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The New York Syndrome….

Well, this could have as much been a Bombay syndrome or New Delhi syndrome or for that matter any other place syndrome. Guess New York gets the cake, because maybe more people in this world might have a loftier sense for New York than Bombay or New Delhi or any other place that could have found a place in the title….or a greater percentage New Yorkers probably have a loftier sense of their city [compared to other cities], than residents of other cities.

So whats this syndrome…that has an intro more of a long DI ques aka CAT….[for the those who are masters of their own…who never need to know whas DI or CAT..…DI=data interpretation…with that clue CAT now would be a cakewalk for some…CAT=Common Admission Test, b-school wala]

Well well, lemme move to the main prattle. Prattle nonetheless. A guy in Bombay, would not know where the unknown village Jhumri Talaia is; whereas our man from Jhumri Talia would know about Bombay well enough [without having ever visited] to speak about the Juhus, the Chowpattys, the Tatas and the Bachans….not just Mumbai, he will probably flaunt spruced anecdotes with equal élan about Rampur, Azamgarh, Moradabad and a whole long list of mofussil towns.

That’s one part, the more interesting point is that, our man from Jhumri Talaia [if such a place actually ever exists!!!!......to revalidate the New York syndrome :)] would have nothing to do [if at all with half a disdain] with some ‘god forsaken’ village a few dozen miles away.

During my sojourns in Bombay and many other places, I many times wondered how did these guys [or lasses as the case maybe] pass class 10th geography…who don’t know the co-ordinates of capital cities of other states….i sure cd rattle all 22 states [when in school] and their capitals……..that was for a few mins, till I stumped myself with the ques….what the headquarter towns of all district towns of Orissa. Well this wasn’t a part of ICSE syllabus…..and I have comfortably passed 10th geography…..but this was the trigger to my New York syndrome..

For a guy in New York – Bombay is somewhere unknown…guess in Africa or worse probably it’s the capital of Pakistan…like for the Bombayite the Bhubaneshwar doesn’t exist…in the same vein Odospur….is ‘Godammit, What!!!’…..for a bloke from BBSR…..

You take this setting to any place..it shd work…not every Bhopali knows the co-ordinates of Badhwani [or whatver is the spelling or pronunciation] or every Jamshepuri from Tata’s hallowed portals would know about Manhorpur [btw…Manhorpur, is a place which falls in the rail route b/w Tatanagar and Rourkela, is a part of Jharkhand…..and why this place has stuck somewhere in my mind…is that I have been woken up by this ‘Manhorpur ka kharab sa kharab chai’….when traveling to Rourkela by Utkal express….innovative way to attract customer attention na …n even though am not a tea regular, becos of the cat calls…on more than one occasion, I end up tasting the tea!!!!]

You know what am hitting at right…we are all blighted or enlightened depending upon our reference points….degree of perceive self sufficiency and aspirational values..Its got nothing to do with reading newspapers and passing class 10th…

Just enjoy the smirks…even though it may have enough masala to have one big laugh at our ownselves…this is a syndrome which has been with me for more than a decade now…there are a few more such syndromes articulate….sometime sooner then!!!!

Hv fun, wish all good going.


Hyderabad
Apr 03, 2010
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Comments

  1. boundless-imaginationsApril 3, 2010 at 7:28 AM

    What a way to portray sarcasm on ignorance!..I just love it!..Waiting for Arrived Syndrome as well..

    ReplyDelete

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