Nov 3, 2008

You're making me confess.

  1. I have never been economically threatened by any kind of Indian (perhaps not yet).
  2. I don't seem to have economically threatened anyone else's livelihood (yet).
  3. I do not personally know anyone whose livelihood is threatened by any kind of Indian.
  4. I have never lived in a neighbourhood whose demographics have significantly changed during my life.
  5. I have never felt the loss of political influence to "outsiders" (Perhaps people like me never had any political influence to lose).
  6. I didn't have any trouble with the last (and only) unfamiliar local language I learnt, a long time ago. Would I willingly learn a new language if I went somewhere unless I had to?
  7. Would I sufficiently integrate into another culture? Have I sufficiently integrated with the current culture? Have I even integrated into my culture-by-inheritance?
  8. I have never had to migrate for elemental reasons such as: "If I don't find a job somewhere outside, I don't survive"
Can I have any reasonable opinions on the fundamentals of these 'alien' issues, with such an invariant life?

But: somehow, the changing faces of Pune make me uneasy. It's hard to put a finger to it. I think it is because life becomes increasingly unfamiliar. It causes a discomfort that is hard to nail down. I catch myself being disapproving of certain ways some people speak, behave, flash. I instinctively seem to blame non-Punekars for being responsible for this. And for some of our own people for changing colours so easily. Was this tendency always there? I don't like these people changing the way it used to be. Luckily, there are still places I feel comfortable with and things that I can go do. If that goes, what do I do?

I thought I am (was) tolerant? But how can this be reconciled with the above paragraph?

I can't balance comfortable stability with drip-drip-drip change?

2 comments:

Santosh Kumar T K said...

Raj "ramanand" Thackeray boltoi!

just kidding

J Ramanand said...

At least this way everyone's learning some maraaThii ;-)