A Simple Observation....

I watched a movie today named “Spanglish”, obviously because of my intimacy with Spanish language. And that provoked me to write this.

I am not going to write the movie review or something which you expect. It’s just a simple observation about the relationships in reference to Latin American (Spanish speaking countries), western (Specially U.S.) and Asian countries specially India. This is so similar to our country India.

We must know that in western countries, there is not much value given to relations, be it parent-child, husband-wife, girlfriend-boyfriend or any other. There, much focus is given to oneself and one’s priorities. If you are not happy with someone or something, you have every right to leave that person or thing behind and move on. And that is considered their right, rather culturally approved right. You don’t explore much about the possibilities of mending the ways to work that relationship again. You just know a culturally tested formula i.e. leave the person or thing you are bothered about. And you follow it.

But in India you rather work on that thing and find the alternatives to remain in the same relationship. Leaving a relationship is the last thing in one’s mind.

It’s very normal in Western countries to leave people alone when they don’t feel good or upset. But in India if you say “Just leave me alone for sometime”, you are considered mad or someone out of the mind. Also in some cases peopled might label you a maniac or a person worth getting into an asylum.

In the last scene of the movie when Latin American lady’s daughter asks her to leave her alone, she responds “there is no space between us”.

A similarity to our culture swept into my mind with this phrase and I was delighted to pause for a while thinking did I ever use that phrase? Till date I have not and wish the same as well.

Anoop Maurya