This is the last post f
rom Mangalore... the beautiful port city...Well to be honest, the Samurai was mostly with thyself here... but still there something really endearing about the place, that one now leaving with some mixed emotions... There is something about the place (and i can't keep a finger on it) which made me muse over my stay here for the last 2 months!!Mangalore is a small city with an even more "in the face" small town culture! Everyone seems to know everyone and talks about it... You find all the amenities... a bowling alley, multiplex, malls... everything is there, but still something which makes it very earthy and likeable. People (though did not interact with too many , hence generalisation is a risky thing!) appear to be very chill, not too ambitious, smart (let's say not as simple as they look)... The beaches are beautiful, mostly virgin with very little commercialisation, places around mangalore are even more pretty!! Weather is very calicuttish and hence felt at home a wee bit! :) All in all... even though most of the time was spent in office or confines of my room (courtesy IPL), as i leave i feel maybe i should have explored it a wee bit more!
Which brings me to what i have been watching on the idiot box off late... I have always maintained that we Indians love to celebrate mediocrity! Average people are turned into super humans just because of media frenzy... But maybe times are changing.... You listen to some of the singers that we have on our reality shows today.. some of them are really amazing! They have raised the bar so high now, that an average Indian watching the show has a vastly improved musical sense. People now expect to hear some high quality stuff only and amateurish stuff just won't do. Any flaws in singing are exposed and not tolerated... So much so... that I was listening to some of the audience discuss at a music competition in Infy.. Most people were catching the mistakes easily and some of the comments / observations were so astute and educated (a la the reality show judges) that one wondered if this was a one off case of avid connoisseurs of music... or is it a general phenomenon.... Just made me feel good that for once.. we are not settling for anything mediocre!! Sadly though this can't be genrelised to some of the music dished out with movies...
Another observation ( and a little disturbing) is how we (read Indians) because of easy media accessibility have become loose cannons and without being responsible about our comments, we consider it a privilege to over look our responsibilities and point fingers at others!! A case in point is a TV show where in a bunch of socialites and literati were belittling IPL and how it has commercialised cricket! Irony was, that (none of them had anything to do with cricket!! ) some of these (literati) need to conduct marketing and PR events by calling celebrities to release their books (mind you none of the books have been a success). Now with people like this pooh poohing the commercialization of cricket... it was getting out of hand. I mean come on... what's wrong with it. You sell your books and do a lot of marketing... that is all right.... you open up news channels.. make stories out of absolute trivial incidents just to get some TRPs....you write fake movie reviews so that people can go and watch absolute rubbish!! and then point fingers at some one else who is trying to make money and also trying to improve the standard of cricket in India!!
Another amusing story is about our health minister... who instead you don't improve the health and safety conditions in India.. but blame SRK for consuming liquor in films.... Now how interesting is that!!.. What has India come to?
Rising prices.... Re appreciation, India's growth or lack of it.... recession in US... everything seems to be the government's fault! As if the worldwide economic conditions are not even in the picture... they behave as if we are an insulated economy totally unaffected by the world outside and with supreme power to do anything lying with the government of India!! Anyways.... maybe the samurai is getting a little carried away....Time to sleep :)
Adios Mangalore!!
cheers,
The Samurai
