Here’s how the Patels shoot!

Maxwell Pereira

MY children are pretty conscious when I am with my camera. ‘Daddy, stop acting like a tourist!’ is their constant refrain. But then, I have this penchant for clicking randomly, to the annoyance of those being clicked, and irrespective of the million times the object or subject of my interest has been clicked before. As experience goes, eventually everyone — family or friend — turns to me when in need of pictures of an ancestor, relative, a bygone event. That is satisfaction enough!

I am not alone. Desis in America have termed this unique gift or ailment as ‘Patel-mania’ and the products of the effort as ‘Patel-pics’, which I gather are attributed to ‘pics’ by those perhaps ‘freshly off the boat’. A blog says: ‘You know someone is new  to the US when his latest Picasa album contains pictures of every street sign, parking lot, freeway, exit sign, elevator and subway direction he has come across; to say nothing of the taxis, dustbins, corner ATMs, the woman walking her dog, and the signature pic next to some statue.’ The  urge to click everything that’s new — object, subject or experience — is, I believe, unique to all Indians, not necessarily the prerogative of those visiting the US. The blog clarifies that the reference to Patels was not meant to be an affront to the enterprising Patels, simultaneously reasoning  that Patel perhaps is the most popular Indian surname outside India that fits conveniently before the word ‘pics’.

The public radio programme website ‘A Way With Words’ examined through history, culture and family goes further to describe a ‘Patel shot’ as a candid photograph with a person in the foreground and a place or object of interest such as a tourist destination or landmark in the background; with an editorial comment crediting the ‘double-tongued dictionary’ for the explanation that the term is common among Anglophone Indians, used sparingly by only a small number of closely associated filmmakers!

But David Pinto in Davis, California, made me wise to ‘Patel-points’ —  a lesser known derivative of the Patel-terminology. He had complimented me on earning my ‘Patel-points’ after giving me a whirlwind tour of Sacramento and its sights and delights —notching a ‘point’ after clicking every landmark, statue and monument. Later, I discovered the term was not his invention. According to a  website, ‘when a tourist goes around town taking pictures of almost anything that looks photo-worthy — of course with himself in the picture too — to show friends and family back home; fondly named after a community in India who make best use of every penny spent!’

Thanks to the 2002 Gujarat riots, it was a cakewalk for the other surname from Gujarat to become the byword in India and the world — enough to replace the surname most associated with the state. Apparently, none of the ‘Patel-point’ worthy pics and videos of the riots are good enough to arrest the trend for selfies made popular by our PM. Which makes many wonder: will it stop at selfies? Which aggressive or dictatorial, inhuman or despotic, idiosyncrasy or attribute of life will now merit accumulation of these new points?