EXCERPTS FROM MIRA KAMDAR'S MOTIBAS TATOOS

EXCERPTS FROM MOTIBA’S TATTOOS, Mira Kamdar

An ancient nomadic the Kathiawars who spawned my family were always in the words of my father “people from somewhere else”. Certainly in the century just ended that is who we became more than any other time in our history: people from some place else. The wanderings my family has undertaken in the past one hundred years in pursuit of more tempting opportunities have added layers of lost homeland to our past. Kathiawar remains the land of origin, but the decades long sojourn in Burma is layered on top of it, a second lost homeland.
A people from someplace else are ever outsiders. They can easily be resented. At the same time, their footlessness breeds a kind of tribal loyalty. In the absence of a continuum of place, we cling to a continuum of religion, custom language, cuisine, community spirit and the recognition and sharing of thee with people like us no matter where they live in the world. It is a cultural continuum that is portable. It can be moved as easily as a suitcase from Singapore to London, taken down and brought to New York or Chicago, found in the home of a relative or community member in Nairobi or Tokyo.


It is best to be in, but not initiated: It is limiting to belong to a single group. The best of all situations is to be able to drop in, speak the lingo, be accepted but retain all the while an outsides perspective, and to be able to do this with respect to as many groups as possible.


Lo, soul, seest thou not
God’s purpose from the first?
The earth to be spanned,
Connected by network
The races, neigbours to marry
And be given in marriage,
The oceans to be crossed
The distant brought near
The lands to be welded together


There have perhaps been many similar books written but this one definitely stands out. In many ways (at least for me) it gives an answer to the often asked question who are we?

Are we Kenyans? Are we Indians? Are we Kenyan Indians? Are we Indian Kenyans or, are we Kenyans of Indian origin? Are we third generation Indians born in Kenya Are we NRIs?

Well the answer is, that in the increasingly globalised world more commonly referred to as the “global village”, It is had to distinguish or precisely group our identities. We are one happy human family, one great GLOBAL MENTING POT! The word globalisation is another recent buzzword. In more ways than one, I think we are a great part and parcel of it, perhaps even a catalyst?

No need to be confused, be proud of who you are and as Mira put it beautifully, it is best to in but not fully initiated.

In short, BE PROUD OF WHO YOU ARE, AS a person and fellow human being, acknowledge your uniqueness, be proud of your roots and your culture and of course, ‘drop in, speak the lingo but remember to remain an outsider!