Do Pakistani women or men even wear bindis? I recall bindis being called "Paki dots" (which, btw, makes me extremely engry and I usually shout something about racism and stupidity to the comment-maker), but do Pakistanis even wear them? I've only really heard of Indians doing it as part of Hinduism and their culture...
it is a vedic (hindu) mark showing marital status for women and social/spiritual status for men. I think "tilik" is another word for the caste mark. I could be misspelling it. I feel the same way (angry) about "Paki shop" for a convenience store. Yet another reason I did not marry my British lover....
I sometimes use bindis. It calms me extremely much to have a center of focus for all my thoughts, right between my eyes. it's amazing how much more focused it makes me. Brilliant for meditation. I need to feel it though, so it needs to have a little weight, not just like some sticker you put up there.
Yeah, I've lectured my friend about the whole "Paki Shop" thing. Is it just me, or did I not actually hear the term "Paki"-whatever until after 911? It makes me extremely angry and I just want to hit people who do that....
I heard the term paki several times before, but many people came from pakistan to norway in the 90's, so i guess that's got something to do with it.
well this peaked my interest being that i dated a pakistani for 2.5 years. Paki sure is derrogatory to them...i learned that mistakenly after hearing them talk to eachother-once again just like other "racial" terms if you're not of that race...dont use it. But sigh not many people care so much and will use all the terms in the world, this being one of them. Definitely miss my pakistani lover one of the greatest men in the world. Anyway bindis are def. awesome well back to chatting with my pakistani friend now ;-) stay beautiful people
bindis are part of the hindu tradition. hindus are mainly indian, not pakistani. Pakistan is a primarily muslim country. the thing about racists is that they are ignorant, and can't tell the difference between india and pakistan.
Furthermore, the term 'Paki' is actually often used to describe someone who isn't even from Pakistan or India, and someone with no relation to those countries whatsover. It's even sometimes used to describe someone who isn't even even Asian!! But ultimately, wether the person is or isn't this nationality or that race, is preddy irrelevant. Speaking about the part of the head where the bindi is often placed. It's a very interesting part of the head, and the brain actually. It's often called the third eye, and I find that when I'm meditating, that's where there is a focus of activity, like tingling and so forth. It would appear that part of the mind is associated with higher conciousness or meditative states of mind. Perhaps that's what the bindi/higher conciousness symbolism relation stems from.
the dork I almost married referrs to an Indian woman his college roomie married as "black." and I heard pakishop in the late 80s in southern England. My friends in Garaj Mahal have a song called "Spic don't get no 'spect in East LA" which takes us on a ride of racial epiteths around the world. One member is Pakistani, one German Black and one US white. the song is a hoot, cause each one sings his "own" derogitory tale.
can anyone tell us what kind of marital statuses and things that the bindi's represent? I think that the ones you can buy in Little India [I live in Toronto] are really beautiful and you can find ones with intricate jeweling, etc.
i quit a job once because one of my co-workers kept referring to my husband as "the paki", openly and loudly, in front of customers and management, and nothing was done. the woman was from isreal and seemed to take deep political and religious offense at his very existence. thing is, that my husband isn't muslim - or hindu, for that matter. in fact he doesn't really have any religon, except for being a very devout yankees fan. the woman didn't have any real reason to hate him save for his skin color, which is no reason at all, if you ask me.
lol in my town when people say "paki" they aren't refering to people from pakistan, they are refering to a package store. like all us undereage kids look for "packy's" or a "packy run". i never heard people call a convinience store a paki store. usually the ignorant people who stereotype convinience marts where i come from call them "ghandi marts". it really pisses me off, i usually tell them off.
originally, the bindi was a spot of sandal (wood powder) with extra red coloring. It signifies marriage. I have seen black bindis on widows in the states. I am making a conclusion that the same is done in Desh.(india) Jonas, are you really in Connecticut? Paki-shop was a British thing. A Package store is liquor?
yeah, they're not called package stores anywhere else? thats weird everyone up here knows liquor stores by the name package store
