Watching the city without glasses....

My pen is suffering a lot to pen down something. It got exhausted... before, i approached it only when i was tired, and when in need of some imagination, some dreams and it was happy to help me relax. And now, since relieved from the tight work schedule, it too finds difficult to extract words from imagination... and it underlines the fact that only experiences can result in strong words. I thought of this mental exertion again when heard the 'oru chembaneer pooviruthu njanomale' song from the ground floor.. some happy guys enjoying their off from work down the floor... I say them happy because only in that state we could enjoy the songs and poetry and still remain logical. And only those dreamers can bring vitality into their lives.

The beautiful song stirred an emotional escape from my boring, lonely existence here in bangalore. With a higher education plan in mind I landed in this multicultural city few months back. Within days, I realized that me too was confused a lot like the others around. I had a lot of plans and realizing them all at the same time was quite impossible and I started shifting my focus from one to another quite frequently. It took time for me to get accustomed to the varieties and variances around and painfully realized how people act themselves out. I owe this city a lot. Every time it brings the memory of broken friendships, first career experience, vision of free and happy people roaming around, and while leaving everyone fondly giving a share in their memory space for this great city. I came to this then beautiful city around 8 years back and was fascinated by the disciplined traffic, cool weather, orchards of banyan trees, well dressed professionals and was surprised by my teacher wearing lipstick while coming for exam inspection and yes ofcourse- I flunked the test! Years later, when I came again, the banyan trees were cleared away in order to make room for we foreigners, pavements turned dirty and dusty from year's excreta, vehicles rammed the roads and even the walkways, multilingual film posters covering the entire banglore city walls ( thanks to BBMP for coming up with the novel idea of mural paintings on public walls and was a little surprised on how the artists managed to do them on the busy flyovers on the majestic-malleswaram road), parties filling up nights, everyone too busy with their own chores and I got an instant reluctance to the city and fled from here under the pretext of a transfer.

Back again to fill the blanks, I got the feeling that the city is changing shape in every instant, and we in the midst of unrealities. Just like the way Syamaprasd portrays in 'RITU' there are many who blames that ' Banglore is an entirely new world and so reaping its benefits' and little realize the fact that they themselves turned it that way. I am getting surprised at how drastically people changes, becoming part of late night parties and pub culture in an attempt to be renowned as 'established', wondering how they were not able to get such 'nice' friends ever before, money being the underlying factor for all friend circles, splitting families in order to make space for themselves, and pathetically falling into a whole life drama - becoming too proud to smile and cry in the simplicities of life.

I recollect my communication class, where our wonderful teacher told the story of a poor man who bought some electronic gadget. While unwrapping it, he saw it was marked 'hi-fi' and even lost his appetite at the thought of owning a 'hi-fi' product. The same happens to many here, thinking part of 'hi-fi society' they fail to recheck its 'high fidelity' or even forget that hi-fi meant hi-fidelity!

The inevitable evil of this mixing up is that everything will be right here. The not so good or even wrong things in one's context is the supreme right in another one's case. So questioning wont help and only thing we could do is to clear out ourselves if something doesn't suit you. I still remember a sickening incident when in the midnight we got terrified by the earsplitting cry of a woman, and another woman trying to calm and soothen her out, bolting her up in their room, bottles breaking, guys scolding, talks of infection, blood and stuff like that, all from our neighbourhood, which went on for nearly two hours!!! Luckily, that house owner managed to push those people out the very next day and it got forgotten as a 'simple' incident of over drinking. And if you get the feeling that it may be some very local areas, its one of the best locations in the real estate business where 3BHKs are having dream price of nearly 1.75 crores!!!

I could still perceive the good, friendly warmth of the city but also got the feeling that this 'home for all' city has reached its maximum capacity and is struggling hard to accommodate all those who flowing in with a bright future in mind.