Life in a Big city: A mixture of opposites.
Everything in this world has its own merits and demerits. Similarly, the life in a big city has its own disadvantages and advantages.
On the one hand, commodities, career, opportunities, pleasures, entertainment, elite lifestyle, posh restaurants, malls, latest technology, gadgets, theatre, clubs, etc. are some facilities of a life in a big city which makes it a cherished dream of thousands of people who aspire to live it up. But on the other hand, life in a big city lacks stability, calmness and peace of mind.
The city dweller’s ordeal in a bus is a great epic. Every morning, he has to take part in a hundred metre sprint to the bus stop. He may have to elbow out pick¬pockets, ignore frail kids and argue with the conductor. The veritable hell moving on wheels may give him jerks and jolts, causing cramps and in the long run, spondlous. Metro train, though gives economy of the time in travelling, is no less than a battle to board a metro, you need to squeeze yourself inside the crowds of thousands to board the metro.
Train journey needs advanced planning. He must fight for getting his seat booked two months before the actual battle. While waiting in a queue, he finds the privileged ones entering from the backdoor and getting their tickets. The booking clerk grins before he says that all the seats have been booked; money changes hands and there is smile on the face of the booking clerk. Sometimes, there is a gentle pat on the shoulder and as we look, we find a burly man offering us a ticket at a premium of hundred rupees.
The city dweller’s heroic deeds at the time of admission of his children in schools and colleges are another great saga. The queues for the registration forms, the interviews of the parents, the snobbish behaviour of the school teachers, clerks and peons, the demand for donations for the school auditorium and many more hurdles need to be crossed. If the child is admitted, a heavy demand for money begins – money for the school uniform, money for the fete, money for the founder’s day, money for decorating the classrooms and what not? If the charges swell up a little more, it would become an effective step for restricting the expansion of families.
He has to defend himself against the speeding trucks that might knock him down, against the innocent looking rogues who might stab him for a hundred rupee note and against the wily hawkers who might cheat him with their sweet talks. The traffic jams, the crowded shops, the money-spinning rich and the spectre of price- rise leave the residents in a state of awe and confusion.
One murmurs, in a fit of desperation. It is only when we visit a village, we realise that there are some facilities, comforts and opportunities in the cities which makes it worth living and sometimes more preferable too. Thus, life in a big city is a mixed bag of advantages and disadvantages.
