This post is an attempt to answer a very simple question – With a population of a billion, why is there no social dancing in India?
After a recent Salsa social, over a couple of beers, I was asked by a fellow salsera as to what options I have to salsa dance when I visit India? When on visits to India, I had definitely felt the urge to salsa dance but knowing India I took it for granted that I could not actually go out and find a dance club and thereby salsa – I would then resolve that on landing in the US, that very weekend, I would go out and dance my heart out. Up until I heard this question from an outsider I never thought of answering why I could not go out and social dance in India.
Before we can answer this question with respect to India we have to find out what the characteristics of these social dances (like Salsa, Tango, Bachata, Swing) are and what kind of a society we would need to support social dancing.
- First and foremost these social dances are very clearly dances with male and female dance partners.
- Secondly, on the dance floor, dancers make no distinction based on ingrained social prejudices while picking a dance partner and there is a potential of this kind of dance form paving a way to relationships and bonds between the sexes.
- Lastly, societies that support social dancing are the ones that have a certain respect and tolerance with respect to intermingling of different communities that form them.
Having understood this aspect of social dancing and the society that supports it we can now look into the structure of Indian society and see if it can support social dances and free interactions between the sexes?
Structure of the Indian Society:
Indian society is caste based, where people fall into one of these 5 castes – Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Sudras and the Untouchables. Furthermore each of these castes is broken into hundreds of sub-castes which function as individual castes. This segregation based on caste system is primarily a function of Hindu society but since followers of all other religions in India are made up of converts from Hindu religion, all these other religions too carry a flavor of caste system. So effectively you have a billion Indians following caste system.
– From this point forward usage of the word castes is to be taken to mention the over five thousand sub-castes that exist in India and not the original five.
What is Caste System and how is it maintained:
Caste system is a division of society based on birth, which is accomplished through endogamy or an absence of intermarriage. In caste system, some castes are considered superior and some inferior, but in no circumstance are castes considered equal. The natural outcome of this being that each caste decries the existence of the other caste and strives to maintain its own identity. Furthermore, endogamy in India is achieved through the process of arranged marriage where the power of selecting a spouse rests with the parents, who do their part by looking for a spouse for their child within their own caste. In instances where children deviate from this norm and marry outside their caste they are either ostracized from the family or are punished by death*.
If you are with me so far, here is what we’ve learned
- Indian Society is Caste based
- Caste System is maintained by Endogamy, which is made possible through arranged marriages
- Any deviation from Endogamy is dealt with in the strictest means possible
And the question which will answer why there is no social dance is as follows:
If Indian society practices Caste System and uses Arranged Marriage to maintain it (caste system) then to what lengths would it go to prevent any hindrance to that practice and therefore avoid such instances of inter caste marriages to begin with?
And the answer my friends is that: Indian Society Can, Has and Will shut all avenues of interactions between opposite sexes, the most fundamental criteria in forming relationships. Social dancing not only provides such a venue, but is the most intimate form of social interaction available and thereby a definite threat to the practice of Arranged Marriage, hence its absence in Indian Society.
Summary
- Social dancing needs a society which is not inherently divided, however Indian society is divided into thousands of sub-castes that don’t see eye to eye.
- Social dancing involves interactions with opposite sex which might lead to development of affection, love and relationships and is oblivious to caste system and a huge hindrance to arranged marriages by which caste system is maintained.
Conclusion: Caste system that promotes graded inequality is the reason for the lack of social dancing in India!
* Proof that breaking the tradition of Endogamy comes with a hefty price can be found by searching the internet for ‘India Hindu Honor Killings’ at www.realcourage.org/2010/06/india-hindu-honor-killings.
What is perhaps commendable about your blog is that you have spent a considerable amount of time describing one aspect of a phenomenon. However, what I did not find (and which, in my opinion, therefore gives this post a one-sided view) is a wish to look at the ‘other side’ of the same phenomenon. Okay, assuming that for argument-sake, we accept that –
“And the answer my friends is that: Indian Society Can, Has and Will shut all avenues of interactions between opposite sexes, the most fundamental criteria in forming relationships. Social dancing not only provides such a venue, but is the most intimate form of social interaction available and thereby a definite threat to the practice of Arranged Marriage, hence its absence in Indian Society.
What about some un-desirable possible side-effects of indiscriminate social mingling and intimacy like date rape, unprotected sex, STDs….?? Or are these according to you, just mere inconveniences and hence totally worth being saddled with at the altar of ‘social freedom’?
The details of the ‘Real India’ you describe (and I am not just referring to this post), are pretty one-sided. You project just one side of the coin, which, in my opinion, gives a biased view to someone who doesn’t know any better. I would really advise someone reading your posts to take it in with a big pinch of salt, and/ or get the whole picture from additional well-researched and balanced sources.
Dear Ninu,
Your advice to readers is valid. Readers should always do their research and I give them enough links to do the same and to support my statements. So readers you are fore warned to do your research, In fact that is what I want you to do and to not blindly believe everything told to you about India, either it is me, other bloggers or the mainstream media.
So coming to your comments:
1. Side effects of boys and girls mingling as per you are – date rape, unprotected sex, STDs, maybe you wanted to add unwanted pregnancies something of that sort. They are definitely challenges that human society need to overcome.
Let me solve them for you right here … girls, please go out with other girls friends, take turns going to the bathroom so that one of you is watching over the drinks, insist on Condoms for safe sex, also form a bond while social dancing and go on a few dates with the person before actually having sex, Once again, use Condoms to protect against the STDs to whatever extent they can and of course practicing restraint and having a sexual relation with someone whom you know well helps. At which point I think the risk of contracting STDs is the same or in fact lower than marrying someone your parents picked and having sex with them the first night, without any prior connection. Then of course learning to believe in yourself and having self respect to round it all up. Not saying that is easy, but the point I want to make is that these side effects have a remedy.
Now let me ask you to solve the problems I am going to list below and also ask you if you are a girl to pick which you personally would be OK with, the issues that you listed or with the ones that I have listed below which you see in India. So here we go
a. Dowry deaths – One woman dies in India every hour in a dowry-related case – Guardian.
b. Indian father accused of killing baby ‘for being a girl’ – CNN
c. Honor Killings (1000 Couples killed every Year) – NDTV
So between these two (I apologize,but I can’t make out if you are a male or female) what would you chose if you were a girl for your self and what would you chose for your mother, sisters and daughters. Because remember for the issues that you have raised – common sense, logic, presence of mind and self respect can help. But for the issues that I have highlighted you have no chance, your in-laws in the first case and in the second and third case your own parents and siblings are the perpetrators and mind you, you are either as of yet unborn or an infant when your parents deem you as unnecessary burden and terminate you. All, while they have the full support of the family, society and religion for their actions. So you tell me what you would choose. And do remember that all of the above issues are caused because of arranged marriages, which needs the society to be as discouraging with mixing the sexes as possible, and why arranged marriages you might ask – to maintain the caste system (check my posts on arranged marriages for the full discourse).
And while I condone the issues that you raised, I hardly think you can use that as an argument for an open minded society, because based on the logic you are using, you could also argue that the issues like the ones you presented are caused because women are now more free and mobile but I highly doubt that the solution is to send the women back to the kitchen and follow the purdah system and deprive them of all the progress that they have achieved. Please for sanity’s sake let me and all the readers of this blog know that, that is not what you are advocating, ’cause at this point it can be construed to be so.
And you ended your comment by stating that I show only one side of the coin and asking readers to read it with a big pinch of salt:
Yes I show one side of the coin because all of the western world is being shown the other awesome side of the story by everyone else.
Because based on those reports India is the future of this world, but they don’t mention the 150 million untouchables still forced to live in a subhuman state, those reports seem to show the sky rises of the cyber cities but the lack of toilet facilities to the extent that women in my own family won’t drink water for a few hours, and empty their bladder before they head into these very cities and towns to run errands, while the men are relieving themselves along the walls of these multinational company buildings, What else, I already covered the issues women face (dowry deaths, infanticide, foeticide, constant male escort), all while Indians maintain that women are most respected in Hindu tradition, despicable performance in sports, Infrastructure is next to nothing,
And definitely a raising super power should know how to feed its children correct? Read here the report from UNICEF that sates that “Malnutrition is more common in India than in Sub-Saharan Africa“.
So I will accept your request to readers of my blog about reading my posts with a big pinch of salt if you are also sharing the same request on other blogs and media reports when they project an awesome India, the one to die for. And hopefully you can add that they should read those other reports not just with a big pinch of salt but with more salt than what they use to keep the freeways safe here in the Midwest.
Hopefully other readers of my blog can pitch in here and share their thoughts on this comment thread.