User talk:FiveRings

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Hello, FiveRings, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome!  gidonb 08:22, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Caste and chappals

Hello, There is no connection between usage of rubber chappals and the caste system! There probably is a connection between the usage of rubber chappals and income as they are cheap. But even the richest households use rubber chappals in the privacy of their homes.

As for leather, well most upper-caste Hindus have traditionally considered using anything made of leather taboo - so they'd avoid using leather chappals. I really think you should remove the reference to a caste connection. I know of no such connection. —Veliath 17:43, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

How long did you live in India? FiveRings 18:54, 8 October 2006 (UTC)
I live in India. I'm an Indian. Have lived all over South India. Heck, at work, we switch to rubber flip-flops when we're in our cubicles! There is nothing low-caste about chappals — they're just considered cheap/informal. —Veliath 08:11, 9 October 2006 (UTC)
When I was there, older people treated me quite differently when I was wearing flip-flops (including glaring at me until I properly slipped them off and back on). One guidebook we bought before the trip noted that the two different styles (between the toe vs. loop toe) would elicit different treatment from people, and mentioned one traveller who eventually found a cobbler to add a toe loop to his between-the-toe sandals so he wouldn't have to deal with it. Either things have changed radically in the last ten years (possible), or this is a location issue (rural/city, north/south).
Oh thats bad. Are you sure it was a caste thing? I can assure you of two things 1) I've never noticed a caste label attached to rubber flip-flops. Chappals are considered informal and not something one would wear to a party or say to Church. Footwear as a rule are not allowed in any places of worship except maybe Latin Churches (as against the Syrian Churches which don't allow them). 2) People of all castes wear them - especially when they step out into the yards of their homes or into outhouses. If you were to wear it into/inside the house, the elders might frown at you. Most households don't like their guests tramping in mud into their houses — however dirty the houses' floors might be. When I visit my relation's houses, I carry two sets of chappals — one pair each for indoor and outdoor use!:-) Why don't you talk to someone from the area of India you lived in regarding the social implications of wearing rubber chappals. If there is indeed a difference, write up the difference in the status of the rubber chappals in Wikipedia — should be interesting. Else remove the caste bit (if you are convinced) —Veliath 16:22, 9 October 2006 (UTC)
I wouldn't enter a church, so that wasnt' it. This tended to happen in public places (the lobby of a hotel, on the street). Perhaps it's the use as primary footwear that's the issue. I'm going to dig and try to find the book. (in the wiki way, and given all the other customs associated with feet in India, as you've just noted, maybe chappals need their own page).FiveRings 17:18, 9 October 2006 (UTC)
So how long, where and under what circumstances did you live in India? Mail me if you'd rather not write all this out in public.

I visited India itself only for a few weeks (in Bangalore - my husband was consulting for Tata). As a kid in New York, and as an adult in San Franciso, I've lived near major Indian enclaves, and have lots of friends/aquaintances/coworkers who are Indian or who had lived there extensively.

My dorm tutor in college was Indian, and his wife treated me like crap (including threatening to hit me) because I was working as a housecleaner in the dorm (as part of work/study - she couldn't cope with all the uppity servants, and eventually went home). FiveRings 16:52, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

I'm sorry the Indian dorm tutor's wife gave you such a hard time. Indian society is pretty regimented — especially those of the older generations. Tradional professions are caste labels. So she'd have thought you were of a servant jati (community). Are you not caucasian? Indians are big on skin colour.
Speaking of B'glore, I was there today on business. I actually started looking for people wearing flip-flops:-) I've noticed you've contributed to Mormonism and Judaism. Do you belong to either of these faiths? Is your husband into software? —Veliath 16:56, 11 October 2006 (UTC)
I'm Jewish, and pass for Mexican on a regular basis (still lighter than she was though). The whole thing started when I was vacuuming the hallway, and her husband offered me a dollar to vaccum their suite as well. Apparently I wasn't as impressed by the offer as they expected (newly arrived, hadn't figured out the culture OR the economy). Then she started glaring at my feet - in New York that means you've stepped in something, so I did the polite thing and checked the bottoms of my sandals. :-).
My husband is a software architect. What I remember most about Bangalore (besides the monkeys) was people in business suits walking barefoot to work in the morning, carrying their shoes. (Still haven't managed to find good idli in California).
Indians have a way of converting anything monetary into rupee terms. So a dollar (Rs 50/- approx then) would have seemed like a lot. She didn't understand the economy for sure. No wonder she left!:-) I've never seen this phenomenon of people in suits walking barefoot to work carrying their shoes. I wonder what profession they were into...People here do go about barefoot a lot. I couldn't do it — I like(need?) to wear chappals inside the home as well. I get teased a lot for my tender baby pink feet!:-) —Veliath 15:30, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mormonism/Judaism

Mormonism and Judaism. I think it should be split; see talk there, would love to know your thoughts.Kaisershatner 17:29, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

I think that FiveRings has done a great job with the article. I think it also needs to be split, would love to know your thoughts as well, friend. Tigerlilly™ 11:12, 1 November 2006 (UTC)


aw shucks. I don't think it should be split, but I do think it should be cleaned up (do we really need a list of holiday-correllations?, etc.). While there are clearly two sections ('mormon feelings about' and 'comparisons between', the second doesn't make much sense without the context of the first. FiveRings 19:52, 1 November 2006 (UTC)
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