A multicultural family

An extroardinary woman and her dog outside a Shakti temple

Last september I enrolled in Indian studies at university. As I quit my job to take care of the baby, I figured it would be good to spare a few hours per week to learn tamil language properly. After all we have a plan to relocate to Tamil Nadu within the next few years, and I think it is really important for our daughter to be bilingual.

In this aspect my plan worked out quite well as it encouraged my husband to speak tamil to his child. In the first months I was scared as she didn't talk at all. But now, at 27 months old, she knows many French words and a handful of Tamil words ; Appa (daddy), va (come), Akka (elder sister), Aya (grand-ma), yanei (elephant)... And she understands a lot. She probably knows more tamil than me already.

Tamil lessons have been really really hard for me. But I did really well in civilisation lessons. Then I somewhat lost interest in windian blogs. I realized that on my first trip to South India, I had very good intuitions but it took me 8 years to understand what they meant. Understanding India requires a lot of patience and dedication. Understanding comes in layers.

Madurai sari (c) https://textontextiles.wordpress.com/tag/saree/

For instance, I left looking for monkeys, the colour red and shamans, but it was only this year I learnt about village gods vs forest gods in hinduism, and understood Tamil Nadu was a big centre for red dyes with Madurai being a religious centre as well as a centre for a special red tint. As for "shamans" they are everywhere, but since they are usually low-caste or untouchables, it's not so easy to meet them.

In turn it made me reflect on my identity and my family's identity. We are multicultural but what does it mean ? I don't go around in Indian clothes, I don't have a thali or a pothu.... This is the kind of multicultural people we are, mixing smelly cheese and pickes, kilos of rice and huge packets of strong tea... Nothing fancy or exotic. A down-to-earth, day to day balancing of various influences, tastes and yearnings.