[Reader-list] City Culture / City Cultures

[zainab at xtdnet.nl]

17th February 2005

City Culture / City Cultures

Traveling in local trains is an experience. Being at the railway stations
is an experience. Last evening, I was on board on a local train from VT
Station to Dadar at 5:30 PM. It was rush hour time, a time when I am most
afraid to board the train owing to the rush and lack of complete
conditioning of office commuter rules, regulations and conventions of
‘being’ on the train. As Dadar station arrived, the anxiety and mania to
get off began. I was standing behind an old woman who was along with a
huge jute sack of vegetables. She would have to get off first before I
could. And she was slow, very slow in getting off. Besides, she pushed her
jute sack first, creating another hurdle for commuters behind her to get
off smoothly. In sum and substance, the problem was that she was slow,
very slow. And I comprehended her slowness, understood it, but had no time
to excuse it.

Mumbai is a fast paced city. Everyone is in a rush. We become conditioned
practitioners of time. If someone’s pace does not match up with our pace,
that person has to be ruthlessly pushed aside to make way. It’s the rush,
the demand made upon the individual to be quick, fast, in a hurry and the
condemnation of slowness which I am contemplating on this morning. In this
quick paced-ness, can I be a slow individual? Is city culture oppressive?
Does it allow for individuality? Does the emerging urbanism creating
monoculture? Why do we need diversity? Would cities be sustainable without
diver‘city’ (i.e. diversity)? And what is diversity after all?


When Strangers Meet
Cities are about strangers. It is a place of strangers, for strangers, by
strangers. And in a city, we need strangers – strangers to feed our fears,
to create mysteries, to be cities! Yet, something happens when strangers
meet. My favorite author, Theodere Zeldin writes that it is possible to
find soul-mates when strangers meet.

Last evening, I met a stranger, a stranger who I know and yet don’t know.
And we spoke about depth!

Stranger said to me, “I am listening to you speak. As you speak, I
understand that you have labeled everything neatly, reasoned it and
rationalized it. That’s it!” And I asked, “But then, what after the
labels?” He said, “That’s for you to explore. And perhaps, that is depth

”

I think about depth. What does it mean to live in a city? What does urban
community mean? What do relationships in a city mean? What is
superficiality? What is depth?

As I research, write and cogitate, I am convinced that research is not
just about cities, peoples and spaces; research is about basic questions
of life. Research is not ‘a profession’, a ‘definition’, a ‘clear line and
boundary’ that I create in my compartmentalized life. Research is about
myself, about me, about discovery and about life, none of which are
disintegrated elements.

As I get into the lives of Santhya, Shah Rukh, Manoj Kumar, Arjun bhai, I
am afraid because I don’t know what lies beyond. I am afraid of myself, I
am afraid of the other. Yet I wish to explore, explore because I want to
write. There are days during field research when experiences bring tears
to my eyes – tears not because there is pain and sorrow, but tears of joy,
tears of going beyond yourself, tears of insight and tears which are
indescribable in words.

I have no universal definition of a city. I am not an urban researcher. I
am not even a theoretician. I am just found – found amidst strangers,
amidst words, amidst concrete and steel, amidst dust, grime and sweat. I
walk and my heels capture the dust of the streets. My eyes capture scenes
and my mind makes images. I am found – found in a city!



Zainab Bawa
Bombay
www.xanga.com/CityBytes
http://crimsonfeet.recut.org/rubrique53.html