Sometimes I think all of us (atleast in India) live in two worlds ..and it has got nothing to do with economic strata we stay in. Its a state of mind thingy.
Sample this..We tell our kids that its better to love and enjoy a game than winning but then goad on them like race horses. We think we are the next superpower and then say " India hai yaar..yahaan kuch nahi ho sakta".
We say something and do some thing thats diagonally opposite to wat we say. We say we hate materialistic things but lust after our neighbors car. We say we dont like western things but we throng out in large numbers to have a grab at anything western. We say we dont want english but then admit our children into same schools.
If you have a look a tv shows you will see this dichotomy played out again and again. You will find smooth talking urbane crowds mouthing all politically correct dialogues about everything from the BMC to Kafka and sounding so so nice. Thats all fine till u actually see what they do in real life.
Sometimes they make for interesting observation on how similar these people sound. Similar phrases, similar sounds..even similar stammerrings.
One actually cant call them dudes but yes they live in a parallel world of make believe either by design or default. These guys/gals are either born into this La-Dida world or are propelled into this world by a wormhole of professions like , media, journalism or fashion.
The best part of the story is that this level of existance can exist parallel to the "real" world ..Its only when they try to coincide there is an issue.
The friction comes out in these places
1. Lower strata breaking into parallel layer.Say a middle class gal wanting to become a model. The friction comes not so much from the upper layer as much as the "stickiness" of the lower layer. The lower layer is so much rooted in reality that it cannot get into the suspended animation of the upper layer.
2. Upper strata coming down to Lower strata. ie. Fashion Shows/Events. They represent an attempt of this parallel upper class to come down to the lower class. This is resented by the "lower strata" because they are envious of the money and power of this class.
Entering this make believe world of "hi fi" status is not easy. Not easy because it takes a lot of sacrifice. Of ego, self respect, Sexual fidelity and moral fidelity. Its a world where the price is your soul . This is a sell out thats most of us are not willing to make...Thats why we stay wre we are....
1 comment:
This "Two Worlds" blog reminds me of what I read in a book "India Unbound" by Gurcharan das. The term is "Cultural Commuters". According to the book, in pre-independence days, there were many Indians working in the British Government, who wore British like dress and spoke English etc... In the evening they would return back to their homes, wear traditional Indian dress eat Indian food speak Indian etc..
The concept of "Cultural Commuters" still exists, for example, in the BPO circles, where the executives commute between the foreign and Indian cultures. This is indeed a dual world we live in.
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