Interdependence: an alienating yet comforting concept

                          As a part of a new city, I have recently met a number of new people. I came to the city without any friends, without any acquaintance for the matter. In a period of a two weeks I have seen and experienced a number of, what I will politely call, interactions (although farce would be a better word) between individuals in social groups. Mumbai as a city has left a mark on me, I would love to explore parts of it in details but the one thing that struck me hard is the fact that there is a certain amount of interdependence between people in a city full of strangers.
Yet, even though interdependence is common to all, there is a lack of communication, of building a relationship based on trust. What I wonder is how much of this interdependence is real and to what extent can one bend to be a part of this human need for some form of support?
                  I am today a part of this well-known college, (which I shall not name for obvious reasons) and in the two weeks that I have attended classes, I have seen groups, people who bitch about each other, students who refuse to make use of opportunities provided, a place where the need to be social overcomes the need to be real and true to oneself and at times even to be rational!

             Outside college I have made some friends, although using the word friends is somewhat of a stretch. Being an outsider and a newbie (pardon my free English), I was surprised that everyone in the group, had over the period of a week, confided in me against someone or the other member of the group. I must confess that when I had first met the collective lot, I had been surprised by the unity that was portrayed, and believed that this was not one of those dysfunctional groups. What's that saying about counting the chickens? In class the other day, a teacher said, be more hopeful, less cynical, and have faith that realism and idealism can  coexist. But with each day, a little of my pink tinted glasses darken.
                   I am fast starting to believe that human nature requires the fulfillment of certain desires and needs. In a lonely city with lonely people, being together is easy, being a part of a group is safer than being alone. The diabolism of human nature does not allow one to be completely silent on what one perceives as wrong, yet one cannot make do alone, so the need for interdependence has to be satisfied, and is; through crazy mixes, through formal smiles, through little sounds, which hide yet reflect the silent plea of a resigned yet hopeful spirit!  

Mumbai: A new shattered beginning?

                      I have never been a morning person, in fact before coming to the city that is refereed to the city of dreams in India, I rarely saw the morning light before 9 or at times even 10 am. But, as any person living in Mumbai will tell you, its a city that never sleeps, and a place where people who sleep too much get no where...quite literally, as the travelling in the locals is a novelty that requires years of practice and dedication. In fact the first thing that I learnt when I came to the city was just this, travelling in the local. It is the best way to avoid the morning traffic, and the incessant rain (yes, I am one of the unlucky [or maybe lucky few[] who shifted to the city during its infamous monsoon season) and reach places which one is far removed from. I am sure that there are thousands of articles stating their experiences in the city, the local travelling, the food, the beach, marine drive, and all of that....

                 But for me, its different. For me the city is the bustling bubble of energy with a backdrop of natural beauty, that takes my breath away even when I am squashed between lord knows how many other women fighting for space to stand! Its the fact that neither the rain, nor the relentless attack of the underworld or the terrorists or a crazy drop in the stock market has been able to take away from its pulse, which beats faster and stronger with every attack, becoming a life force of its own. I love the way a person can just be themselves, in a city where numbers will never be a problem, where space to live is as hard to find as pearls in the increasing polluted sea bed.

                 As a person who has always survived in her own head even while co-existing with the world around her, I wonder just how much of the city was in me before I came here, and how much of it will always remind me of myself, the contrasts, the harsh realities, the demands, the strength to just be. The city has a beauty that comes from the merging of the old and the new, where one can see an Esplanade House standing next to a 115 storey building and still being able to charm with its grace, something that reminds me of my hometown, my beloved Calcutta. So here is my tribute (for what its worth) to one of the few cities which has made me feel so much in such a short time (5 days!!!), the industrial heart of the country with a special heart of its own... Mumbai

Fiction: A strange Reality

     Recently I have had a lot of time on my hands, as I am not nothing much to do, waiting for classes to begin. I am not going out much, coz I am feeling highly anti social, and the people I talk to have started bugging me also, all except my bff of course, who somehow can make me smile right in the middle of my tears... its a gift I swear. Anyways, all this free time has allowed me to catch up on all the stuff that I have been missing, mainly movies, music and my lovely books.

           When I used to read as a child and just hang around, there was so much that I was missing that I kind of catch now, the leetil messages in each song, the story being told by each expression...I mean ya, some movies just make you wanna hurl, but there are others that allow you to grow. Some stories that have a clear message, while there are others that just let you be, leaving the messages in many folds, allowing you to turn a blind eye if you want to. Yet the question that one needs to ask is, does it all go away?
             I believe that in the movies that I watch, the books that I read, the music that I hear I see part of the world that I couldn't before, allowing me greater perspective of the world, allowing me to realize the various threats that are present in society, without ever coming face to face with them. In a way it helps me prepare for if and when the instances come into my life. Today, I am learning to adapt in way I never thought I would have to,  due to a simple enough reason, that of need. On the screen I have seen life forces make people take new paths, adapt and rise as the phoenix does from the ashes of their own destinies. Its something that I myself am going through, relocating to foreign city, where I don't know the popular culture, the lifestyle, not even the local name for something as essential as onion and potato!

            There are days when I retreat into the fiction world, a world made up of wisps of fog in my own head,  a world of my own creation to escape the real world, there are days when they both merge leaving me a leetil dazed but surprisingly happy. I hope that everyone is able to enjoy this form of living once, of simplicity, of the unknown, of living in a simple world of someone's creation and imagination....I hope everyone can loose themselves and find themselves, in a manner similar to mine.