native language)?” so I say  “coorgi”.  She then asks “so you aren’t a Hindu then?” I am puzzled, so I say “I am Hindu”. She goes on to explain, “coorgi’s aren’t Hindu, they are ancestor worshippers” I didn’t know if I should politely smile or laugh at her. So I say, “We honor our ancestors, but then it doesn’t matter if we are or aren’t, I follow Hinduism.”  I change topics and was glad when the waiter escorted me to a table.  I then wonder. Hinduism has such a wide range of beliefs and every Hindu family usually has a celebration called “Shraddh” for the departed ancestors.   This is alternatively called Pitr-yagna(ancestor worship). The only difference between worship of God and the worship of Ancestors is that the later is not conducted at a temple but at the banks of a sacred river.  So my family worship ancestors, how does that make me “Not” Hindu?  I will never know.  Who decides that there is only one particular/correct way of saying things to mean something?  Who sets a convention for convention? I am still pondering.