Subtle Curry Traits: Your Indian Meme Fix
My attempt at using a meme page to talk about society.
If you are Indian or of Indian descent, and have at some point of your life been exposed to Indian culture, you will find this page extremely relevant and funny. With memes about fulfilling career goals that your parents destined for you, to marrying the right ‘ladka/ladki’ (boy/girl), you will find the content — at some level — hilarious and relatable. The rise of this meme page not only validates that there are a lot of experiences and beliefs that we Indian (origin) millennials share, but also have found a space to talk about what life is like as a person who is used to western life, but also has Indian influences.
This blog post is by no means meant to stereotype Indian beliefs, but is a commentary about how a particular sub-sect of the Indian population views the world. Before going into any details regarding what the memes are like, I want to establish the fact that the population of the page is by no means an accurate reflection of the nation. The members of this page are predominantly students that have emigrated to the United States or are already American (or have no relation to India and have been invited by their friends to enjoy some desi memes), but are the first generation to be born in the United States.
What might intrigue you is also the concept of the ABCD — American Born Confused Desi, but I digress.
Although there is a lot to unpack in trying to understand this demographic, I am going to try and give you a taste of what my generation of tech savvy Indian millennials find funny and interesting to talk about.
Meme Breakdown
I am going to dedicate this section of the blog to isolate some overarching topics that some of the memes are based on.
Westernization
Westernization refers to any western influences that have come upon Indian culture. When I talk about westernization, I’m not only talking about Indian boys dressed up as Compton rappers and Indian girls trying to look like Kylie Jenner, but I’m also talking about ideas of women’s rights, the pursuit of one’s passion and the ability to lead life on one’s owns terms and not have each step of the way be dictated by one’s parents. Indian culture has historically always been family centric where the head of the family (usually male) has a say in each activity that takes place around the household. Not only does the head act as the center of control, but each node (uncle, cousin, brother, aunt etc.) weighs in on each matter. The collective does tend to have immense benefits and acts as a great support network, but for the 21st century millennial stuck between Western individualism and Indian collectivism, the struggle can be very real. Here are some prime meme examples.
Marriage/Dating
MARRIAGE IS EVERYTHING. If you have never been to an Indian wedding, you need to forego your Coachella ticket and find an Indian friend getting married soon. An Indian wedding spans days, and is an extremely elaborate ordeal mixed with partying, celebrating family, indulging in gossip and reevaluating life (especially if you are next in line in the family to be married). For the elders in the Indian community, marriage marks a very secure point in the child’s life because to them a family has natural connotations of stability and continuity. Today, marriage does not seem as the end all and be all of life. There are a lot of things that Indian millennials like myself look forward to: a stellar career, a sense of accomplishment, romance etc. I must also remind you that arranged marriage is very much still a concept in India, and some kids till today will most likely partake in an arranged marriage. Arranged marriages are yet another example of collectivism in Indian culture in the sense that the family plays a driving role in deciding one’s spouse (although you get to hang out and get to know each other before the deal is sealed). I could write a whole blog post on arranged marriages, but for now, let’s focus on the importance of marriage in Indian culture and how its depicted on subtle curry traits.
Education
Be honest with me. If you had to guess what my major was, you’d probably either guess that I am engineer, doctor or lawyer. You probably wouldn’t be wrong if you randomly picked an Indian student from a group, but these fields should tell you that Indians love the pursuit of knowledge and finding careers that are stable. Stories regarding education in India are ridiculous, and expectations for Indian students by their parents to excel in academics is a given.
Education is treated as a first step to securing a successful life. For any caring family, for their children, they would want to make sure that their kids are achieving at the highest possible level and doing well in school. There are loads of talking points regarding the Indian emphasis on education, the good and the bad, but I want you to focus on understanding these memes and their connotations for now.
So, how does this matter?
Naturally there are a lot of perspectives that I did not include in my analysis of each type of meme. There are also a lot of topics that I did not even mention. However, what you need to understand is that the Indian identity is changing. With young members like myself having access to the world through a mobile device, and the ability to pursue and education outside of my country, I am coming to question a lot of the traditional wisdom that has sustained for centuries. A lot of the axioms that Indian society is built on today, may not be grandfathered into the future. For some thoughts — regarding women’s rights, humans rights etc. I hope that traditional ideals perish. I believe that Indian society is at an inflection point where it must make the decision of accepting a global economy and society rather than being stuck in age old ways. If that got too heavy for you, head on over to subtle curry traits and get a laugh out.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these memes. These are all original memes that have been generated by community members of Subtle Curry Traits.
