Chronicles of a Jongleur

Heartcrossings has a pretty intriguing article on how us desi dudes never ever seem to grow up. And of how boys will be boys.

And how subtler, more refined or charming sophistication can never make its way into the typical desi male on the threshold of the 5th decade of his existence.

At the risk of sounding flaky HC, here is your very own desi dude trying to stand up and submit a rather delayed rebuttal (Hey I just got through reading all her archives!) on behalf of his very own desi brethren. Here’s my two cents- for what its worth.

Let me start by saying that typical desi males (for I cannot vouch for firangi variants of the male species), has stashed away memories on what he presumably recounts as the formative years of his existence. I for one, have not met a single person who did not feel that college years were the most rewarding years of his life, irrespective of where and how he spent them. That glow of been there, done that and had a whale of a time does not ever dim out and disappear, it merely steps into the sidelines and quietly takes its place among other feelings that evolve out of age, maturity and circumstances. Simply put- it’s a form of nostalgia that goes beyond mere definition.

We write mile long emails filled with bromide everyday not so much because our lives are now mundane and unworthy of type space, but merely because thinking about memories and people we shared it with triggers off a second youth within us. One that we wish could be replayed over and over again. I will have to beg to differ with you again, for pecking away amateurish jokes at 40 or wallowing in the memories of inane nicknames is NOT a reflection of hyper-immaturity. It is NOT about living within the confines of the comfortable college-coterie of backslapping friends and PJ’s. It’s just an extremely unrewarding attempt at reaching out and trying to make a connection with a world you would never wish to leave behind. It can never totally quite equate to anything else.

And I find it hard to subscribe to the fact about these individuals leading unfulfilling lives, or for that matter that they are challenged on multiples areas of maturity intellect and IQ. It’s a blanket statement based on the (very) limited sample size of an e-group. As is with any sample, I am sure that a few of same people cracking those demented jokes within the confines of a bulletin board in fact are tremendously articulate, responsible and conversation-worthy. Some may even be extremely erudite, and a few of them may actually be great family guys. And I am in no doubt that a handful may in fact boast of greater achievements than merely parading their university admit letters from two decades ago.

I believe any type of generalization is inherently flawed HC, and you leave precious little in way of substantiating your inferences about your ex-classmates being abnormal people with short-circuited brain receptors and exceedingly redundant lives. Sorry, I simply can’t understand why this (and a multitude of other points you have observed) can make them seem “exceptionally pathetic” or equate to the “state of jejune juvenilia”.

I think you write some great stuff HC, but on this occasion, I think you were a tad off target.