Ever heard of Sami? 'Ah, yes, you are referring to the famous South Indian film, right?' Is that your answer? Well, i do love studying films as the blog yesterday would prove beyond doubt. Yet sorry to disillusion you. Sami has nothing to do with "Pushpa". Not that I like films less, it is just that I love culture more.
No, no need to worry about the source of this take off on a world famous quote. Instead, let us concentrate on Sami, okay? Well, Sami is a village and its culture. Where on earth is it? It is in northern Europe, northern Sweden, to be precise.
It is a small hamlet with very few families. It has a unique identity of its own though, and Evelina, a young girl there, is determined to preserve it and to present it to the whole world. In their culture, right when he/she is born, every kid gets a reindeer. It is the sacred duty of every individual to take care of this unique gift, who would be like the cow or the yak for the other civilizations, that is, the very lifeline in that faraway place where ice reigns supreme.
Evelina feels that the rest of the world must know such unique features of her culture. She is trying her level best to spread the good word around. Hence the title of our blog which is a take-off on Peter Selley's famous song, "love me, love my dog"
Actually, this opening phrase cum refrain of the song is itself a great English maxim "love me, love my dog" which celebrates total acceptance of a person, without demurring about anything that may appear like an oddity to you.
Evelina wants the world to adopt such an attitude regarding her native culture. Without any tool kit or any brattish arrogance supported by the powers that be in the fashion of a Greta Thurnberg, this young girl is a quiet but determined activist trying to preserve an identity which might otherwise be extinct! Long live Evelina's of the world!
Pratima@"Preservation of one's culture," says Cesar Chavez, "does not require disrespect to or the disregard of the other "
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