Hypocritical society

Are we Elitists? Or are we “Godayas” (people considered to be of a lower class) who are snickered at by wanna-be elitists?

What really makes one an elitist and what qualifies one to be a goday person? (note the deliberate twist in intransitive verbs!)

Who’s a “gamey,godey” dude? (person from the village)

Is the person who says “yo, dude!” more elite than the everyday person on the road who says “excuse me mata para pennanna puluwang da aiye?”

It’s mind boggling how inconsistent our labels on people and occupations are isn’t it?

We start off at College.

We get the Local schools and the International schools.

Those who attend Local schools tend to see their multi-cultural counterparts from CIS and Wycherly to be so cultured that they end up with zero culture. They also believe that those who have had an International-school education are frogs in a well. A very elitist well with just a few frogs who go nowhere let alone jump out of that well!

Those who attend International Schools consider their Local counterparts to be boring and out of touch with the latest. Be it fad, music, fashion or style, they find those who school at local government or private institutions to be incapable of “out of the box” thinking and therefore a sheer waste of time socializing with. They’d rather look the other way and pretend they didn’t see a “local school” mate for much of that reason. Those who attend International Schools are more “posh” and move with the foreign fraternity – the international community!

This only serves to tickle their Local counterparts who consider their education to be a tad shoddy compared with their share of Local schooling where people learn, play and end up a “normal” product of society. Note the labeling and tags? (well it’s deliberate!)

And then you get the categories!

Schools like Visakha and Museaus and Devi may be academically far superior to the rest but they are tagged “goday” while Ladies’ College and Bishop’s College are considered the “head in the air, hi-fi” “woman about town” schools. The “Convents” have their own fans and following but are considered to be regimented and indeed “convented” and therefore so restricted that they go berserk once let lose on society! The boys have their own version of much of the same game.

Move on to University and you get the more JVP oriented villagers and the Colombo schools fraternity locking horns for the first time.

Here is a place where the elite and the posh, the convent and the goday all flock together to form one breed of student – the Colombo Schooler! The International School being eliminated (you see – they end up abroad or at “hi-fi” institutions like ANC), it’s just two teams now, and you see that on the first day at Uni as a fresher during the rag period.

“Mama Colombing” (I’m from Colombo”) and you’re in for a hard time. Here is one place where the elitists are given a firm shaking and quietened down to a muffle. They dare not speak when accosted by their villager/outstation counterpart. The tables turn and one dares not be elitist, because he wouldn’t have a legto stand on! In with the plaits and the long frocks. The coolness of being “goday” is a luxury to the Uni student who knows that this garb is what would keep him/her out of harm’s way. He dare not bring out the “Kaduwa” (a term used for the English Language) and in hindsight, had there been an International Schooler with his nose in the air daring to enter this fold, a severe makeover would be necessary if survival is priority.

Move out of University and back to Society and we’re back in square one. In again with the labeling. The pride of place that the “goday” had is lost quicker than a heartbeat. You come down notches so fast that it’s amazing how much of a bad wicket you are on if you speak poor English or don’t have your hair set out just right as a social gathering in Colombo.

And it's back to being “Elitist” or “Goday”

Disclaimer : I know I have stereotyped in this post and I must add that my views or reports are NOT expected to be viewed as factual (so if you happen to belong to any of the categories I’ve mentioned, please note, I’m only striving to create some idea of what I’m trying to say here about it being sad yet true that this kind of cyclic labeling does take place)

I’m ending this post abruptly here, because I’d like you to think for just a moment about what I’ve written.. Think about your school days, your workplaces and your own opinions of people other than yourself.

In conclusion, I'm not chiding you for having your prejudice,. I'm just drawing attention to the fact ,that it’s there.