Something that I experienced last sunday has just stayed with me. For some reason I havent been able to shake off the whole thought process and the feelings attached to it. We live in a strange world, where dichotomies have always existed but sometimes they become so stark and 'in your face', thats its difficult to not think about them!
I read about a music event happening on sunday at a place called 'Aurus', which you can call a resto pub, a hangout place or a happening weekend/ night spot! The event sounded ineteresting so I decided to call in and check the details. Asked a couple of friends and then finally my cuz decided to come along. We reached early only to realise that the main event would begin much later. An international artist who was to perform was to come in only after a couple of hours. We decided to hang around for a bit nonetheless. The place is lovely and by that I mean the setting, the fact that it overlooks the beach and the sea. In Bombay you cant have a better view than that! We actually sat there and witnessed the sunset and apparently these events that happen there occasionally are actually called 'sundown' events. They cudnt have found a more apt name! As the evening advanced the crowd bagan to pour in. It was a mix but more of it were either the happening lot of todays teenagers or then the more elite socialites, who are often referred to as the 'page 3' bandwagon!
From where we were seated it almost felt like we were watching a film. And it surely was entertaining to see all that transpired around us and the eclectic mix of people with their own style statements and trends. And just then it suddenly struck me as to how two very different worlds can exist in the same world. Just then there was this girl who made sure she stood in every different corner of the place, struck very different poses and got the photographer to capture all of it. So while she was at it, in one of the spots the background happened to have an attendant sweeping the floor and that obviously wasnt a background for the picture she wanted! So she quickly came and had him get out of there. (And she also tried to make this one particular guy get up from where he was seated but she met with little success. But what later stood out about that guy was the fact that he wore a badge which read " I HATE FAKE PEOPLE"! :) It somehow seemed like he sure wanted to highlight that right there and then!) That moment something dawned on me! If you had to look at that woman and then you saw the guy who was sweeping the floor, they obviously did belong to two very very different worlds! And the dichotomy was just so stark. The haves and the have nots! Then on, the evening just transformed , more in my head than anywhere else. It was almost like something sparked off in my brain and refused to relent! Post that I just cudnt help but notice the 'dichotomies' more and more as they just stood out all the time! We dint hang around too much longer because there came a point where we cudnt relate to the crowd or the music, the latter getting more and more techno! And it was way too loud or maybe we were way too out of sync with whats really hip and happening currently! So we decided to make our exit! One of the staff members at the door even offered us bands just incase we wanted to return and we politely declined! Must be strange for him to see people actually leave before the main event when there was a long line waiting to get in!
Just as we waited to hail a rickshaw for our next destination the crowd dint stop pouring in! We were literally made to move away couple times cos we were in the way of some of the elite alighting from their stylish and luxurious vehicles while handing them over to the valet. We finally got a rick and decided to head northward to dine at a place called 'Caravan Serai'. Once again, my head was on a roll as soon as I looked at the rickshaw driver! His clothes, the dishevelled look, the whole appearance which exuded the whole struggle of a day to day existence! And my mind raced back and forth from the visuals at Aurus to this and then to other such things that I noticed that enitire evening! It was a certain train of thought and it just refused to stop. Even when we got to the restaurant and then when I saw the waiters or the other staff there I thought about their lives. The people around who had come to eat were people we could relate to. They seemed like they belonged to a world similar to ours. We felt at home! We moved to a coffee place later and there again were these young boys who served us. People who probably had this as a second job so as to help them make some more money.
All of it made me wonder as to how and who decides as to who will be born with a silver spoon and get it all on a platter due to an affluent lineage and never really know what the words 'struggle' or 'survival' really mean! And then there will be others for whom life is a struggle and another name for 'survival of the fittest' from very early on. And then there will be the 'inbetweens', which most of us may fall into! Even as I say this there is no 'opinion'/'judgement' of any kind or a condonement of one section over a bias towards another! Its just an observation and a thinking aloud of what these dichotomies are and how they exist! A matter of 'wonder' to say the least! Just makes you think as to how in the one larger world , many many smaller different worlds can exist! And how they can be so disparate from each other. The contrast is just so overwhelming sometimes, and though almost on a daily basis you encounter it all around you, there are times when it all stands out much more and you just cant get your head around it! If even only for a day we just notice all the different people we meet or whose services we avail of in some way, a certain realisation sets in! There is so much that we are so used to that we just take a lot for granted without really being grateful for what we are blessed with!
What I felt that day was not something new or alien to me! Iv felt it before but that particular day it all just seeemed to stand out bigtime! I dont think words have been able to do justice to what I really felt within and those feelings still linger somewhere deep down! Sometimes like they say what you feel cannot really be expressed in words as the latter almost always fall short. Some things can only be felt and experienced or experienced and felt! A statement that Osho made comes to mind to sum it all up... Life is indeed a schizophrenic experience sometimes, or rather more often than not!
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