Old thing, new word - condescension

That's right, it's one of the most common words we come across; just as common as the feeling. It's something that nobody likes to face but is more than happy to deliver. But the word condescension doesn't usually enter our vocabularies till we go to college (when you prepare for GRE that is). Of course, some of you 'Ooty kaanbent'/DAV/Don Bosco educated kids might have started using the word even before. But either way, the word cannot be as old as what it implies, in many of our lives. So, I did a podcast on it. I started off with something and as usual rambled my way through the caste system, schools, children and what have you. There's no guarantee that it's not going to suck. Listen to it at your own risk.

A time line (in minutes) of what's in it, skip and save the pain if you please.
1-5 : Random nonsense
5-9 : Caste based condescension
9-16 : Random nonsense
16-end : School life; children; more school life; end.

Download: 48kps; 96Kbps; Edited version

Disclaimer (brief history): I've been doing podcasts since Feb '05. Not all of them fall in to a particular genre or even into a specific topic. One may not be as interesting or as funny as the other, so place your expectations at the bottom and raise it gradually (if you feel like). Here you can find some of my other podcasts.

17 comments:

I said...

u started the mokkai again? ayyo kadavule..

Suresh ET said...

you started sticking your head again? ayyo kadavule

Anonymous said...

suresh-i'm sorry. with all due respect, this is kinda boring. :)

Priya said...

Hey Suresh,

This one is so good! A lot of things you've said that i could relate to. Especially the part about "I didn't study at all" crap that you hear from your friends. Why can't these people just be honest? Stupid idiots, I say.

It was really hilarious at these parts:
1) children at age 3 and above being so know-it-all.
2) the recorded dialogue about racism (is it?).

Any narrative from you is not random nonsense. Some people(like me) would like to listen to random nonsense once in a while. We're so bored from listening to standard "news-like" podcasts and so on. Something that is original and unique like yours is always welcome:) Continue on and hope to hear more from you.

Priya

Priya said...

I see that the time here says 5:13 AM in the previous post. But really, here it's 5.13PM in the evening!

Suresh ET said...

@Anon - I know, it's not so enjoyable for many, I understand. Especially the length, it's a little too long.

@Zero - yeah, it's something that I have had to wrestle with. Because I talk alone I need to assume counter-agruments myself and very often tend to overdo it. I think I'll listen to it again and come up with a shorter version with lesser defences. Thanks.

@Priya - I thought so too, the kind of people I've mentioned are there everywhere. It's not so much of modesty, it's a weird combination of feelings. It's so easy to pick up.
Eric Cartman is a very popular character from South Park. He is the most lovable asshole you can ever find. Try watching a few videos (the fat kid is Eric).

The time is set according to my location (yeah I know, I completely messed up sleep cycles).

Dubakoor said...

content a pathi naan solrathukku onnum illa. intha maava thaan naama erkanave mani kanakula arachutome.. :D

i too felt...lengtha konjam korachirukalaam.

When i heard "Saruvu kaitham","palapatra"...feel like having a podcast only with kongu tamil (Fcuk the content). It wud be nice if u come up with one.

Priya said...

The South Park cartoons are so funny. Especially the one about Bebe's boobs destroy society. lol!:) So hilarious...

Suresh ET said...

@Samy - haha I know, we've talked about it so much (neriya perthu kooda idha pesirpom rendu perume). I reduced the length here and there. Adhu onnum illa inga sila per kooda adithadi potadhunaala kandraavi ella elavukkum oru explanation kudukka vendiyadha pochu.
appudi kuduthum mela vandhu err'ranunga. ivanungala ellam endha seruppala adikradhu?
Kongu Tamil naana? cha cha naan romba corrupt, neenga dhan correct adhukku. We’ll do it sometime, what's the hurry.


@priya - I know, it's one of my favourite episodes, and I was going to make a post on it (still am).

Anonymous said...

Excellent!

Anonymous said...

Oh. talking about condescension, are we?
You need to see this

Suresh ET said...

@Anon1 - Thanks.

@Anon2 - I had mentioned about this breifly in this podcast (and in detail in a different podcast). I've seen this video before. Thanks for providing the link here though.

The Individualist said...

Ennoda friend kettavan apdinaa oorula irukara elaarume kettavanga nu solla mudiyaadhu.
Ennoda friend nallavan naa oorula irukara elaarume nallavanga nu solla mudiyaadhu.

True. But don't the people we meet and the experiences that we go through make us and thereby, evidently, our opinions, thoughts and expectations?
Even though it 'shouldn't' be that way, I think that the control, one is capable of, works only till a certain variable extent which is directly proportionate to the level of tolerance one is capable of.
After that level, you are helpless against such thoughts. And generalisation.

Castes and their heirarchy.. tell me about it!
I am able to think of one question that we would often get asked. The iyengar community around me would ask me often if I were a thenkalai or a vadakalai. To non-starters, those are the two main sects in the iyengar caste. Yeah. Yeah. Hindu-> Iyengar-> Thenkalai/Vadakalai phew whatever. Anyway, and there came a time when I used to retort back saying, 'Thenkalai? Vadakalai? No. I am an echakalai.' lol
Just to portray the irritation that such questions cause in you.

Communism. Tell me about it! Exactly exactly @ anbe sivam!! Communism was the only factor in the movie that made me wriggle in my seat through the movie.

lol @ those 'padikkara' pasanga who say, 'dei naan suthamaa padikkavelladaa! :("

One of my school incidents come to my memory when I think about this. There used to be a 'padikkara paiyan' who'd get highly annoyed if anyone said 'best of luck' before the exam commenced. He'd often shout out in irritation because 'luck' seemed to convey a negative feeling to him and he'd continue by finishing with how that phrase makes him feel negative before the beginning of the exam and worse, he'd even accuse us of trying to 'off' his 'mood' before the exam. :p
Yeah! The people you see! Phew.

:)) @ hand trembling like a drug addict undergoing rehabilitation, when attempting to pass the 'bit'.

hahaha @ the comparison between China kaaran gold medal vaangalai and nee 85% vaangalai. :p

Pepsi cola, we call it, by the way. :p

Overall, now and then, I thought you strayed towards gross generalisation but I could understand the motive. It wasn't as bad as some comments seemed to point out.

Suresh ET said...

@Sudhir

True, we internalize the characteristics of the people for the things they inadvertently represent. Well, it's kind of mixed up. Because, people actually do represent the characteristics of a wider identity (their accent, food habits etc., being some). But I think these generalizations are benign and negligible. It gets a little serious when it has a rather drastic effect on your personal life. I was never seriously hurt by a Brahmin (may be, but at least I don't look at it that way). So I have always thought that I have the ability to be rational and less emotional when I talk about them (I cannot say the same about Muslims, because of several 'not so pleasant' personal encounters).That's all I expect though -- whenever you have the capability of being rational, be.

hahaha@echakalai (I used to use this word a lot)

{{Overall, now and then, I thought you strayed towards gross generalisation but I could understand the motive.}} - Well you can't avoid it. For one it's just a narrative and even if you are to serious you cannot say "47% of the students in the sample said they would like to...." or "based on the accounts of eye witnesses, girls in grade 4 were actually...". So generalizations are fine as long as you are not driving it to a pseudo-factual claim.

{{It wasn't as bad as some comments seemed to point out.}} - I know, it was quite decent. The first guy; no surprise there, I mean, what else do you expect from him after I make the "worst flash video ever" starring him. And this is not for everybody's taste, so I can understand.

The Individualist said...

Oh lol no. I never took his comments into consideration. That one seems to be merely venting out some pent up emotion-

Prasad Venkat said...

Condescension - [quote]Lifebuoy soap mukka roobaikku vippanunga.. mukka roobanna 75 kasu[/quote]

Karthik said...

Links not working. Please update. Looks interesting.

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