stereotypes

There is so much I want to say about them but words are failing me. I read somewhere recently that if you can't say/write something then you don't really know what you are thinking. Is that really true?

During a recent party at our place, there was a very interesting-turned-heated discussion on two Indian cities - Delhi and Mumbai. The room was divided into equal number of people supporting each city. Now you know that Delhi will always be home for me and for that reason alone I love it. The problem though was that I have never truly visited Mumbai and so felt that I was in no position to comment on the city. That however was not an issue which held some of the others in the group back from trashing a city. They resorted to tried and tested stereotypes. And so Delhi is full of loud-mouthed punjabis abusing with every breath and Mumbai is full of crass and trashy slum dwellers.

This morning, my m-i-l congratulated me for some good news that had come her way regarding me. I was very keen indeed to hear this one. Apparently a friend's mum who was recently in London happened to meet my m-i-l in India and let her know that I keep my house very well. Well what a pleasantly surprising comment. But the interesting bit is yet to come. Looks like my friend's mum thinks I keep my house well and care for it because I have lived all my life in Delhi. To be honest I was exceptionally foxed with this one. No clue what to make of it. I am going to say that my friend's mum has only met women from Delhi who are pre-occupied with housekeeping. Or at least thats what she thinks all Delhi women do.

So, after thinking long and hard about this with a heavy head, a sore throat and a nasty cold, I have come to the conclusion that I have absolutely no idea what people mean when they say city X is better than city Y. Or for that matter what it means to be from a particular city. Because everyone has a different snapshot of Delhi in their minds when they talk about it. And a city is not limited by the number of snapshots each of us have, it goes beyond our capacity to see and perhaps even comprehend. There are over 14 million people living in Delhi and as far as I am concerned, there are over 14 million Delhis in each one's eyes.

And, to set the record straight, I am sure people in Mumbai also keep their houses clean! :-)