Big Cities, New Impressions.
I am a big-city girl. I hail from Calcutta, it is the 3rd largest city in India with a population of 15 million. In spite of that Calcutta has a small town feel to it when I compare it with the national capital, New Delhi and the commercial capital Mumbai.
In Calcutta, aunties stop you on the street to ask you what you were doing at the auto-stand at 7:30 p.m, in your uniform when you should be home and you meekly reply that you are just on your way home from the tuition and when a cyclist bangs on to you and knocks you down, the dadas, dadus and aunties rain down on him.
But oh so big Delhi had me whimpering like a child, never mind I was 18. The devil may care attitude and I-don't-give-a-damn sort of people made me feel insignificant and lonely. The new born adult learns to hold her own fighting through all the injustices of being felt up, duped by the auto-wallahs and the lewd commenter... the young ones grow older, come of age, some become ruthless and unsympathetic towards people who suffer the same fate
And then I went to Mumbai for a conference, my first time in this glamorous, cosmopolitan city, the city that truly never sleeps. I did not have a clue about this place. I travelled alone from TISS to bandra (w) to Goregaon to Lokhandwala and not once did I feel unsafe after the initial doubt. The autowallahs were polite, not assuming that I am a newcomer and attempting to rip me off. People were helpful, gave the correct direction when they knew where I wanted to go and surprisingly I didn't have to hear the 'ma-behen gaalis' even once throughout my little trip... how refreshing is that you ask? ANd then you think, I am still in India, I am still speaking the same language yet how different the two sets of people are!
Having been to some of the world's largest cities- NYC, Paris, Berlin, Delhi, Bombay and Calcutta, I have realized that multiplexes, multistoreyed car parks and gigantic shopping malls don't make a city, it is the people. I am also a big-city girl not just because I was born in one but also because I am most comfortable in a noisy, busy, disorderly big-city. When I have one bad day with rude people and misbehaving adults, the next day I have someone smile at me while they pass me in a restaurant and greet me at the shop or waive the bus fare (yes it really happened) and I develop newer impressions each time. Whoever said that the first impression is the last--- was so so wrong.
This post was suggested to me by a very dear friend who is, right now, on a mission impossible:
The heat and dust project:
"That there is a whiff of the languid about the title is the only saving grace. Because touring India in its glorious original season – the summer – is a certifiably insane project.
Here's the deal: India in a 100 days ( Make that 80- see Pilot) A life-altering journey*. On a tight budget. Make that, a v.v. tight budget. 500 a day as a matter of fact. For 2.
Please join her group on Facebook here and you will experience this insane project with them. You are welcome to contribute your experiences on their discussion boards.
In Calcutta, aunties stop you on the street to ask you what you were doing at the auto-stand at 7:30 p.m, in your uniform when you should be home and you meekly reply that you are just on your way home from the tuition and when a cyclist bangs on to you and knocks you down, the dadas, dadus and aunties rain down on him.
But oh so big Delhi had me whimpering like a child, never mind I was 18. The devil may care attitude and I-don't-give-a-damn sort of people made me feel insignificant and lonely. The new born adult learns to hold her own fighting through all the injustices of being felt up, duped by the auto-wallahs and the lewd commenter... the young ones grow older, come of age, some become ruthless and unsympathetic towards people who suffer the same fate
And then I went to Mumbai for a conference, my first time in this glamorous, cosmopolitan city, the city that truly never sleeps. I did not have a clue about this place. I travelled alone from TISS to bandra (w) to Goregaon to Lokhandwala and not once did I feel unsafe after the initial doubt. The autowallahs were polite, not assuming that I am a newcomer and attempting to rip me off. People were helpful, gave the correct direction when they knew where I wanted to go and surprisingly I didn't have to hear the 'ma-behen gaalis' even once throughout my little trip... how refreshing is that you ask? ANd then you think, I am still in India, I am still speaking the same language yet how different the two sets of people are!
Having been to some of the world's largest cities- NYC, Paris, Berlin, Delhi, Bombay and Calcutta, I have realized that multiplexes, multistoreyed car parks and gigantic shopping malls don't make a city, it is the people. I am also a big-city girl not just because I was born in one but also because I am most comfortable in a noisy, busy, disorderly big-city. When I have one bad day with rude people and misbehaving adults, the next day I have someone smile at me while they pass me in a restaurant and greet me at the shop or waive the bus fare (yes it really happened) and I develop newer impressions each time. Whoever said that the first impression is the last--- was so so wrong.
This post was suggested to me by a very dear friend who is, right now, on a mission impossible:
The heat and dust project:
"That there is a whiff of the languid about the title is the only saving grace. Because touring India in its glorious original season – the summer – is a certifiably insane project.
Here's the deal: India in a 100 days ( Make that 80- see Pilot) A life-altering journey*. On a tight budget. Make that, a v.v. tight budget. 500 a day as a matter of fact. For 2.
Please join her group on Facebook here and you will experience this insane project with them. You are welcome to contribute your experiences on their discussion boards.
Comments
@kuntala.. thank you so much, hyan eta ami recetnly berlin e experience korechilam. I had a horrible first day, I had decided ar konodin kaaj na thakle berlin jabo na and the second day was absolutely different.