We had a small lunch date with our muse, Raveena. We had a short interview session with her. Nadia came up with several questions for her to answer and this was how it went down:
1. What is the essential thing anyone has to know about the culture of Punjabi?
- That it exists. Haha. And that we have our own set of believes different from others. Many people are oblivious to the fact, some have never even heard of Punjabis here.
2. Was it difficult for you to be raised as a member of Punjabi in Malaysia?
- Well not at all, in fact I did not feel, at any one given moment that it was difficult.
3. Have you ever had any feelings of being discriminated against, do you think it will be different if you were born as a Chinese, an India or a Malay?
- Im lucky to say no, but I believe there are people who would have felt discriminated. But yes, it would definitely be different if I was born as a different race although I have no complaints and am blessed being Punjabi and would not trade being anything else, discriminated or not.
4. Do you see yourself as a person who comes from a different culture instead of commonly generalized as Indian?
- Yes. Haha. I have been asked this question many times. I do consider myself as a North Indian. But here in Malaysia the south Indians are categorized as Indians and we Punjabi’s always fall under the ‘lain-lain’ category. Well atleast that’s what I was taught in school. J
5. What are the differences between Indian and Punjabi? In terms of the food you eat, the color, the arts, the music, the face features?
- South Indians are usually Hindus, and Punjabi’s are usually Sikhs. Our food’s different, we love our chappati and ghee and butter. Our music is some hard loud dance music called Bhangra. One given facial feature would be the nose. Haha. We speak Punjabi and Indians speak Tamil. Its two very different languages.
6. Do you think that the Punjabi culture is starting to be ‘extinct’ in Malaysia?
- No. We are a minority. We always have been a minority.
7. Does it (the extinction of the culture of Punjabi) worry you and the people in your society?
- No, I would say not. We know we are a minority here and besides if we ever do feel that way all we have to do is bring our relatives down from India. :P
8. Does Punjabi have any specific religion?
- Yeah. We actually have 3 different religions most Punjabis practice. One being Islam. Most Punjabi’s in Pakistan are Islam. Then there’s Sikhism, which is what most Malaysian Punjabi’s, including me, are and in India. And there are also those who believe in Hinduism.
9. What are the famous taboos among the Punjabis?
- Well, we have a few superstitions. But they are the common ones, like no cutting your nails at night, no sweeping the house at night. My mom when she was younger was taught to never wash her hair on Tuesdays and til today she doesn’t know why. But thankfully with time, we live more practically.
10. Does Punjabi have any social caste system? If so does it still exist in Malaysia?
- The social caste system does exist but it is strongly adhered to in India. Most Malaysian Punjabi’s do not go by this much. Maybe there are a few but as far as I know, its more laid back here than it is compared to India.
That's about all that we have for today and the rest of the time we talked about classes and assignments. Pictures arent available because none of us remembered to bring a camera. We're such scatter brains! Haha. Till next time!
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