Born and brought up in a town, a town that grew as I grew. A town that slowly turned into a city, a town that now is becoming a major place for trade and commerce….a town that is slowly opening up to the world. Just when militancy and violence was becoming the order of the day, things started changing in a “Scotland of the East”. Peace and solidarity among the people became common. And in this place I grew.
Coming out of this dreamland, I realized what life really is. Today while attending a lecture on development, I got a glimpse of the “real” world around me. Rather the “real” India. We so often talk about “real” India, “real” people but till today I never really understood this “real” thing. But today I did. For me, people towns and cities constitute “real” people (I can’t be hypocrite, I know I am being a snobbish fool). Village was and is still a place far removed from who I am. I have never been to a village, the backbone of our country. I have never seen agriculture or farming. I have never seen a farmer toiling a hard day in the farms (except the glimpses from trains). I have only read about it. So these “real” people have been very “unreal” for me.
In school geography taught me the bare details of agricultural practices, how new variety of crops are grown, etc. From newspapers and the mass media I got to know about the terrible conditions of the farmers; the increasing number of suicides among them, the droughts, the famine. But I was never affected by them. How could I be, I never felt the scarcity of food, never had to work as hard as they do. It’s true that I had a certain amount of sympathy for them but never empathy for them. I never understood them. And I guess I never needed to. Even today I don’t need to. I am working towards my goal that is far away from these villages, these farmers.
However, on perspective, I don’t seem to fit in the hotch-potch of a metro as well. A month there sometime ago and I suffocated. As the days pass by, I sit here and think, where am I heading towards? Who are we, these middle-class-aiming-to-be-rich people?
Coming out of this dreamland, I realized what life really is. Today while attending a lecture on development, I got a glimpse of the “real” world around me. Rather the “real” India. We so often talk about “real” India, “real” people but till today I never really understood this “real” thing. But today I did. For me, people towns and cities constitute “real” people (I can’t be hypocrite, I know I am being a snobbish fool). Village was and is still a place far removed from who I am. I have never been to a village, the backbone of our country. I have never seen agriculture or farming. I have never seen a farmer toiling a hard day in the farms (except the glimpses from trains). I have only read about it. So these “real” people have been very “unreal” for me.
In school geography taught me the bare details of agricultural practices, how new variety of crops are grown, etc. From newspapers and the mass media I got to know about the terrible conditions of the farmers; the increasing number of suicides among them, the droughts, the famine. But I was never affected by them. How could I be, I never felt the scarcity of food, never had to work as hard as they do. It’s true that I had a certain amount of sympathy for them but never empathy for them. I never understood them. And I guess I never needed to. Even today I don’t need to. I am working towards my goal that is far away from these villages, these farmers.
However, on perspective, I don’t seem to fit in the hotch-potch of a metro as well. A month there sometime ago and I suffocated. As the days pass by, I sit here and think, where am I heading towards? Who are we, these middle-class-aiming-to-be-rich people?
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