CITYZEN

            It’s going to be one year from the day college life, where my greatest transition has taken place, started. With my own wallet filled with cash, and an ATM card to help me out then and there, and also a mobile, which I could use with nobody to say, “Put it aside and mind your business”, it really felt like being the CEO of a huge organization during the first day at CEG. And to add more, I was at CHENNAI, one of the only four metropolitans in India!!! The only black mark out there was the food at mess, which nobody other than poor non – NRIs like us would eat.

            I loved the evenings especially because you get the chance to be at the hostel, free to do whatever you want. You can chat, yell, hum, bath, sleep and what not. Classes were more than horrible and I always felt like a child at kindergarten, ready to burst out towards the exit door once the class timings were over. And, the other thing was I had only people speaking my mother – tongue adjacent to my rooms. It was a bit embarrassing to always be at the listening end when somebody was speaking fluent English. Especially, I hate those guys who willingly juxtapose complicated words in between a Tamil sentence. There was inferiority complex looming over when my friend gave this advice.

            This guy was good at English and more at speaking. I wish he were a salesman; nobody could ever escape out from him if he started explaining a product. He asked me to interact with him. On the first occasion itself, I was relieved as he complimented me. Then he said, “Dude, first of all, don’t come to the conclusion that you cannot compete with these so – called hippy city guys. Your English sounds good albeit slow, sometimes. Yet, that isn’t an issue. You need to know the knack of overcoming this.”

            He then asked me to observe some conversations between people speaking English. Eureka!! I got it. They were using some new sort of conjunction – like words, to fill the pauses at regular intervals. These included like, and, well, you know, kind of et al. I was really feeling pathetic for these guys because most of their sentences contained more of these words than the natural subject of the dialogue. For example, “Hey, I just saw this movie yesterday. It was, well, kind of boring, but yeah, overall, I somehow watched it entirely without sleeping, you know.” The subject here is very simple: A boring movie had been watched the previous day. This was my enlightening moment. I noticed keenly and found out that girls used the word, like, as subject, object, noun, verb, conjunction and in whatever possible way many times in their day – to – day conversations, that the number almost seemed to overtake the ‘likes’ for their Profile Pics.

            I have, since then, concentrated on improving my communication skills in this way rather than searching for new words in dictionary. So, there is not a huge difference between students from city and town in terms of communication. The variation mainly lies in expressing the content in an elaborative manner. This could be simplified easily.

Question: What is your name?

Answers:

Guy from town: My name is Giridharan.

Guy from city: Hey, you can call me Giri. And, well, by the way, it is not my full name. Actually, my name is Giridharan.

            Got it? This is what they call ‘polished’ way of speaking. It is basically like this: If you write detail answer for 1 mark questions, can you expect a five for it because you discussed something in a ‘polished’ way but after all, the content pointed to only one word? But, people can thrive among the prodigal mob only if they know to be congenial and polished, changing their natural behavior in some way. This is only a sample study; there are lots more to face which are really petty but which tend to be magnified as essential and important.

            Let’s switch over. We guys planned for a movie one fine weekend. Everyone in our gang was really getting excited and thrilled because that was going to be the first one in a multiplex for most of them (including me). So, I put on a collared T – Shirt and a formal pant. When I was about to leave, one well – informed guy interrupted me and said, “Be natural, mahn. Why do you wear all these stuff? (Mind voice: Bloody, do you want me to come naked?) Come casually in round neck and 3/4^ths.” I got ireful seriously. How can a costume decide my being casual and natural? If at all I wear shorts, but feel shy, can I be my original self with that shyness lingering over me throughout? But, I was happy as there were many guys of my kind, who then had to change over again.

            At the bus stop, I had this serious doubt as to which bus was to be boarded. “Wait for a 23C”, someone told, when we mentioned the area we had to go. And we went, enjoyed the movie and returned back. Next day, I thought of meeting my aunt. I just called her to confirm my arrival and she told, “Be careful to board 47A.”Damn, what’s going on in here? After the arrival of mobiles, I have just lost my habit of memorizing phone numbers. How could I ever mug these many bus numbers? But, after hanging out two or three times, I got the knack. There was no need to really be thorough with the entire list. Actually, each and every bus contained the areas through which they traveled. If at all, there were conductors to explain. (Sometimes, there were rude whistlers who would scold for enquiring this and that) By-hearting the serial numbers of MTC buses is entirely meant to show off and nothing else; those are for people who feel hesitant to speak to others, thinking of consequences. Now that I had mastered the art of speaking, this was easy for me.

            Likewise, there is this moral compulsion of buying bucket popcorn at the movie theatres. Reason: While others are munching something, how can we be idle? The name of this phenomenon is ‘social congeniality’. You need to empty your purse even if you’re not hungry just to maintain your prestige. For movie tickets worth a maximum of 120, I’m always forced to buy snacks and drinking water for 200 bucks. Drinking coke for three digit amounts is pleasurable but to spend for a tender coconut seems disgusting.

            Once, I was listing to an exemplary flamboyant guy the names of hotels I had been to since joining at CEG. These included: Murugan Idli shops ( numerous branches), A2B (several branches, too) and so on. He just ssshhhed me and asked in a clear tone of superiority and sarcasm, “Haven’t you gone to the Pizza Hut, Dominos, KFC?” The names flowed on for the next 30 seconds and I was silenced when he concluded with mockery, “Crazy lunatic! Coming to Chennai and never going to Pizza Corner, dumbass.” Frankly admitting, I had been to Pizza Hut only once and I didn’t like the taste. To someone like my grandma, it was nothing but a half – cooked dosa with excess oily content. Am I a crap because I have never been to all these fashionable eating spots? (I ain’t sure if I can call them ‘restaurants’)

            So, this is how we become inferior to the modern people, who have accustomed them to all sorts of artificiality, which they term congeniality. I can guess the number of people who would oppose and abuse me, but let me reinstate that these bucket popcorns and pizza huts are just illusionary mazes. Can we ever compare Burj Khalifa at Dubai with some hill stations just because it has a towering structure? Nature has its own beauty and pride in spite of whatever we try to do to lessen it. Let’s be ourselves; let’s not lose our original identity at any cost in the name of trends, brands and fashion. If someone asks, “Have you ever tried out Pepperoni Pizza at Dominos?”, let’s have the guts to snap them, “Have you ever tasted Masal Dosa and Dahi Vada at Hotel Saravana Bhavan?”