Goome
It’s a happy occasion at cousin’s place, a reason for the entire family to come together, make merry and generally have a good time bonding with each other. The cousins are elated. Everyone’s in their festive attire and some have brought home made eateries for the host and the children. Once the puja got over there’s a benevolent commotion in the house to get the first batch of meal ready. It’s served traditionally on a banana platter on the floor with innumerable delicacies adorning the leaf. One requires patience and concentration to relish every single taste on the palette, the navarasas. The food was served with love by the women of the family and some men. Some of the items got raving reviews by the foodies.
Just when the men, children and guests are happily patting their full tummies and going to wash their hands there’s a silent question mark on the eyebrows of ladies of the first circle in the family. Who will 'do goome’?. It is one of the age old traditional practices of Brahmin households in Karnataka that today translates to clearing banana leaves and sprinkling water over the eaten spots before wiping. The most disgusting part is that it’s always women who have to wipe the floor clean with their hand by gathering the leftovers and keep pushing the collected stuff in front of them until they reach the end of the eating spots. They squat and do this wiping with their one hand and 2 feet immersed in the leftovers/dirty water.
Coming back to the function, the brother has walked away to chitchat with his father and other men. The brothers in law who otherwise have high standards of 'purity' and 'hygiene' are hardly bothered by the ordinance their women have to go through. The senior women of the house want to avoid conflicts with the younger women of the house and whenever somebody refuses to do goome they jump into the task irrespective of their health condition.
I somehow don’t remember doing this goome after my teenage. I have always been the rebel of the house and I’ve always managed to get out of this humiliating, arcane brahminical custom. My sisters have started not doing this in recent years. But there are still my girl cousins and old women who do this goome while their husbands, fathers, brothers and sons escape this.
If you’re reading this and you’re a Brahmin man who is part of this culture do you see the injustice of this practice? The unhygienic humiliation you subject your women to? If you are women of the brahminical household continuing this tradition do you see any problem at all in how the culture is discriminating against you? Let’s have a chat.
