Meaning of "ghori" in Hindi songs
Thomas Southton
in praise of white skin? is this a throw-back to colonial slave
mentality, or is white skin regarded as a very attractive feature
amongst indians?
finally, the way i look at it is this: *MOST* indians do *NOT* have
white skin (there *are*, hwever, a few albinos there), and therefore,
are not regarded as very attractive. Moreover, whites do have white
skin, right? therefore, by your own standards, south asians NEVER look
as good as WHITES.
does this praise of white skin/anglo features alienate non-fair-skinned
peoples of s. asia - and there are a lot! how do they feel about
this? do they get their feelings hurt, or something?
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Before you buy.
Thomas Southton
Thomas Southton
yash...@my-deja.com
Thomas Southton <t_n_so...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> doesn't "ghori" mean "white-skinned"? why do the indians sing so much
> in praise of white skin? is this a throw-back to colonial slave
> mentality, or is white skin regarded as a very attractive feature
> amongst indians?
"Gori" means light-colored, not necessarily "white-skinned".
Use of lighter shade of skin for women has been considered
attractive in Greek, Chinese, Japanese cultures etc. Women
of high ranking did not work in the fields etc, and thus were
pale.
In recent times light skin for men has also become desirable.
It is indeed a throw-back to colonial slave mentalilty.
In some communities in India, people are generally dark
skinned. Well educated boys have now started looking
for lighter skin, if not their own community, elsewhere.
That leaves a lot of dark skinned girls unmarried.
Those Indians who have lived overseas are even worse
that those in India.
Yashwant
PS: American Blacks too have a preference for lighter
skin, as you can see from the ads in magazines for
Blacks.
Very recently, because of the economic success of Asians,
brown is gradually becoming an attractive color in
UK/USA.
C.R. Selvakumar
>
> Thomas Southton <t_n_so...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> doesn't "ghori" mean "white-skinned"? why do the indians sing so much
>> in praise of white skin? is this a throw-back to colonial slave
>> mentality, or is white skin regarded as a very attractive feature
>> amongst indians?
>
>"Gori" means light-colored, not necessarily "white-skinned".
>
>Use of lighter shade of skin for women has been considered
>attractive in Greek, Chinese, Japanese cultures etc. Women
>of high ranking did not work in the fields etc, and thus were
>pale.
>
>In recent times light skin for men has also become desirable.
>It is indeed a throw-back to colonial slave mentalilty.
>
>In some communities in India, people are generally dark
>skinned. Well educated boys have now started looking
>for lighter skin, if not their own community, elsewhere.
>That leaves a lot of dark skinned girls unmarried.
>
>Those Indians who have lived overseas are even worse
>that those in India.
..A sparkle in the eye..a glow in the smile that is beautiful-
especially if there is a real spine of good character...
veLLaiyum karuppumO azhagu ?
uLLoLi vIcum
oLiya kaNkaLum
punnagaiyum anRo azhagu!
vinaiyaaNmai vIcum
nallozhukkam anRO azhagu!
coLLaip pEccil vIzhnthu puraLum
veLLaip pEthaikaaL!
(Yashwant, the tamil words mean : Is it white and black colours
that is beautiful ? Is it not the brilliant eyes and glowing smile
that is beautiful ? Is it not the productive and efficient action
abiding in virtue that is beautiful ? Poor are you folks
who fall for fallacious, clap-trap thinking!)
Selva
V.C.Vijayaraghavan
"C.R. Selvakumar" wrote:
> veLLaiyum karuppumO azhagu ?
> uLLoLi vIcum
> oLiya kaNkaLum
> punnagaiyum anRo azhagu!
> vinaiyaaNmai vIcum
> nallozhukkam anRO azhagu!
> coLLaip pEccil vIzhnthu puraLum
> veLLaip pEthaikaaL!
Who is the authour of these lines?
chaddha
light skin girl compared to a dark skin girl.
C.R. Selvakumar <selv...@valluvar.uwaterloo.ca> wrote in message
news:81mrrf$4iq$1...@watserv3.uwaterloo.ca...
> In article <81mldk$o82$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>, <yash...@my-deja.com> wrote:
> >
> > Thomas Southton <t_n_so...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >> doesn't "ghori" mean "white-skinned"? why do the indians sing so much
> >> in praise of white skin? is this a throw-back to colonial slave
> >> mentality, or is white skin regarded as a very attractive feature
> >> amongst indians?
> >
> >"Gori" means light-colored, not necessarily "white-skinned".
> >
> >Use of lighter shade of skin for women has been considered
> >attractive in Greek, Chinese, Japanese cultures etc. Women
> >of high ranking did not work in the fields etc, and thus were
> >pale.
> >
> >In recent times light skin for men has also become desirable.
> >It is indeed a throw-back to colonial slave mentalilty.
> >
> >In some communities in India, people are generally dark
> >skinned. Well educated boys have now started looking
> >for lighter skin, if not their own community, elsewhere.
> >That leaves a lot of dark skinned girls unmarried.
> >
> >Those Indians who have lived overseas are even worse
> >that those in India.
>
> ..A sparkle in the eye..a glow in the smile that is beautiful-
> especially if there is a real spine of good character...
>
> veLLaiyum karuppumO azhagu ?
> uLLoLi vIcum
> oLiya kaNkaLum
> punnagaiyum anRo azhagu!
> vinaiyaaNmai vIcum
> nallozhukkam anRO azhagu!
> coLLaip pEccil vIzhnthu puraLum
> veLLaip pEthaikaaL!
>
Hari Sharma
beautiful and fair skinned, 'Ghori' means dreadful and Gauri menas Shiv.
Hope this will help.
Thomas Southton wrote:
> doesn't "ghori" mean "white-skinned"? why do the indians sing so much
> in praise of white skin? is this a throw-back to colonial slave
> mentality, or is white skin regarded as a very attractive feature
> amongst indians?
>
Dakshin Gandikota
>
> The word 'ghori' does not mean the same as the word 'gori'. Gori means
> beautiful and fair skinned, 'Ghori' means dreadful and Gauri menas Shiv.
> Hope this will help.
The spelling is not the issue. Gauri is Shiva's wife a.k.a. pArvathi.
Only disgusting people such as hindians have similar spellings and
pronunciation for the archenemy of erstwhile Indian subcontinent and
beautiful people of their own kind.
C.R. Selvakumar
V.C.Vijayaraghavan <vi...@vossnet.co.uk> wrote:
>
>"C.R. Selvakumar" wrote:
>
>> veLLaiyum karuppumO azhagu ?
>> uLLoLi vIcum
>> oLiya kaNkaLum
>> punnagaiyum anRo azhagu!
>> vinaiyaaNmai vIcum
>> nallozhukkam anRO azhagu!
>> coLLaip pEccil vIzhnthu puraLum
>> veLLaip pEthaikaaL!
>
I wrote those words/lines in response to that
thread. Thanks for your interest.
C.R.Selvakumar
Hari Sharma
not to help someone who is interesting and curious? When I was learning
Spanish, I thanked the teacher and Spanish speaking people for clarifications.
This is how we become knowledgeable and enrich one another. Is this not this
web is for?
Other languages also have similar spellings, e.g., quite, quit, quiet. There
are hundreds of these, as you know. Even the pronounciation is the same or
similar. Not only similar spellings but languages have even the same
spellings, e.g., the word 'right' has at least three meanings.
I thank you for your comment.
Anil Trivedi
>doesn't "ghori" mean "white-skinned"? why do the indians sing so
The word is "gori". It means something like "fair one". In many
cultures, including India, a fair woman and a somewhat darker
and taller man are celebrated as standards of beauty. There isn't
a whole lot of colonialism here.
-Anil Trivedi
K. Srinivasan
However, I need to say this.
Bharathi's poems are full of many magical phrases
that could either (1) inspire and energize you to perform
positive things; or (2) make you repulse from negative
actions or from seeking titillations.
Selvakumar's "vinaiyaaNmai vIcum nallozhukkam" will be
an addition to the list magical phrases of the first type.
"coLLaip pEccil vIzhnthu puraLum veLLaip pEthaikaaL"
should be added to the list of phrases such as "koottathil
koodi ninRu koovippidhatRal anRi naattathil koLLar."
Thanks for a gem.
C.R. Selvakumar wrote in message <81v4k3$64s$1...@watserv3.uwaterloo.ca>...
C.R. Selvakumar
Thanks for your warm appreciation.
It was indeed flattering and embarrasing but is sad
that many people still think in terms of
'colour'!
Let me clarify two things: there was a spelling
error in the second line. It should have been 'oLLiya kaNkaLum'...
and what is meant is oLi vIcum kaNkaL.
Think of Bharathi's words 'oLi porunthiya kaNNinaay vaa vaa vaa'
The second point is about the veLLaip pEthai: It may not be
obvious to all..what is meant is
veRRuththanam, veguLiththanam, aazham illaaththanam.
Regards
Selva
Dakshin Gandikota
But a whole deal of bigotry! Hindi language is an international disgrace
to have such
ambiguous definitions for simple words. It is about time they removed
Hindi as the national language and declared Hindi as the bastard child
of
racist persian invaders.
V.C.Vijayaraghavan
I thought the meaning of "veLLaip pEthaikaaL!" is fairly strightforward
- white obssession or white crazy.
How does it become veRRuththanam, veguLiththanam, aazham illaaththanam?
C.R. Selvakumar
What you understand is obvioulsy the first meaning, but
in Tamil veLLai also means all the other meanings I said and
they are meant as well here. The common word veNmai
means white(ness), but it also means 'aRivinmai'. You can
check in a good Tamil dictionary (like Kazhagam Akaraathi, published
by Saiva Siddhantha Nul pathippuk kazhakam, TTK Saalai, Chennai).
For example ThiruvaLLuvar, under the chapter 'pullaRivANmai'
says,
veNmai enappaduvathu yaathenin oNmai
udaiyamyaam ennum cerukku
I hope the kuRaL is a good illustration.
veLLaRivu, another word listed in a dictionary, also means aRivinmai.
The common expression 'veLiRip pOy uLLathu' 'veLir paccai
niRam' all point to a sense of 'dilute' in tamil.
>
>How does it become veRRuththanam, veguLiththanam, aazham illaaththanam?
>
I hope my answer above is helpful.
Selva
P.S. Can somebody post Bharathi's 'oLi padaiththa kaNNinaay vaa vaa vaa'
song ?