Mumbaikar in New York

While growing up in Mumbai, the city used to get invariably compared to other cities in the world, one of which always happened to be New York. NY it is better known always had similarity with Mumbai, both are coastal metropolis and also the financial hub of the nation.

Both NY and Mumbai are cosmopolitan cities with hugely diverse population and invites people from both within the nation and abroad as a city with immense opportunity. Mumbai like NY is a center for promoting arts & cultural activity and though NY is not big as Mumbai’s Bollywood when it comes to movies but it still makes movies and is big center for arts.

I couldn’t think of better city to compare with Mumbai until the Prime Minister of this country, Manmohan Singh, declared that he wanted to make Mumbai a ‘Shanghai’! what, who the f**k in India had heard about shanghai. Our aspiration from becoming world class had suddenly crashed to regional class. No offence to Shanghai, which now is a metropolis and hub of all Chinese trading activity. Is that what we all wanted. Mumbai may not be as big as Shanghai but for long it was world famous (not just world famous in Mumbai) as cosmopolitan and cultural center know over the world and invited rockstars and rock song dedications alike; where was shanghai then…nowhere.

Well I didn’t bother much about it as it wasn’t going to change much either our lives. But I got an opportunity to visit New York, very much a dream come true to visit a city which so many of mumbaikars always used to compare. The city seemed familiar, some roads were bumpy as Mumbai and there were some narrow lanes also much like Mumbai (though the only difference is that most of mumbai’s narrow lanes are built by Indians compared to the wide roads left by the britishers in the city). Downtown was crowded as Mumbai and if you got hit by another person in the crowd you would either not bother or would see the sorry face of the passer-by.

Trains were crowded and people less bothered & talkative than in mumbai but coaches much better than our still in 70s train coaches. Stations were similarly ugly though somewhat better managed and people stood in similar fashion awaiting trains as in Mumbai. With so much similarity minus the slums/BMC/corporators&contractors , I felt much at home though couldn’t deny that shanghai probably beat both NY and Mumbai with its massive infrastructure creation. It is not the infrastructure that excites politicians in India but the intention to control lives of people much like in shanghai, unlike the Mumbai and NY ability to attract remain open. Thankfully it worries less for very much non-resident mumbaikar like me as shanghai is shaped by who dictate it but NY and Mumbai is still shaped by the people who make it…well almost.

Gone Days of Vilayat

During my childhood foreign country had its own charm…which was mostly exotic, superior and unreachable for most of the Indians. There was skewed perception of foreign countries be it developed west or improvised east. Foreign country was fondly called ‘Vilayat’ and those came back from such places have numerous names ranging from vilayati Lal, vilayati babu or simply more abusive – vilayati !!

Most of the people knew it through the movies, and favourite among those themes were Indian going to foreign shore or returning after education from western countries. Though a hardly any movies in late 80s or 90s were not made on such subject but a lot of those telecasted on national channel during the period were made between 50s and 70s, the era when Indian looked towards west for everything.

One of most favourite themes used to return of western educated Indian to his homeland, most of it centered on all things wrong with the vilayati babus. So, a vilayati would always be drinking & smoking, bashing up the desi culture most important of all kicking the parents out of home!! Besides vilayat Indians were charmed with other thing vilayati- the gora women aka gori maem (mademoiselle), vilayati lal’s successful sojourn will involve landing up with a gora maem. So, another obvious theme used to vilayati lal returning with gora maem, who characteristically wouldn’t be much different from vilayati lal, doing everything from smoking, drinking and kicking parents. But, more publicized affair was that of vilayati wine than vilayati women.

Lure for vilayat percolated down to everything vilayati in pre90s days. Demand for vilayat made products was very high in India was used to be a matter of prestige to something valyati (yes, besides people the word was also used for objects). People liked to show-off their vilayati products to everyone who felt envious of not having it.

90s effectively killed the charm of vilayati products when liberalization of economy made foreign brands abundantly available in every corner of the country. Everyone with foreign band at home no one was bothered to show-off anymore. Now with everything made in china most of the people don’t actually love vilayati products as the used to be.

New millennium opened one more door and the charm of exotic vilayati locale was lost forever. The far far away land which was inaccessible and out of reach of common man became accessible to a whole new generation of Indian labourers known as ‘software engineer’. Suddenly more people had visas stamped on their passports and the stories about vilayat which once was prerogative of a selected few disappeared in photo albums of middle class people who photographed every nook and corner of vilayat including entry and exit points of airports. A decade later, vilayati governments fight to pitch their locales in bollywood movies as a destination even cheaper than our native hotspots for middleclass. The allure of vilayat is almost gone but not all as for everything else there is vilayati money.