My morning-afters are also moments of realization, except that I don't need to use this. I just come to my blog and realize that I have made a rather strongly worded post in a condition of drunken-ness. It would be obvious to most of you that the only time I feel creative enough these days to write anything is when I am slightly (or a little more than slightly) drunk. I don't lie after drinking, but I do end up making posts that amplify my feelings.
So, even though I don't think anyone's opinion is going to get influenced by my post, I feel I need to write a bit about my previous post.
I did go through a brief period of discomfort when I got to know that I would have to move to Mumbai, unless I resigned from my job (a thought that I confess hasn't been completely absent in the last few weeks), but I got over it soon enough. Much as I have come to like this city, or at least town (calling it an overgrown village is a little too cruel), I have started to look forward to moving to Mumbai. Which does come as a surprise. When I had visited Mumbai in August last year, I had absolutely hated the place, maybe partly because it was marred by loss of my wallet and a one-day, tiring, trip to Singapore, during which I fell ill and developed a hatred of salads that lasted over a month. But, my visit last weekend to look for a flat made me realize that it is as good or as bad as any other city in India. And just as I have ended up loving Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore over the last decade, I am sure Mumbai will also grow on me. Quite a geographical distribution of my love, you would agree.
And Mumbai is definitely a better option in terms of gaining a semblance of social life. Even if I don't meet any of my hundreds of acquaintances there, at least taking that 5-minute auto rickshaw ride to my bro's place will not stop. I pray he doesn't take up a job in Bangalore now!
As far as my rants about people of Bangalore is concerned, even though I don't feel as strongly as the post might have made one feel, I do think there is a problem that the city faces in that respect. For a large section of the population in Bangalore - the not-so-well-off-ones - the IT revolution and the inflow of people from other parts of the country, particularly from the North, has been very disconcerting. It has brought about a change in the living standards of the upper-middle-class sections of Bangalore as well, but I am not sure the fruits have reached the lower sections. If anything, they have felt more left out, been made more aware of their shortcomings. Their response is reflected in the rapid increase in crime rate in the city, very often directed towards the IT professionals. I also feel this unrest, this frustration, is responsible for the attacks against women. There is this helplessness that a lot of men, who don't see themselves being a part of this growth, must feel.
On the other hand, there is this section of people in Bangalore, whom I find even more pathetic. These people rue the demolition of every ruined theater, closing of every loss-making bookshop, shutting down of every unfrequented restaurant, in the name of culture. They are the equivalents of jhola-wallahs of JNU in Delhi, or the frustrated communists spread all over Kolkata, who just suffer from a severe case of cultural constipation.
Even though I mentioned some stuff about Kannadiga culture in my last post, I think I am probably the person with the least respect for this sacred cow called culture. I don't think there is anything called culture in terms of the broad brush-strokes people tend to define it as. My thesis on culture still needs some time before I write about it here, but I do find these 'cultured' Bangaloreans, many of whom meet regularly at that really pathetic restaurant called Koshy's or wax eloquent in Time Out's Bangalore edition about things so pointless that I can't even recall right now, indescribably sad. Bangalore deserves better.
There is one section that I really enjoy interacting with. Not that I have had the privilege of doing that much, thanks to the largely insulated, secluded, life I have lived over the last one year. This section is Bangalore's hope, and thankfully comprises a large fraction of Bangalore's population. People who have lived in Basavangudi, Rajajinagar, Jainagar, JP Nagar, and all other parts that I haven't heard of. People who have been here for multiple generations, and love this place, and have taken its change in their stride. Many of these people probably don't enjoy the turn their city's fortunes have taken, but do realize that it was inevitable.
Unfortunately, most of these people are too content in their nice houses, great jobs, loving families and wholesome bisi-bele-bath. They are the quintessential middle-class, or upper-middle-class if you will, which tends to do well in all situations.
Bangalore has actually changed over the course of the one year I have been here. It's continuously evolving, changing, maybe faster than any other city of a comparable size is. Whether it changes for the better, whether it becomes more accepting, or ends up being a mess that it seems headed for right now, depends on these people.
Well, yeah, I have had a few beers again.
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6 comments:
Well, you know what I must tell you - any city grows on you, with its pros and cons you start to love the city for what it is and for what it has given you - like I remember Bangalore for the place which gave me my first paycheck - a feeling which cannot be replaced - a feeling of independence - a feeling that even I am worth my salt - but all said and done, even though I love all the cities I have stayed so far, for one reason or the other - I must say the only city I would ever miss is my home town - for all the lacunae it has, no city can replace it, it is like a part of me - even if I go there after 20 years, I will still recognize every nook and corner of it.
Well, all the very best!!
Gosh! I have been away for quite a while, it seems.
Hi,
I chanced upon your blog & couldn't resist reading a couple of your Bangalore & Mumbai posts. And here's what I'd like to say smiling tell-me-about-it: I love Mumbai, & I have only several memories of short lives there. I spent 5 years in Bangalore & am really glad you feel the way you do about it. (esp. about Bsavanagudi, Jayanagar & JPNagar) I'm sure you've heard it before - do keep writing, you make a nice read.
Regards,
Me
The loss making book shop was manned by a super grumpy owner, who smiled so rarely, that when he did, you walked out feeling that you must have done something right.
The loss making book shop was where I bullyed my dad every saturday night into buying me something
The loss making bookshop was also where you could ask for a book, and he would get it for you, and pass on 30% discounts
I liked it. It isn't some psuedo save bangalore movement. The Bangalore I grew up in was really a small town. And it's hard for it's residents to deal with the fact that it's changing. And maybe whining about the shutting of loss making bookshops is just one of the ways I have of getting over it. Spare me the judgment.
Koshy's really sucks though.
I'm sorry. That was harsher than intended. But this is an old post, but you may never see it, so there :)
I do read EVERY comment at my blog.
Nope, you weren't too harsh. In fact, I was too harsh on the city in the post (and I think I have mentioned that in some later post).
I fell in love with Bangalore in the year I spent there. I don't claim to understand its many facets, but I did notice some of the elements you have enlisted in the post at your blog. And love the city for many of those.
I look forward to every trip I make to the city since moving to Mumbai last year.
This post was written in anger. Anger towards some people in the city. And not the city itself. Maybe writing when drunk is not my forte :D
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