The Promiscuous Nairs ;-)

Sounds like the Headline of some sleazy magazine huh. Oh its not some made up story to grab attention. Its true, its shocking and quite frankly amusing! My job requires me to divulge into the deepest lesser known historical facts almost on a daily basis. But this fact that i stumbled upon during my research hit close to home.

The Nair community(this includes all alternate surnames like menon,nambiar and so on) were one lot where the women called the shots. They followed a family system called Marumakkatayyam which literally means 'matrilinear'. This implied that all inheritances will be given to the daughter's children, not the son's children!! Haaaa.. Take that you chauvinistic paternal system! But the fun part is yet to come. :)

This kind of Tharavadu (family) system lead to the fact that the women had all the money and all the power. Mind you, in those days, after the kings, it is not the malayali brahmins who had the mollah, but it was the nairs. This kind of money combined with the fact that Nair women were very beautiful in general..wait..did i say were?..I mean ARE! ... hehe... Anyways, all this together lead to the fact that NAir women had multiple partners/marriages/you-know-what! With the consent of the family, infact even with the consent of the society in general!

A writer called L.K.A IYER has recorded it his book and said, that when these girls reach the age of 12 or 14,the mother goes around amongst her relatives asking for a relative to marry her. When someone agrees to this and marrys her,he just picks up his bag and leaves to where he belonged. This unlike what happens now a days,she need not go with him. Of course she can if she wants to,but she's not under any compulsion to do so. Even her first husband often returns to his hometown or the battlefield leaving his wife behind.

Now if the girl is pretty 3-4 men may "marry" her. After this they actually have slots allotted to them from noon to early morning next day! During this time, she even has a board hung on the door to let the other one know that she is 'busy' ;)

Not only this, she could reject anyone of her so-called-husbands. And the Men could do nothing about it. Infact the more number of men she 'married', the more esteemed she was!

Well thankfully( or is it?) this dosent exist today. But you can see a few insinuation of this status she enjoyed at that time,even today. Someone from a Nair family will know what im talking about :)

Not that I am proud of this multiple partner thingie. hehe... But Im proud that atleast i dont belong to some groups in India where for a women's everyday life was filled with humiliation and being treated like a door mat.

It was one tid-bit i just had to share ! Enjoy !

Idli starts :)

I moved to Chennai few months ago. Till then i associated this city with only one thing. Idli and heat. Errr...i guess that's two things. Anyway since i was shockingly uninformed, I was in for a surprise when i came here. Not all good ones. But not all bad ones either. So idli musings are simply my attempt to organize the random thoughts that plague my mind. It was getting too full you see.

I am not a great writer. I rarely use big words and gape secretly when i spot them in other's writings. This blog is where i shall pour my heart. Its not that easy for me to do so. The deepest thoughts, questions, opinions shall all come out. Hopefully.

I belong to the city of Mumbai. Not physically anymore. I am a Chennai-wasi now. But in my heart, i am a Mumbaikar. And may remain so all my life. Its not a conscious decision. It's just habit i guess. And its certainly not because of this over-rated phenomena called 'The Mumbai spirit'. This Mumbai spirit is nothing but a mixture of the desperation to survive and the habit of flirting with danger everyday. Mumbai local trains teaches everybody to be tough. Weaklings and newcomers are pushed out of the train with such force that they take it personally. They feel unwelcome and hurt. Some stomp their foot and curse them. Some just leave. If you try to get too emotional about being pushed around you will never stand a chance.

No. I am not being cynical and mean. I love this city. All the compliments and ooh's and aah's showered upon Mumbai is justified. But all this time,i never knew the reason. What is it about Mumbai that keeps everyone ticking?

But now that I am here in Chennai, far from away from Mumbai, things are getting clearer. I am waiting till it stares at me right into my face. That will be some moment for me :)

Till then just an advice for all the Mumbai virgins. When somebody's describing the magical Mumbai where every dream can come true(such a cliche! i know) or trying to explain what is so great about it but cannot seem to find the right words, don't brush him off. He and I share an experience, that just has to be felt.