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Savoring city's leisure and ladies
By Sanjay Kumar |
August 15, 2011, Monday
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DEAR editor,
I eagerly look forward to the articles in your opinion pages, especially those by Mr Ni Tao and Mr Wan Lixin, which often provide a contrarian vision for the present and future of the Chinese society and economy.
They are especially interesting for me since most of the challenges on account of relatively rapid economic development being faced by my native country (India) and China are identical, and some of the contrarian voices back home sound similar.
Although I often agree with the views of the venerable duo, at times I am also beset with existential doubts whether this nostalgia for an idyllic past is too woolly or whether it comes out of my inability to come to terms with the new world dominated by technology.
In India, we have witnessed a phenomenon where the rigid anti-modernist stance of Mahtama Gandhi was later subsumed, ironically, by those which started opposing all attempts to liberalize the economy and bring in new technology, until they were themselves marginalized from the political mainstream.
I agree when Mr Wan Lixin, who points out that China is somewhat blindly following the Western developmental model building highways to nowhere in the process (August 3, "China's car culture spreads like prairie fire as traffic worsens").
I also feel that people are going overboard in aping American culture - flocking to first day, first show of Hollywood blockbusters, craving genuine and fake LVs and Cartier, going bonkers for a sport (basketball), which is not rooted here, and youngsters listening on their iPods to Lady Gaga but being unable to write a sentence in English.
Cicadas and crickets
Most of these things are true for India as well. Further, many of the aspects of life in Shanghai, which might look bad from the first-world perspective of an American or a European, or even to a Shanghainese aspiring for those standards viz the traffic, the pavements, the manners et al (August 1, Ni Tao, "Lack of civility evident in slammed elevator doors"), appear so wonderful from the real third-world perspective, which I carry from a small town in India.
Your city is still great, sirs.
When I walk out of my apartment complex on to Julu Road in the morning, I am welcomed by the singing of cicadas and crickets nestled up above in the leafy foliage of phoenix trees.
And by the twitter of tiny birds in the cages hanging in dainty balconies of small tenements (shikumen) lining the street.
When I walk around on the pavements in the tree-lined avenues of the old French Concession area, the wonderful aura of a liberal, warm and stylish city fills me up.
And I agree with Mr Bensuaski when he says that Shanghai is Puxi. I will even count out Changning District. For me, Yangpu, Luwan, Xuhui and Jing'an districts are good enough.
Given a chance, I would love to settle down in this city.
My wife, however, disagrees. She suspects that my love for this city has something to do with my unabashed praise for the beauty, grace and charm of Shanghainese ladies.
(Sanjay Kumar, Shanghai)
I eagerly look forward to the articles in your opinion pages, especially those by Mr Ni Tao and Mr Wan Lixin, which often provide a contrarian vision for the present and future of the Chinese society and economy.
They are especially interesting for me since most of the challenges on account of relatively rapid economic development being faced by my native country (India) and China are identical, and some of the contrarian voices back home sound similar.
Although I often agree with the views of the venerable duo, at times I am also beset with existential doubts whether this nostalgia for an idyllic past is too woolly or whether it comes out of my inability to come to terms with the new world dominated by technology.
In India, we have witnessed a phenomenon where the rigid anti-modernist stance of Mahtama Gandhi was later subsumed, ironically, by those which started opposing all attempts to liberalize the economy and bring in new technology, until they were themselves marginalized from the political mainstream.
I agree when Mr Wan Lixin, who points out that China is somewhat blindly following the Western developmental model building highways to nowhere in the process (August 3, "China's car culture spreads like prairie fire as traffic worsens").
I also feel that people are going overboard in aping American culture - flocking to first day, first show of Hollywood blockbusters, craving genuine and fake LVs and Cartier, going bonkers for a sport (basketball), which is not rooted here, and youngsters listening on their iPods to Lady Gaga but being unable to write a sentence in English.
Cicadas and crickets
Most of these things are true for India as well. Further, many of the aspects of life in Shanghai, which might look bad from the first-world perspective of an American or a European, or even to a Shanghainese aspiring for those standards viz the traffic, the pavements, the manners et al (August 1, Ni Tao, "Lack of civility evident in slammed elevator doors"), appear so wonderful from the real third-world perspective, which I carry from a small town in India.
Your city is still great, sirs.
When I walk out of my apartment complex on to Julu Road in the morning, I am welcomed by the singing of cicadas and crickets nestled up above in the leafy foliage of phoenix trees.
And by the twitter of tiny birds in the cages hanging in dainty balconies of small tenements (shikumen) lining the street.
When I walk around on the pavements in the tree-lined avenues of the old French Concession area, the wonderful aura of a liberal, warm and stylish city fills me up.
And I agree with Mr Bensuaski when he says that Shanghai is Puxi. I will even count out Changning District. For me, Yangpu, Luwan, Xuhui and Jing'an districts are good enough.
Given a chance, I would love to settle down in this city.
My wife, however, disagrees. She suspects that my love for this city has something to do with my unabashed praise for the beauty, grace and charm of Shanghainese ladies.
(Sanjay Kumar, Shanghai)
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