Flying in a blue dream...

Where do we go from here?

Hyderabad is a weird city to live in. Somehow as a city it seems to lack something, i dont know if character is the word I am looking for but its more like a lack of patronage for arts. No I dont care too much that it does not have too many discs or pubs(...though i would definitely wish for a lot more of them) but what it lacks is that strong sense of culture and the desire to understand the world around you that Bangalore or Delhi posses. The people here it seems are more content to live in their own little wells of existence or shift to the other cities when the yearning for that something more hits them. Its really weird because its not like Hyderabad does not have its share of cultural or hobby groups but whats really amazing is the kind of inactivity or inertia that i have witnessed in whatever i have been a part of. Its almost that these sets have been stuck in the infancy stages of their development for aeons and they have gone on to influence people as much as lets say Janagraaha has influenced Bangalore. They are happy in limiting their scopes of influence to the bare minimum. The film clubs are busy organising their Satyajit Ray retrospectives for their groups of 30 people. And doesnt this city have anything that can remotely pass of as theatre? And the quizzing is limited to the motley group at KC where pan Hyderabad events are still a statistical dream. And where, pray, where are the local musicians who could atleast be seen once in a while in the small scale concerts. Some people might say that that's quite alrite given that being small for these hobby or cultural groups means that these organisations have no hangups, will be have no political wranglings affecting their organisational structure and will be nimble enough to do a lot more. Unfortunately i dont see that happening at all. Its almost as if there is no commitment to the cause for these groups or a lack of leadership and vision . All i can hope for is that it they realise that they can do so much more and get so many people with like minded tastes together if they got their act together. It would take whatever activities they do, be it social, political, cultural or whatever, to the next level.
Its so weird because i can so clearly see how this affects the life of this city. I mean i really fail to understand what the people do in their spare time cuz there are just so few things to do in this city. The cinema halls that screen shit for movies cuz thats what people's tastes have got attuned to. They dont get to see good movies, so they have slowly grown accustomed to not demand for them. Unimpressive video libraries, no sports facilities to speak of. The people in the Old City are too busy maintaing or provoking communal sensibilities, depending on which side of the fence they are on. Secunderabad is too busy trying to get into page 3 while the Software guys at Hi tec city are too busy trying to make more money and they couldn't care enough for a city through which they are just passing by till they get the next better paying job. I sometimes wonder how the people of the city get through the weekends. I mean if a bunch of friends wanna go and just sit and banter, where do they go here ? Cuz all i can see are the big restaurants which obviously do not make for general hangouts. There are a couple of coffee joints but they are just too crowded for my liking. Then you obviously have the colossal human meeting grounds in the form of Hussain Sagar and the malls- Central, Shoppers Stop, Prasadz which have atleast 3 humans fighting for every square inch of footspace.
See when I was a teen in high school, a day with the gang would be basketball in the morning, movie in the afternoon and cricket in the evenings. However, given the lack of public spaces in Hyd and the cinema theaters that show only crap for movies, what to do the kids do here on weekends . I see so many of them at the malls that we sometimes visit, hanging around in groups aimlessly. What the hell do they do there? Dont they get bored? I am quite sure that they arent there for shopping unless their parents are rolling in money or something? Is this the story of all the newly-urban submetro cities that we have in India, where kids and people are clearly lacking in social meeting grounds? No wonder, the kids nowadays seem to be growing up so fast, cuz all they see are those adult models in the malls and in their urge to emulate them they seem to overlook all that which was dear to us as kids. Weird state of affairs right?


Current Music - ATB - Believe in Me.

posted by Nitish @ 12:28 AM Comments: 3