we were on this boat with a group or fat, middle-aged indian tourists. they were north indian but that is incidental. they saw a local wearing snorkelling gear and got very excited - they brought their cameras out and started asking him to 'dive! dive!'.
Made me think again of a couple of things:
one. India makes a spectator sport of anything. When it is possible, available and affordable, we would still rather watch someone else do it than try it for ourselves. I suppose you could argue that one can't reasonable make judgements on all of india based on obese, middle-aged tourists. Which neatly brings me to my second point - that's practically the only kind of indian tourist there is. It's amazing how since my cousin and I are two young girls travelling by ourselves, everyone comfortably assumes we're foreigners. And when we tell them we're not, they look around confusedly, and then ask, 'But where's everybody else?'
Where indeed?
In a country where the young people exceed the old ones, and I don't have the stats but I think they're pretty conclusive, where are all the young people? The people who should be taking the time while they have it, to do silly things, meaningless things and just-because stuff.
On Marina Beach in Chennai, the surf looked pretty awesome, and I was there in the evening when the wind wasn't offshore, but I'm guessing in the morning there's a good offshore wind, which, as far as I know, makes for ideal surfing conditions. And yet, nobody does. Not even the young people who study, work, live in Chennai. The only surfing club I found in India was started by a foreigner and caters primarily to them.
What is going on? Or, rather, why isn't anything? Why is the average young person so insecure, so obsessively petrified of falling off the treadmill? If you can't do it now, when as a young person you're still driving your life with the training wheels on, when will you?
18 comments:
you re so right! sometimes i sit and think should i give my CFA(3 years of hard work) as is everybody else in the freakin' city..but then there's more to life than degrees. I'm in Singapore and I haven't even had time to see Singapore..let alone go to nearby countries. It is a tragedy. I don't know what the whether is like outside. My only break is a movie or waffles or a drink with Sailo. I live a terrible life. My mother keeps saying work hard in your youth and you can enjoy later. But then you never know if you will live to enjoy 'later'.
The other day, the night before my presentation, i got 4 hours of sleep. I was so tired, i was complaining how i was very sleepy to my singaporean friend. She asked me "so you didn't get sleep at all?"..Isaid "no I only got 4 hours"..and she replies "Oh so you had enough sleep". The city is mad, mad!
The statistic, as far as I know, is that 50 percent of India is below the age of 25. Or was, a year or two ago.
Have you forgotten where we live? Most people have to struggle nonstop to earn. You and I may be so privileged that we can go traipsing around the countryside, but leisure travel is simply not an option for most.
As for surfing in Chennai - I doubt the conditions are amenable. Plus who's going to surf with a bunch of locals staring at you?
Do you surf? I would think West Coast for surfing... Kerala, Goa. Perhaps Gujarat, Maharashtra too...
Pai, better to be a workaholic than the other extreme. Trust me, I've been in both places. It's better for your self-esteem if you work.
Puneet is your trip over btw?
It's good to hear that para-kit(and now I am not afraid to jump..Gosh I suck at this!!) Sometimes you tend to lose track of where you are heading. It's nice to hear some reassuring words..Puneet is one of a kind. She'll survive anywhere on anything.
I am a spoilt brat..I'd be insecure if I wasn't well funded(preferably by me) for atleast the next couple of months..
I always associated people doing dope and bhang with people who wish to escape reality..as opposed to people like me who are deeply rooted in the real world and get horribly scared to lose control.
Which kind are you?
Well that's the great thing about leaving Stephens. I'm now employable! Worst case, if I'm seriously broke and my folks disown me, I'll survive.
Where did that dope thing come from? For me it was always about leisure, about hedonism, procrastination, and bonding. I guess it was escaping the reality of college and studies, in a way!
Losing control scares me a lot less these days, thanks largely to paragraph (1) above. Even you. You're in your twenties, have a degree in Economics. No longer a kid, you're fully capable of surviving completely on your own. As long as you have your health, what's there to worry about?
Sorry if all that didn't make much sense :)
That's my point actually - sure we're privileged thru a freak of fortune that we're born where we are - but once we are in that comfortable position, are you going to feel guilty for not being like all the other people who're struggling to get what you have, or are you going to make use of it to live life, taking everything it gives you.
and the working hard argument doesn;t really work - most of the people i've met so far on this trip - including a korean surfer and a kiwi skier - are wage workers who do shift jobs, and borrow, and then just travel for months. yeha sure it would be tougher for us, what with exchange rates and all, but not wholly impossible.
oh, and dunno about chennai, but mahabalipuram and pondi are good places for surfing, goa too crowded i guess.
oh, and little andaman too...
I really do feel guilty. Never enjoy myself at functions where there are support staff also present :(
Or, for that matter, beggars (good example - outside Wenger's. How to enjoy your food??)
It really would be impossible, I think. Unless you live at home while working, thereby saving on rent...
So are you back in... wherever you call home? :)
I can enjoy my life without feeling guilty that there are others much worse off, but I do feel that at some point I must give back to society.
But what I do feel guily about is not putting in enough effort in what I do. But I guess its the environment I'm in that drives me nuts. If I go out for a drink, while my friends are slogging it out all night, I feel terrible. But the good thing is..the frustration makes the drink worth it.
I cancelled on a friend tonight even though I have some time because all my friends are set to camp at the workstation. Peer pressure..It sucks!!
Hmm we three all seem to have quite differing outlooks on life!
I never worry about other people slogging it out. Why worry about them? And I always put friends (and leisure) above anything else. Can't imagine doing what you did tonight :)
but then at 10:30pm i said enough is enough and had a wonderful night out at a mexican cafe and the beach..i feel good and not guilty at all. I must be changing:)
That's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, I like it...
beaches are really the best bedrooms in the world - would you believe i wake up fresh at four-thrity every morning just about singing my head off - and then my cousin snaps at me coz she hasn't had coffe yet and needs me to light the fire before she completely loses it and kills somebody. oh well...
pai, i meant to say this earlier but i guess now's good too: are you kidding me!! you are one of the most alive people i know. you do more things at one time than i could possibly try in a year, and you're so mentally open to life, i think, that its inspiring. hope it was jsut pre-exam blues talking...
p.p.s. beggars have the best lives, i kid you not. they are the most successful example of rebellion against the system using the system to thrive. of course there are exceptions and qualifications, but i feel envy rather than guilt most of the time.
you feel envy?
do you think, had you been born in the west, you would have become one of those who travels the world on a shoestring looking for the meaning of life?
hurrah! yeah poneii..it was a phase. Gosh, I cannot imagine now how depressed I got then!! I'm all happy and chirpy again! Going to watch Phantom of the opera on the 3rd. I looked up rotten tomatoes review of the movie we watched together and its got such bad reviews. Sheesh! I was so glad we had each other then..
the 'hurrah!' was for you are 'almost' back!! unless you take off again. My ballet classes are confirmed..they begin Sunday!!
no mail nothing. Whats happening?!! Updates required!
Sorry sorry, soon. soon.
Well said.
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