On why I could, seriously, chuck it all and go live in a Kerala village
Anil: Here is Srinivasan's gripes about big city life and how he would prefer to live in a small village somewhere in Kerala. Would you do it? I think I will in a New York minute.<g>
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Commentary/ Rajeev Srinivasan
On why I could, seriously, chuck it all and go live in a Kerala village
My friend Varsha Bhosle is upset that I maligned her adored Mumbai in passing. Well, I once complained to Ms Bhosle that her article on San Francisco on Rediff was not adulatory enough: She didn't rant and rave quite as much as I wished about how wonderful it was. Turnabout is fair play. I am sorry I have hurt Ms Bhosle's amour-propre, but I really do despise most very large cities.
I am disgusted not only by New York and Mumbai, but also by Los Angeles, Jakarta and Hong Kong; and mildly annoyed by Mexico City, Paris, Bangkok and London; although I rather like Tokyo and Singapore, and certainly Calcutta. It is in the nature of big cities to be intimidating and uncaring and difficult. In my humble opinion, their citizens's attitudes makes all the difference.
It is hardly the moral equivalent of racism, which Ms Bhosle implies it is, to notice that cities breed certain characteristics in their residents. Isolated single incidents of kindness, or even of saintliness, merely provide the exceptions that prove the rule. I am glad that Ms Bhosle's New York benefactor did not attack her, but merely did her a kindness. Surely one swallow does not a summer make?
On the other hand, there was the celebrated 1964 case of Kitty Genovese, raped and then stabbed to death, screaming, begging for her life, in full view of 38 people, in the courtyard of her Queens apartment block. Not one person intervened, because they did not want to get involved! They simply watched, as though it were television. Where was the New Yorker's sense of decency then? ....(continued)
rediff.com
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Oh here is my reply to Srinivasan
----- Original Message -----
From: Mohan Marette
To: news@www.rediff.co.in
Sent: Monday, March 29, 1999 11:16 AM
Subject: On why I could, seriously, chuck it all and go live in a Kerala village
Come on Srinivasan who do you kiddin' ,they all say that and you seem to be no exception.You heard about the now famous equation floating around among the NRI crowd called 'X+1' theory haven't you?
Best Regards
Mohan Marette
Kerala & USA |
