As I walk back down the road to the back roads of Chincholi Bunder (Creek) I enter a new world. A world different from where i spend my entire day. The entire day is normally at home where the time table swings up and down between books, leisure and family. A evening stroll to a place which was once an untrespassed territory but now a different world all together. The lane starts with dim street lights with glass buildings on both sides and a mob of youth having their favourite snacks at the roadside Tajs & Oberois. Everything fine till now. A more closer watch will enable you to spot about people in the corners smoking their favourite sticks during their team breaks. The density of smokers is so high that a friend of mine can easily say thats Four Square, no Marlboro or today its Willls. Get a life i think about telling these guys and girls but then i tell myself i have no business nosing around their business. Glass Buildings here run round the clock supporting calls for the those abroad. Talking with a typical thick euro-asian assent these guys lead a carefree life.
This is the first Magik that globalisation and westernisation has done to our cultural base. Nothing wrong but then its rightly said Aping others was , is and will never be cool. And loosing your identity to just be cool is completely wrong. Not to be prejudicial to our Western Borthers but if In Rome you do as the Romans do Then why do Indains in apna pichvada have to ape the whites and their ishtyle.
As i move ahead I take my usual seat at the steps of this Garden built by the BMC or a like-government body. A 10 min rest over there and you will realise that the ultimate purpose for what these parks were built has gone drastically wrong. Yes it was supposed to be meant for Recreation, Exercise and Amusement for Children. But its turned out to be an epic centre for romance and a public display of affection. The Park sends out a strong signal of changing the edifice of our culture and the principals of Public Display of Affection laid down by it. Still nothing wrong, they say. Our life and our body. But then when you see children ogling at these engrossed couples , pointing and giggling, its a tough time for their parents back home. A crictic says bal manavar parinam hota na! The other day i was sitting outside when a terse couple got out from the rick arguing at the top of their voices entered the park and took a secure hiding place. The place I think was behind some bushes. The gardener had I think deisgned those bushes in such a way that the eye cant find a thing. But when they came back 20 mins later while I was still sitting outside. The scene has changed. A peacefull looking couple, the cuttest if its kind, walking hand in hand and laughing and smiling as thought they hadnt fought each other in their last upteen lives forget about the last 30 mins, presenting as thought they are a couple with the tag line: Till death do us apart.
A word of caution to my friends and and their better halves. Constant Vigilance always!
Regards,
PV
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