#SoCS Nov. 12/16 – Mem

12 Nov 2016 31 Comments

by Ritu in Challenges, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Linda’s SoCS prompt for this Saturday.

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “mem.” Choose a word or words with the letters “mem” in that order and run with it. Enjoy!

Now I could have gone the obvious route here and spoken of Remembrance Day… I thought I would go off piste (as if I ever do that normally ;P). And these are just my off the cuff thoughts, not intended to offend or educate… just what rolls out of my brain, through my fingers, over the keyboard, and onto the screen!

Mem-Sahib

A word used to address a lady in india. Often a lady of the upper classes, a higher stature than those average folk.

It was a mark of respect, like Sir and Madam, we have Sahib and Mem-Sahib.

When the Raj was ruled by The British Empire, every white skinned woman was automatically a Mem-Sahib. Obviously, due to the reason they were there, they demanded that immediate respect from the lowly brown-skinned locals.

Nowadays you here people in our community talking of girls who are overly westernised, calling them Gori-Mem. White woman, it loosely translates as. Those ‘coconuts’ as it were, white on the inside, brown on the outside! Wannabe westerners!

Of course it can also be used as a descriptive phrase to describe a western woman too.

And as a British Asian, when I go to India, I get called Mem-Sahib, or Madam, an awful lot! Because we are foreigners in our own land, essentially. We live out in the western world, that place apparently paved with gold, we seem to wear an aura of wealth, and it garners an automatic response of respect from our Indian counterparts.

But I am no madam, or Mem-Sahib. I’m just me! I’d rather be referred to as Didi (sister) or Masi (aunt) or even Beti (daughter). Not someone who is ‘above’ others. Because I’m not.

There you have it… Stream of Consciousness Saturday all about the Mem!

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31 Comments (+add yours?)

  1. LindaGHill
    Dec 28, 2016 @ 22:10:39

    Cool! Thanks for the lesson, Ritu! 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  2. Fourth Generation Farmgirl
    Nov 15, 2016 @ 19:22:35

    Thanks for sharing this interesting cultural lesson. I agree that we should all just respect one another.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. Erika Kind
    Nov 12, 2016 @ 22:32:39

    I am glad you went off-piste with this. I did not know about that! It is sad that you get respect only because of how you look like or where you come from… or get no respect!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  4. Judy E Martin
    Nov 12, 2016 @ 20:33:00

    That was a very interesting and informative post, Sis. I didn’t know what mem-sahib meant although had heard of it 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  5. joey
    Nov 12, 2016 @ 19:19:48

    Well isn’t that quite the cultural lesson? I have heard the phrasing, but not any explanation, so I appreciate that. What if we just treated people with respect, no matter what, eh? Like, you’re just you, and I’m just me, and they’re just them… I can find very few exceptions 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  6. willowdot21
    Nov 12, 2016 @ 18:51:24

    Lovely as ever and interesting too!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. charlypriest
    Nov 12, 2016 @ 18:37:32

    Hello mem Ritu, I like that. I´m corresponding with a high level person here, not everybody can say that mem Ritu.
    How do you call a man then? A man with high status in society?
    Just to know and probably will make some silly jokes to some of my Indian blogger friends.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. Brenda
    Nov 12, 2016 @ 18:05:10

    I wasn’t expecting to be so well informed. 🙂 A great post!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. mihrank
    Nov 12, 2016 @ 17:57:05

    great post, must read to learn, good details…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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