114- Three Cheers for the small-towners

114- Three Cheers for the small-towners

I visited Ranchi and Bhubaneswar last week almost after a decade, two erstwhile small towns/cities, but now pulsating capitals to their respective states. Both these cities are close to my heart for very special reasons. Ranchi, the capital to my home state, was the one where I entered a cinema hall for the first time in the course of a sport tour, as a gawky and clumsy teenager of 14 and completely fell head over heels with Bhagyashree crooning ‘kabootar ja ja ja’ in Maine Pyaar kia (how appropriate). Bhubaneswar, the capita and almost twin city to Cuttack where I first went to college and started a fairly long journey in various hostels, that would culminate many years later as a coming of age experience for the proverbial small town boy.

A dance troop performed during the course of the award function in Bhubaneswar, the leading lady, clearly no more than twenty, dressed suitably and therefore provocatively for the latest chartbusters she was performing on, left me impressed and surprised. Two decades earlier it was unthinkable that the sleepy town could boast of such confidence in a young girl to perform on stage on numbers like Sheela & Munni. I have come back sure about a few things.

The first and clearly the most importantly, small town India is no longer small town in the traditional sense of the word. It is more confident in its own skin, more comfortable in chasing its own dreams, more sure about what it wants and absolutely unhesitant in the audacity of its choices. The talent is more visible and the  is unabashed in its desire to beat the big-city folks in their own game. If India story is a vehicle, its engines lie in the pulsating aspirations of the young adults its dusty towns and muffsils.

I can immediately connect the dots with so many more trends in so many more fields around me that lend credence to this phenomenon (and yes it’s nothing less than a phenomenon). Cricket is dominated by players from small town India. More small towners qualify for Medicine, Engineering and Civil services than ever before. A whole new generation of film makers and actors are making the new wave cinema – a bastion for the urban elite for long.(Vishal Bhardwaaj is from Meerut, and R Gupta of No One Killed Jessica is from Hazaribagh, so on and so forth).

So what is driving all this? First I believe the small towners are hungrier for success and glory. Having struggled for means and opportunity they are more hardened to deal with the vicissitudes of life. Their aspirations have stronger wings as they have no backups. Success actually is not an option for them – its survival. Second I believe they have a natural advantage because of their roots. They are more closely connected to the pulse of new India. Irrespective of their professions, they can connect better with the larger market that is India for the various products/services they are creating or selling. There is less likelihood if their living in a make believe artificial world far removed from reality. There is a natural ability to connect with real masses with real concerns.

There is much more that can be elaborated on this. At this stage, suffice it to say, if my generation in some sense wanted to break free of the small town mould, then the new small towners want to script their successes within the mould that they are in. Three cheers to the small towners. I can assure you, this is not the last we have heard of them. Watch out.

Guru