Leave it behind ... You've got to leave it behind... All that you fashion, All that you make, All that you build, All that you break, All that you measure, All that you steal, All this you can leave behind, All that you reason, All that you sense, All that you speak, All you dress up, All that you scheme... And love is not the easy thing, Its the only baggage you can bring, Its all that you can't leave behind... (These are few lines from one of my favorite songs WalkOn by U2)

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Different Folks, Different Strokes

I have had the oppotunity to closely know people from various parts of the country and I think each of them has something peculiar about them. you meet a kashmiri... they'll have enough to contribute to your knowledge about the kashmir issue, about how the kashmiri population has decreased. they'll have stories to tell u about rogan-josh , kashmiri qawah , pasmina shawls , jamawar embroideries , dal lake ... thnx to isha dhar, I even know how to swear in kashmiri .. then you meet bengalis... well, I have met a lot of 'em... they are the people very possessive about their culture and their language. Even they have enough to enrich u with bengali sweets and durga puja and rabindra sangeet ... thnx to somleena I can even understand bengali partly now. I envy the beautiful skin the bengali women have ...though barring a few most of those I have come across seem pretty stingy and I am not saying this just becoz Sudipto has not given me my birthday gift. This happened with me while travelling on a train from kolkatta to delhi. My cell-phone was not allowing me to make any outgoing calls when I urgently needed to make one. I asked about five people around my compartment. The surnames on the reservation chart confirmed they were bongs. I almost begged for one call on the cell-phone and incidently all of them claimed to be phone-less ( though that's a different story that I could hear phone ringing all thru the journey) . And then there are these marathis... they are scary rather intimidating sometimes. I dunno whether its true or a farce to scare others away but sometimes they are rude. I was travelling in a public transport bus in this maharashtrian city I was putting up at for a while. Usually the distance I travelled costed me some three and a half bucks. I gave a ten rupee note and said "saade teen". he gave me four papers which looked like tickets , three in one color and fourth in another and asked for 3 bucks more. Asking for the rest of change, i said "baaki ka change de deejiye "... mr. conductor replies " aap bola saade teen toh diya na saade teen ticket ab teen rupaiya aur do " the mistake of my life i forget to mention "saade teen rupaye".. and if you think mr. conductor was dumb you are wrong... he just wants to be nasty to those who can't speak their tongue... but then they are nice, calm, non-aggressive people who don't really interfere with others' business...
And then there are south-indians... yoginder, u might get cross on me for using the term "south indian" and remember all the exceptions in the good things mentioned below is u.. ok , so i would categorically state ... I have closely known kannadigas, tamilians, andhrites and malyalis, in that order. And barring a few these are the most humble and down-to-earth people I have ever met. They come across as people the most content and happy being what they are. yes, most of them don't really want to talk in language other their own but then rest is fine...
I was born and brought up in this city called delhi. And I want to say a lot of things pertaining to the people who hail from city including me without being blasphemous. This is a city of shammers, pretenders. They sham day in and day out. Though I have not calculated but their IQ seems to be much less than they show it out to be. They are the ones least sure of what they are and what they want to be accepted as. They are over conscious of the designer they are wearing , the swanky cell-phone they are holding , the fashion quotient of the car they are driving and what they are thought of by the rest of the world...they might not be capable of holding and voicing their opinions on most of the things but they are quite capable of putting an air of arrogance around them as if they are the best by the virtue of the geography of their city. Besides, they don't even have a language to talk privately in which others cant understand!!! huh!!!
And what the hell i hope i m not but probably i too am one of them...