Social scientist and any person who have urban city life experience would undoubtedly say "yes" to my assessment in this write-up.
Of course, the grasses are not always greener on the other side of the fence. The very life in the urban cities like in Delhi,
Mumbai, Bangalore, would sometimes makes a person fall homesick, specially, a country boy like me who often get allergy to
artificial life.
I get sick of it just for one reason. And the reason is loud and clear--I was born into the arms of nature in my vicinity and
brought up in a hard-to-find social environment. Every places has got good and bad side of things. But I got to give you a
picture why urban city life like in Delhi especially is worst than life in my home town. And why I sometimes cannot be a
roman while in Rome.
For that I have many reasons . Even heaven cannot deny the fact that Delhi is the capital, epicentric of political echelons,
hotspot for job seekers , green pasture for students and destination for thousands of tourists and emigrants from
across the world .
In short, I have always thought of delhiites as a bunch of hard-working, open-minded, accepting, good-natured blokes.
Yet there are lots of geographical and social elements which seem to have almost eclipsed the better side of the Delhi.
I don't mean that we are superior chauvinistic social animals but when it comes to social life we are far ahead and advanced .
The social set-up in the urban cities is such that one usually doesn't know who is living in the next door, although
they are all under one roof. Hardly we can find social interaction among the community.
Whatever celebrations or festivals they have are purely family get-together, not community gathering, be it religious festivals, wedding, and the likes. The urban people are so self- centered that no give and take sort of habit is prevailing in their social institution. Its their way of life and partly due to the urbanization. In our society for instance,
any bystander would jump in without waiting for the cops to stop the fight between the two street fighters.
We, ourselves, are the law keepers and don't entertain such evil element in the society.
But in any big city, no one would dare to come between and they don't want to, for fear of involvement in the matter.
They would rather be a mere spectators guarding their own safety. The city is over populated.
Diversity in langauge, culture, race, religion, would sometimes mistake you for alien (foreigner).
People do not care about who the other person is. The pulse of Dravinian principle --'Survival of the Fittest' is beating faster.
Hence the bottom line is clear -- you be , if you're not fit. Out here we can find people die of hunger, no shelter and clothes.
But thank God, our society is self sufficient, though we may not be able to live a king size life like most people in the city.
Every one has his/her own share of square meal a day, clothes to wear and shelter to live in. Although, educationally our
women are not in the fore-front, yet they enjoy better social status and privilege than women in the main stream.
We don't torture or kill brides for bringing less dowry . We don't burn them up alive if her spouse is dead.
Nor do we kill unborn female infants in the womb .Our woman don't walk behind the veil. Its not because we are taught not to do so, but it is because we respect our women and give them equal treatment who were born equal.
Sure, I admit, those evil practices could be isolated aberrations .......not enough to judge the whole city on.
But it happens also among the educated family everywhere in the most developed states of India.
Of course, discrimination prevails in our society too in various dimensions, like have or have-not, educated and uneducated,
employed and unemployed, foolish and wise etc.
But ours is not as worst and extreme as discrimination designed by so called caste-system in the Hindu society.
Nature is kind to us. Our climate is very favorable in all season, while Delhi is boiling with 46 degrees celsius .
One feels like living on a volcano with sulfuric heat wave blowing from everywhere. People are up with language to holiday and chill out in the countryside's and on the mountains.
You know, they would pay off any amount just to be there to beat the summer heat. But for us, fortunate ones,
it's our daily experience year round and part of our life as we are living in the lap of nature.
If you want to drink a bottle of mineral water, you pay Rs 10. But we, people back home just drink it from the mountain spring, fresh, cool and hygienic.
You inhale automobile fume in the city like in Delhi, the most polluted city in Asia, but you get fresh oxygen straight from the trees.
In delhi you need to cool yourself down with a cooler or AC but in hometown, we put on blanket instead through out summer and winter.
In the city, if you wanna get our body fit, make your calf, chest and arms into a good shape you have to pay Rs 200 - Rs 500
per month to workout.
But for a village guy like me don't need to waste extra bucks . Just climb few hills and mountains and you get any shape you
like which is much more lasting and natural than gymnasts. If you want to rewind yourself with music you will have to buy
audio cassette but we, country people have birds, beasts, flowers, winds, streams to entertain us at all free of cost.
* The writer is a freelance writer based in Delhi
He can be reached at [email protected]
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