When Srini mentioned Triplicane, we thought he was joking and did not understand his point. But when we actually visited the famous Devon avenue in Chicago we understood what he meant. All must be wondering that we would have felt so happy to see 'home away from home'
No that is not the emotion which I felt. I was sad. Really Sad.
Started wondering what is wrong with us.
Even though many times as Indians we berrate ourselves, as tamilians we berrate ourselves (like long ago telling our good old friend that it is unfortunate to have got postings in Tanjore), but heart of heart we always felt upbeat about being an Indian.
For the first time in my life I had to be honest with myself that some thing is really wrong with us Indians.
Let me come to the point without beating around the bush.
The Devon avenue in Chicago is The Road where you get everything 'Desi' quite cheap and even things what every desi wants like jewellery, jade, corals, sarees, Indian dresses,vedio casettes, cds of all kind of Indian movies and music and all kind of Indian food. Lot of Indian grocery shops are there where you get things quite cheap comapred to any other Indain stores in other parts of US of A.
The place looks so like India in every respect but more in the negative aspects.
It is dirty with lot of litter thrown on the road. The shops are so close to each other. The road is so narrow I wonder if the shops have made the road narrow by encroachment. The traffic is unbelievable, people honking the horn which is literraly unheard of in this part of the world, and the drivers unruly to use a mild word , and no body giving way to the other drivers , in the two way road. Inside the shops it is so congested and crowded. The shelves and the arrangements not at all pleasing to the eye, lacking in the anbience and the aesthetic feeling.
Why can not we Indians maintain a place cleanly and have the shops etc in an organized way as they do in all other places in America.
It is just a strech of Devon avenue where some Indian shops are there which is named as Gandhi marg. I remembered reading (lot of hype was made) about it in Indian papers few years ago. You walk down the street and come to lot of Pakistani shops and which is very similar to our Gandhi marg and you look up and see the name plate of road is changed and it is named as Muhammad ali Jinnah way. (Americans have to be politically correct!!) Few blocks away it is mujibur rehman way or street. and after some time when the road widens and it starts looking like US of A it is again Devon Avenue.
Are we that uncouth that we can not maintain a locality named after our so called father of nation.
Any one who has visited the Serangoon road, serangoon plaza in singapore which is called little India can understand my point. Whole of singapore prides itself for being so clean and tidy but you visit this one place and it is so sad you feel you have woken up in one of our own uncouth places in India.
In America it is said that the Indians are in the upper end of society and if they can be complacent with such a street in chicago I wonder when we can think of having a nice surroundings back home. I who is always upbeat and postive is lost for once.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Survival and progress have been our priority,maybe.Cleanliness never has been.Even in offices it is an uphill task for me to want to keep my dept clean as a starter.Usually when i go to a new office,it is such a pain to clean up the unwanted muck and unseen files of no consequence left their by the predecessor.there will be broken chairs just outside the boss's cabin and nobody will notice,even the boss.
Does it have to do will making ourselves unfeeling for the grime,dirt and poverty assaulting us all the time that it has become a protective gear?A survival kit.If we feel for all that then we should do something about it.It is so overpowering that we shut off.
There is no excuse to do that in chicago or little india in singapore,where all around you there is squeaking cleanliness and orderliness.But have indians forgot that they can live a cleaner life and entitled to a cleaner environment.things indian need not be in cubby holes?
There is another angle.We feel so much for a desi food item we dont mind the grime.Whereas a typical departmental store has to really woo customers.Here customers flock.So the shop owners do not want to increase cost.is that so?Anu or srini can help to answer this better i guess.
we used to have christian neighbours when we were kids. They always had their drawing room very neat with curtains and artefacts,but their kitchen used to be really, really dirty. we used to pride ourselves that our frontyard is clean with kolam and our drawing room is yes, strewn with all sorts of books,clothes and chairs haphazard,but our kitchen used to be very clean and neat.
Different strokes for different folks
Post a Comment