What is your favorite tea time discussion topic? I have always believed that no matter how faint hearted a man is, he comes up with the most gut wrenching intense topics to discuss over a cuppa. Be it polical issues like Should Sonia be considered Indian?, should Kashmir succeed to Pakistan? Or slightly lesser intense topics like if Sachin should retire, or the Bombay train blasts, Richard Gere kissing Shilpa Shetty…it never ends and the numerous arguments one can give never suffice to bury the discussion. You don’t believe me, then take a few minutes off and search a road side tea vendor and sip and cup of tea. And just listen to the news he has, or the men have who for god knows what reason are always found at his shop. I guess their appetite for tea is bottomless. No wonder our country has been identified with Tea as a geographical indicator.
I find the city life very interesting not only because I have spent 22 years living in the capital city but more so because now that I sit in Dontanpally which is an unknown little village 40 km away from Hyderabad main city. It is here that I have learnt to appreciate the beauty of a city. Well you could for once say that I am saying this as I am starved of urbane exposure, but nah! I guess it’s because now I understand that what it is to like stop in the middle of the road and wait for traffic, what it is like to wait for the electricity to return after a power failure. The only difference between a city and a village is time, time that separates them and also its availability. Once I asked my parents to send me a parcel through Speed Post (courier boy finds it unprofitable to deliver here), since the parcel was large I had to go into the village to collect it from the post office. Now for city grown up lad, Post Office sounded to be a modest establishment with a few workers. I negotiated my way and was directed to a brick and mortar hut shaped house which doubled up as the postman’s house and also the post office. And I waited for the post man to come and give me the parcel, it took him three hours to return and on being asked why he said simply that I had gone to deliver posts and I ride a bicycle. Had I been in my home waiting for a courier boy to deliver an expected package, I might have called its office atleast 10 times in 3 hours but here I was just thinking how clean and simple life is without motor driven technology like a mobile phone or a scooter. I loved the serenity and simplicity of the moment.
It is often said that a city like Delhi never sleeps, life never stops…no matter what. I remember when there were a string of bomb blasts in Delhi, Mumbai and more recently Hyderabad some time back. I got numerous calls enquiring my stay and safety but did I stop. One can stay off the roads for an hour or two but not for days. I shudder when my father tells me that the day Indira Gandhi was assassinated there was no public transport, the roads were deserted and he had to walk back 20 km from his office in the evening. So what stops…a few hearts that were ticking moments ago shut down by the exploding splinters that possibly were Alfred Nobel’s most unwanted invention. Tears dry up after a day or two, smiles go off the faces for a day or two but memories never go down. Blowing a few buses or planes or trains off stop the transport system and more importantly it doesn’t stop the mankind. Communal tensions would always but that doesn’t stop me from going into the lanes of Chandni chowk to savor Karims delicacies. I asked my best friend from school who visited Lahore several times during his graduation days – whats the best about the city? He said that the best would be the fact that it’s very much like Delhi plus the people are very helping. I ask myself now How many people would not want to go to such a city after listening to such an answer…The greatest thing I have learnt from any city in our country is simply “Fight…Fight back….don’t stop” . No wonder if you enjoyed reading what I said you would enjoy this song….
I find the city life very interesting not only because I have spent 22 years living in the capital city but more so because now that I sit in Dontanpally which is an unknown little village 40 km away from Hyderabad main city. It is here that I have learnt to appreciate the beauty of a city. Well you could for once say that I am saying this as I am starved of urbane exposure, but nah! I guess it’s because now I understand that what it is to like stop in the middle of the road and wait for traffic, what it is like to wait for the electricity to return after a power failure. The only difference between a city and a village is time, time that separates them and also its availability. Once I asked my parents to send me a parcel through Speed Post (courier boy finds it unprofitable to deliver here), since the parcel was large I had to go into the village to collect it from the post office. Now for city grown up lad, Post Office sounded to be a modest establishment with a few workers. I negotiated my way and was directed to a brick and mortar hut shaped house which doubled up as the postman’s house and also the post office. And I waited for the post man to come and give me the parcel, it took him three hours to return and on being asked why he said simply that I had gone to deliver posts and I ride a bicycle. Had I been in my home waiting for a courier boy to deliver an expected package, I might have called its office atleast 10 times in 3 hours but here I was just thinking how clean and simple life is without motor driven technology like a mobile phone or a scooter. I loved the serenity and simplicity of the moment.
It is often said that a city like Delhi never sleeps, life never stops…no matter what. I remember when there were a string of bomb blasts in Delhi, Mumbai and more recently Hyderabad some time back. I got numerous calls enquiring my stay and safety but did I stop. One can stay off the roads for an hour or two but not for days. I shudder when my father tells me that the day Indira Gandhi was assassinated there was no public transport, the roads were deserted and he had to walk back 20 km from his office in the evening. So what stops…a few hearts that were ticking moments ago shut down by the exploding splinters that possibly were Alfred Nobel’s most unwanted invention. Tears dry up after a day or two, smiles go off the faces for a day or two but memories never go down. Blowing a few buses or planes or trains off stop the transport system and more importantly it doesn’t stop the mankind. Communal tensions would always but that doesn’t stop me from going into the lanes of Chandni chowk to savor Karims delicacies. I asked my best friend from school who visited Lahore several times during his graduation days – whats the best about the city? He said that the best would be the fact that it’s very much like Delhi plus the people are very helping. I ask myself now How many people would not want to go to such a city after listening to such an answer…The greatest thing I have learnt from any city in our country is simply “Fight…Fight back….don’t stop” . No wonder if you enjoyed reading what I said you would enjoy this song….
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=6INOamqU7xs
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