There is a tale told in Ahmedabad on warm, hazy evenings, whispered from one person to another with the same urgency the natives use to talk about the fall of Dvaraka and the death of Krishna. It is one of the fables of Bombay Society, crafted out of the prejudice and exclusivity that Aesop misguidedly left out of his own -- an example to those fresh from England who do not yet fully understand who to hate and why, or the correct way to go about it.<p>
It is a story about what happens to those who stray from their path.<p>
Once, not too long ago, there was a young puisne judge of good social standing and background stationed in the city. He could have had a promising career under different circumstances. Instead he fell in love with an Indian girl -- the daughter of an oil seller from the Bazaar. Surely he had to have known that to carry on with it would ruin his future, and that [i]certainly[/i] he wouldn't be accepted by anyone worthwhile ever again if he was acting like he was one step away from becoming a reinvention of a White Mughal.<p>
The young judge chose poorly. He waited until he was promoted -- to the District Magistrate of Surat, no less -- and took the girl with him when he moved. What happened then? Well, what goes around comes around, of course. No good Christian would marry him to an unbaptised heathen, and none of [i]her lot[/i] would dare do the same to him. His career stagnated, he became an outcast in Bombay Society, and his days are now spent living in sin with the daughter of an oil seller.<p>
Isn't it easier to just do what is expected of you?<p>
Joseph is born into a world that punishes him most of all for his parents' crime, and they do everything to ease the blows that come. It seems easier to shelter him while they can, to let him learn when he is older that he is always to be at odds with the world, to keep words like [i]bastard[/i] and [i]half-caste[/i] out of his vocabulary for as long as possible. For now he is too young to understand that it is possible to be from multiple cultures and belong to none of them, or why people he's never met before will hate him without just cause; to let him learn now will only teach him how to hate in kind.
It is a story about what happens to those who stray from their path.<p>
Once, not too long ago, there was a young puisne judge of good social standing and background stationed in the city. He could have had a promising career under different circumstances. Instead he fell in love with an Indian girl -- the daughter of an oil seller from the Bazaar. Surely he had to have known that to carry on with it would ruin his future, and that [i]certainly[/i] he wouldn't be accepted by anyone worthwhile ever again if he was acting like he was one step away from becoming a reinvention of a White Mughal.<p>
The young judge chose poorly. He waited until he was promoted -- to the District Magistrate of Surat, no less -- and took the girl with him when he moved. What happened then? Well, what goes around comes around, of course. No good Christian would marry him to an unbaptised heathen, and none of [i]her lot[/i] would dare do the same to him. His career stagnated, he became an outcast in Bombay Society, and his days are now spent living in sin with the daughter of an oil seller.<p>
Isn't it easier to just do what is expected of you?<p>
Joseph is born into a world that punishes him most of all for his parents' crime, and they do everything to ease the blows that come. It seems easier to shelter him while they can, to let him learn when he is older that he is always to be at odds with the world, to keep words like [i]bastard[/i] and [i]half-caste[/i] out of his vocabulary for as long as possible. For now he is too young to understand that it is possible to be from multiple cultures and belong to none of them, or why people he's never met before will hate him without just cause; to let him learn now will only teach him how to hate in kind.
