Sunday, June 29, 2008

Geography


In my last geography exam I got 94 ( icse 2005).

“ thobraar geography palte debo” is one of my favourite dialogues.

The geography of my place of residence is moderately flat , on relatively higher ground. Let me tell u something about where I live. I live in north kolkata. Here people live in dingy ancestral flats and homes which have been there in their families for years. The shops are owned by people whose dads and granddads were in the same shop.

The apartments over her have no security guards. There is cat shit every now and then that litters the stairs. Foul smell comes from it , but nobody cares. Everybody is used to it. There is no parking space , people just do that in the streets. Here in the north we don’t have pizza … we have bread and butter instead.

Simple people and puny lives. That’s what the north is all about . parents here don’t want their children to have businesses and become millionaires, they want them to study. Kids out here have two options : doctor or engineer . no fashion designer , chef or models from up these parts. Over here we don’t get computers before we are 18 and our father can afford that. Life begins early here, 5.30 am to be sharp. You might be thinking “that’s midnight !” , well what to say this is the north. We ride in cramped up buses who charge fares according to conductors. One charges 4 , the other charges 6. we like the metro. Its fast and cheap. We are used to heat and sweat.

Studying in an English medium is still a status symbol here. Kids are pushed and egged to perform in school. First they do it cause their fathers tells them to. Then , when their minds and eyes start co-ordinating , they study cause they understand what their fathers really are. They understand the scenario , the fact that their dad has no provident fund , that he will never win a lottery and that the kid himself is the only shot his parents have got.

We don’t buy music here. We loan . we use the radio . we watch very few movies. Quite a few on dvd. The joint entrance exam is the “ make or break” thing here. U do it , everbody loves u . u don’t , u yourself will get bored listening to how useless your existence is. Life is quite slow , but rhythmical here. Life on the edge ? yaa, the edge of middle class morality , the edge of a happy life( by happy I mean earning more than my father does, just that !). the restaurants are so dark that u cat really see what u are eating. They are air conditioned , but dark ! I doubt whether that’s ambience or a practical way to hide that there is no chicken in the chicken soup.

Now times are changing. The new breed of professionals who work in sector five are becoming richer. They still travel in their company bus, which has signs like TCS Shyambajar etc. but they are alleviating the scenario. Their parents are happier (more than happy!) their( new breed) kids go to pre primary schools and don’t use “ slate-pencil-chalk”. The roads are getting revamped (at a very slow rate), especially dakhshineswar , which , now looks classy !

The new breed is buying cars , and going to A-M-E-R-I-C-A ( another status symbol for parents !). what they are doing there is of no importance to the poor old parents who trust their siblings with all eyes closed . and what do the siblings do ? they plan. They loan . and they go to salt lake. And then they drive their parents out. And they sell their old home to get rid of the loan for their salt lake home. Some of the new breed are smarter. They go to Hyderabad and to Bangalore. And then “ western union money transfer” is the only way they interact with their familia.

Many people will have a lot to say like “ all this is crap, the north isn’t so bad !” .to them , this is what ive seen for the last 19 years of my life. Either I am ignorant of what u say, or what u say matters to u , and not the majority.

Its true I have a hard and more extreme outlook to the things around me. So in reality , the north isn’t really so bad ! u should come and visit it sometime ! really u should ! trust me !

6 comments:

Unknown said...

gr8 scenario of North.......bitter truths of lyf....

Unknown said...

thank u

Anonymous said...

ahem....very true and hence apinful for some....but great job dude........

Unknown said...

truth cannot be compromised for

rimz said...

evrythings very nice, dear acidvox.Only according to me the Title "GEOGRAPHY" is not very appropriate.
Well, dats my personalised view.

Unknown said...

ya .. i am not good at labelling stuff ... anyways thats wat came into my mind that tym ...and feel free to say watever u like , coz i do that !!