Monday
Musings 197 - The cities we live in and the cities that live in us
On my
second trip to the ancient city of Benaras, as is my wont, I was wondering
around in its traditional parts - trying to soak in its sights, sounds and
smells. (I had blogged about my first visit to the city a few years back). This
time I had two of my local colleagues who had both returned back to the city,
helplessly - after having migrated away for greener pastures, but had returned
like the cat who keeps coming back to your house even when you try to leave her
way away, hopelessly enamored by its love for the household.
While
moving around the old city and enjoying its own version of night life - from
the thandai, tea, hot fragrant milk and wrapping it up with the delicious paan,
I was given a short tutorial on why it is difficult to take a person out of Banaras
but quite impossible to take Banaras out of the person. Only to prove the point
I was given a wonderful book called "Kashi ka Assi" written by Dr
Kashi Nath Singh who apart from other distinctions taught Hindi literature in
the Banaras Hindu University. 'Assi' in the title refers to the 'assi-ghat'
area of the southern tip of the city, right on the banks of river Ganges and is
the oldest part of the city - one may easily call it the 'true - original - Banaras'.
This book, without going into details is a wonderful account of the soul of Banaras,
with its eccentricities, lingo, and people, peppered with colorful expletive
ridden language of this part of the town. As the opening paragraph warns -
".....this book is not for children, nor for the aged - it is for adults only.....”. This warning is treated with
warm welcome by the original Banarasis for whom such colorful language is a way
of life - a restraint in the language to make it more civilized is akin to sacrilege,
an attempt to play with the identity of the city.
We know
by now that cities have their own character and many have fallen hopelessly in
love them. In the corporate world one of the big reason people do not move
bases is the love for their city. Many have sacrificed the lure of opportunities
at the altar of love for their hometown. Many of batch mates from college were
resolute in their decision not to move out of the place of their birth. I would
usually respond this with polite sarcasm but I guess I understand the phenomena
a little better now.
Many
books and movies have managed to capture the spirit of the city in its truest
form. The city is the character as much as the people who form the narrative.
In recent times, Calcutta was a character in the movie 'Kahaani', Delhi was a
character in 'Delhi-6', as much was Mumbai in the movie 'Dhobi ghat' and
amongst books, 'Maximum city' by Suketu Mehta described Bombay. I am not sure
if we have gone beyond Mumbai and Delhi - even using Delhi as a backdrop
is only a recent phenomena. However there are at least a dozen or more Indian
cities who have a distinct flavor of its own and which are stories ripe enough
to be told. I am sure there would be books which exist but I wish they were
either written more or popularized more. I would never have enjoyed Banaras as
much as I have after having read 'Kashi ka Assi'.
How
titillating it would be for the soul if someone wrote a full blown book about
the eccentricities of Lucknow or the finesse of Allahabad or the humor of Hyderabad,
the preoccupation of intellect of Chennai or the love for argument of Kolkata/Kerala
or the love for analysis of Ahmadabad (or Surat or Rajkot) or the finesse of
Bangalore or the love for nothingness of Cuttack or the love for political and
social discourse of Bihar - so on and so forth. It will make a great reading
and for those who cannot or have not travelled, it will be a good window into a
people who are so near and yet so far.
Zauq, a
great poet and a man in love with his dilli (Delhi), shunned the courts of Deccan
where there was a greater appreciation of poetry and perhaps more profitable to
be in, by saying -
In dinon garche dakkan me hai badi qadr-e-sukhan
Kaun jaye 'zauk' par dilli ki galiyan chhod kar
(There is great appreciation for the art of expression in Deccan these days but who shall leave the streets of Delhi!)
We must continue to live in our cities - but at least the cities must continue to live in us.
Guru
In dinon garche dakkan me hai badi qadr-e-sukhan
Kaun jaye 'zauk' par dilli ki galiyan chhod kar
(There is great appreciation for the art of expression in Deccan these days but who shall leave the streets of Delhi!)
We must continue to live in our cities - but at least the cities must continue to live in us.
Guru
Guru, always have liked the way you write and express. This one is no exception.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how true all this is. And that's what inherent culture is all about. There's an instant connect between people from same city or speaking the same language.
Wonder what is the force that makes this happen?
Reminded me of a couplet that I came across, years back when 'The Times of India' started publishing from Lucknow. It captured the spirit of the city like this...
ReplyDeleteLucknow hum pe fida, hum fida-e-lucknow
Kya hai taaqat-e-asmaan ke jo hum se chhuraye lucknow..