Shanghai. It looked just like Gurgaon at first glance. The ride from the airport to downtown was marked by a feeling of deep satisfaction as all things fell into place.
It’s still early days. Been raining off-late. Cold winds. The works.
But I like it. The city is convenient. It didn’t take me any time to adjust to its beat. The beat itself is not distinctive. Shanghai is like one of those world-cities. Center of finance and business and what not. Or maybe I haven’t discovered the finer notes yet.
The Chinese are inscrutable. They look unapproachable. Serious people going about their business. Like they have the weight of the entire world’s manufacturing on their petite shoulders or something.
Ouch.
So anyway, although they look like Sir-when-I-ope-my-lips-let-no-dog-bark-Oracle, they actually are the sweetest people on earth. If you ever are in trouble and there’s a Chinese near, have no fear. Talk about the ‘State’ being different as different can be from the people it governs.
About those errant notes, by the way. I tried to discover them. I undertook a 2 hour walk, one way, to The Bund. Beautiful. In a surgical sort of way.
While I like the comforts of Shanghai, nay, I adore the comforts of Shanghai - where the streets have signs and no one knows my name, I do have a few questions. I wonder what brought those disfigured beggars at the Bund Tourist Canal to Shanghai? Was it the dream of a better life? Or are they native Shanghai-nese and have nowhere to go? How did they get disfigured? Is it similar to the racket that runs in Mumbai? How do the guys incessantly peddling their wares to exotic looking foreigners - from fake watches to portraits - make ends meet? Are they making enough money from all the people they dupe, o-so-sweetly? Which are the areas of Shanghai where the not so white-collar live? Have they lost their jobs yet? What do they have to say about China’s recent declaration on a news channel - China refuses to acknowledge the recession?
I want to see the underbelly of the city, any city. I don’t just want to go to the Bund, marvel at the array of retina-blinding-white-neon-golden-lit-branded-displays at People’s Square, restrict myself to traversing the criss-cross of super-super highways and architectural marvel that is Shanghai. I want to get into the brain, the heart, the soul of a city. Walk across its dirty gullies, be privy to the shameful secrets that it tries to hide so religiously.
5 comments:
The desire to look at the underbelly seems a bit too strong here :).. You aren't against invasion of privacy , are you ?
Oops :)
Way to go Shreya!! Go around the bylanes and ghettos of Shanghai and strip it bare till you see its soul. Walk slowly, with a determined sense of purpose in your eyes. Fear noone and nothing - insanity, commoners of Shanghai and even them communists, you can handle them all. Stare at every bizarre object you see on the road. Once in a while, smile a satisfied smile - always with eyes either closed or looking at the vast expanse of the skies. Feel the non-existent halo following you around. As you may be aware, wisdom is rarely acquired; its usually assumed! And don’t forget to carry some music with you. May I recommend "sheherrrrr.. sheher ke hazaron sawaal... sawaaaaaaal.. jinke na koi hai jawaaaaaaab.." If Bombay were a damsel checking out Shanghai for the first time, she would be singing this very song; perhaps in Marathi but these days the difference is a non-issue. And once in a while, she will wonder if the song is about her or about Shanghai. The hunter and the hunted swapping places at the blink of an eye. The examiner will be examined too. The questioner will be forced to figure some answers before she can question further. And all this shall happen everytime you begin your search for answers; they will happen within you, around you and all over the place. I hope you capture some of that and write in a subsequent post!!!
You take care, and have fun exploring the city :)
If I didn't know any better, I would have thought you were making fun of my zeal to look at the 'underbelly'. O wait, did I say I know any better? ;)
You should know better, shouldn't you? After all, have I ever made fun of you? :P
Thinking about it, I guess I was just itching to comment, but didn't have anything to say. And for some reason, I couldn't look at the whole exercise with the same kind of purposefulness as you did. And hence the slisha out-of-sync comment :)
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