Today I was listening to this A.R Rahman number “Nadaan Parinde Ghar Ajaa…”. It was a bright sunny morning, in the crowded bus I struggle to get inside and luckily got a seat.
Bangalore is a concoction of people from different states, different lingos, different societies. I see a part of them every morning rushing to the Tech Parks. I see a part of them exerting in the construction sites of Outer Ring Road. I see a part of them as domestic help in the high-rise apartments. I see them running small and large scale business here, overlooking the language constraint. I see them scattered in every corner of the city.
And, stupidly when I found a reflection of my state, my language, my identity in this assortment, I smile.
I turn back twice, when I see a novice home-maker struggling in the crowded super-market, I identify her with her white and red bangle. I get awkwardly happy, when the boy sitting beside me in the bus is choosing “Cactus” from his mobile playlist. I smile broadly when I walk into the HAL fish market lane, buyers and sellers all like a usual Kolkata market.
I bet everybody does, whenever they smell their home.
And, I know for everyone from any part of India living in this city, it is the same, for they are on the same boat far from home, in a city trying to add some connotation to their life.
Closed my eyes to get absorbed in those few lines
“
kyun desh bidesh fire mara..tu raat biraat ka banjaara
”
Thanks to the IT boon, in most of the major cities in India a uniform picture is very prominent. The young generations of those cities are missing from their old school playground, from their colonies, from the shabby by-lanes, from the colors of festivals. Friends group are scattered. Parents live alone in their carefully nurtured ‘home’.
On the other side, mechanized in the harried schedules- deadlines in office- credit bills- jostling on the road- yearning for leaves-nuclear families in 1000 square feet nests - succumbed weekends- exhaustive dreams…they are running for a fascinating delineation of life. The definition embraces designations in the letter head, SUV in the parking, best interest rates for home-loan, visibility in the society and so on.. And, no sin striving for that.
But I fear, when I will be in my 60’s and I won’t have this hassled rat-race in my sunny mornings or lazy afternoons what will be the definition of life then? To fill that emptiness, what investment do I plan now? What will be my identity then? I fail to figure out a stable answer for it.
“
Kaate chahe jitna paro se hawao'n ko
Khud se naa bach paayega tu
Tod aasmaano ko
Phook de jahaano ko
Khud ko chhupa naa payega tu
Koi bhi le rasta, tu hai tu mein basta
Apne hi ghar aayega tu
“
Khud se naa bach paayega tu
Tod aasmaano ko
Phook de jahaano ko
Khud ko chhupa naa payega tu
Koi bhi le rasta, tu hai tu mein basta
Apne hi ghar aayega tu
“
