Thursday, March 13, 2008

Two worlds in One world

I see two worlds within the same world. The other world is not occupied by aliens but by us human beings (sorry to disappoint Krrish fans). They are not developed and underdeveloped, but they are different in the way they communicate and perceive the outside world. And they have been created within our own life times and the space we live.

No more guessing, I am talking of people in the fast growing cities and those in the countryside. People in the cities experience fast life, are usually very well informed, time is sacrosanct, have little patience, are well connected via net. The people in the upcountry experience things that are very similar but the degree of intensity is highly diluted. People are well informed but they dont seek it as a matter of urgency. 24 hours news is still an icing on the cake and the morning newspaper is anyway there for them. Most of them don't even have email IDs and even though they are connected through mobiles, emails are still a non-essential thing except for the few. One world has speed, fast life, information at the finger tips and more than imaginable impatience. The other world has its own pace and enough patience to stand in the que.

Then there are differences, you would just wish, were not there. The POLLUTION and CRIME!! One is clean and only getting a bit dusty and the other is already thick black. The one is still safe and the other a preferred destination for criminals.

I remember seeing an English movie long back, dont remember the name now. The protagonist of the movie is a pregnant lady reporter who often covers crime and other stuffs for a reputed publication. The baby in her womb often keeps talking to this reporter mother. After sometime, the baby starts complaining to the mother that the world is cruel, that its full of pollution, it has indifference and love is dyeing. And it makes a strange wish - "I DON'T WANT TO ENTER THIS WORLD, I AM SAFE INSIDE". The mother is disturbed and seeks to bring some normalcy to life. The baby appears to respond to a small boy in her apartment. The mother engages this little boy to talk to the baby inside. The boy opens his entire world of innocence and little pleasures to this baby. Slowly but surely, the baby starts loving the world. I don't remember the end.

My academic curiosity : Why are Mumbai and Bangalore so different from Kolhapur or Hubli? Why are the big cities getting so cruel, dangerous and indifferent by the day? Is it time we introduce people to the virtues of smaller worlds? The B city? The C city? To the innocence and pleasures of a small kid?

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