Mass Hypnosis?!

The early morning rush hour…

...The scramble to get a foothold in a fast local…the pushing and shoving to gather more leg room…It’s bad enough that you are holding onto your life by virtue of that door handle which is supporting a couple of other hands too…But hey, that doesn’t stop you from hollering to the privileged soul ( well, she DOES have the central pole to hang onto!!) to get in…”Jahag dhiktha hai kya andhar” comes the retort…And there we go…a few more fiery exchanges which increases in amplitude with every reply received…soon hits the high note when out comes some bellowing sounds which lasts just about a minute or so (natural progression, I say!)….before fading into oblivion with as much intensity as the ascending trip……The sine curve is drawn…

And your regular day in Bombay has begun…..

The men…well, they have their own version of these cat fights…It has some infliction of machismo, of course…So, there’s always the daily dose of fist fights and finger movements and bawling sounds, all replete with some colorful intonations…Either this, or the gleeful celebrations for finding that much desired inch of foothold near the mouth of the compartment…This usually comes with some “yee haws” and other cowboy like maneuvers which includes high-fiving some stranger on the platform who has not been so fortunate as the passenger himself, when the train starts moving out…

Leave the trains aside, lets jump onto the highways to hell and the rulers of this terrain – the cab drivers…If you have been in Bombay and not been stuck in traffic because a cabbie has distorted the already dilapidated bumper of the car in front of him, you must have had Lady Luck showing off all her molars on you, dude!

Oh no, you guessed wrong! This is not a preamble to yet another sob story of a poor soul stranded in this new-age jungle…the point is…I dunno about you, but I definitely marvel at the city’s innate love for attention…Anything that is remotely glance worthy is spared much more than just a glance….If there are X people who just love to draw attention onto themselves, there are at least 10 X people who want to give them all the attention that they crave and much more…..And what is weird is that fact that, at no point of time do these parties exchange their prerogatives….Will any of the “givers” of attention step in and intervene with the proceedings of the “takers”?! …No, sir! It’s almost as if they don’t want to steal the takers’ thunder…”The limelight’s on you for today and you can hog all of it” types….How many fights have you seen being broken up by spectactors? “They might as well pull their tooth out, but we are happy getting our free entertainment of the day “……This might not be very endearing, but aren’t you amused by the collective hypnosis that the people of the city are under?! I sure as hell am….