The View From "Jew Town," Ctd

A reader from India writes:

One of your readers noted the "jarring juxtaposition" of the Swastika with the Jewish Star of David. This association of the Swastika with the Nazis in modern America and much of the West is quite frustrating.

When my family visited some German friends about 15 years ago, we thought extremely carefully about giving them a little artistic idol of Lord Ganesha (a very happy God in our Hindu Mythology, one considered to be "vighnaharta" - or the "defeater of obstacles"), because Ganesha is associated with the Swastika. The Swastik (this is how we would pronounce it in Hindi or Marathi), is typically not turned through 45 degrees (like the Nazi one). The 4 sides refer to the 4 Vedas, the Four directions (this confirms that we couldn't fly in ancient times since we never refer to Six directions), the Four seasons and the 4 stages of life. Sadly, these days, everywhere except India, it seems to only signify the hideous Nazis.

I also disagree with your other reader about ghettos.

Ghettos are in fact fairly common in most Indian cities. They come about because of various reasons - they could be descendants of a Garrison (like the maharashtrian ghetto in Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh) or could be due to migration (like the Sindhi ghetto in Ulhasnagar to the North Eastern of Bombay). People want to live with their own people. But that does not mean that they prevent other people from coming or stop going to other places.

Like the Swastika, the Ghetto also has frustratingly bad connotations in America or even in England. How about calling them Communities instead? The word has it's origins in the City of Venice - Jews were forced to live in a specific part of that city (or, more accurately, were not allowed to live in other parts of that city). This is not true in India - the State does not and has never sanctioned this kind of discrimination. Sure there is some economic pressure - a lot of it is positive pressure - one's chances of doing well improve dramatically if one lives amongst his or her own people, especially given the multiple languages that operate in any one Indian city at any time.

The charm above can be bought here. Another reader writes:

I have to say the swastika/star of David dynamic is hilarious here. The manufacturer of the elevator in our Delhi hotel has a swastika for a logo. Today the Hindu temple we visited was plastered with them, then we went to a Muslim tomb that was covered with six-sided stars.