[Reader-list] Indian Flag, Indian Idol, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and Nationalism in One City

[zainab at xtdnet.nl]

Indian Flag, Indian Idol, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and
Nationalism in One City

Walking around VT station is always a revealing experience. The
Indo-Saracenic architectural style gives Bombay one shade of its
multi-pli-city character. Surrounding VT railway station are the buildings
of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Times of India,
Capitol Cinema and old style residential and office buildings. Sooner or
later, the area from VT to the High Court, all structures of the British
Colonial Rule period, will be encased into a heritage precinct. I have
heard that during the British rule, this area was walled off from the
natives and was known as the walled city.

Today, as I was walking around the main road of VT, I noticed that visible
on the VT Railway Station building was the flying national flag – jhanda
ooncha rahe hamara (flying high be our flag). And as I shifted my gaze, I
noticed the national flag was flying high on the BMC building as well. I
don’t know exactly when this symbol i.e. national flag, come to adorn
these buildings. What does the national flag do to these two buildings?
Does it change the character of these two institutions/structures? Does it
impact the identity of the city? Why does the flag have to be played out
at a railway station and at an administrative building in a city? What is
heritage? How does it relate to our individual identities?

Indian Idol
Now, Pushpa, our housemaid is one of my sources of understanding the city
and its imaginations. She loves to talk. She talks about people in the
other houses where she works and their lifestyles. She talks about mobile
phones. She talks about slum dwellers. She talks about local trains. And
she talks about television programmes. Off late, her daily pratter is
about Indian Idol, a Sony Television programme, which has caught up on
everybody. I am unaware about this programme except that I have been
watching large hoardings at Dadar railway station which urge commuters and
citizens to vote for their favourite contestant in the Indian Idol
programme.

Before I proceed any further, let me tell you what Indian Idol is all
about. Indian Idol is a singing competition programme on Sony Television.
Participants are aspiring singers from all parts of the country. Since
four months, they have been competing to win the Indian Idol trophy. The
winner at the end of the four months of hard work will truly be the Indian
Idol – the best singer of the country – a new symbol of national pride.
What is unique about the programme is that while there are three judges
who judge the technical competence of the participants, viewers are asked
to vote for the participant who they think is worthy of becoming their
Indian Idol.

Hoardings at Dadar Railway Station show the voting symbol where the black
dot is replaced with a sticker of Indian Idol on the index finger. “Before
you go shopping, vote for your Indian Idol” or “Before you put on your
make-up, vote for your Indian Idol” are what the hoardings have to say.

Today, I entered the BMC building to complete some work. While waiting for
the officer, I strolled along the corridor and saw a poster which said (in
summary) ‘with your blessings, our son Abhijeet Sawant has entered the
finals of Indian Idol. Now you must vote for him and make sure that he
wins’. On finding out about this poster, I came to know that the Abhijeet
Sawant, one of the two final competitors, is the son of a BMC worker. The
BMC workers’ union is praying and voting hard for his victory. The poster
was signed by none other than the infamously famous Sharad Rao, union
leader of the BMC, who is known to hold the city at ransom through strikes
of civic workers. These posters were put up everywhere in the BMC
building.

Later, my friend informed me how the Shiv Sena was also campaigning for
Abhijeet Sawant in the Western Suburbs with banners everywhere.

Finally, that evening, the finals took place – between Abhijeet Sawant of
Mumbai and Amit Sanna of Kolkatta. Pushpa excitedly said that morning to
my mother, “If Abhijeet wins, it will a matter of pride because after all,
it is a Mumbai boy!” As audiences sat glued to television sets in their
home, I was at an STD booth. Suddenly, crackers went up everywhere and
there were loud shouts of victory. The STD booth owner asked me curiously,
“Is there a cricket match going on?” He was surprised with the crackers
and shouts. I said to him, “No, it’s Indian Idol. And I guess the Mumbai
boy has won.”

Abhijeet Sawant had won. He is the Indian Idol.

What does media do to the city?



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