BENGALURU: Recently, our staid and usually conservatively spending fellow brethren of India have gone through a marked metamorphosis. The ideals with which we the middle-aged, (sigh! there I go again admitting it), were brought up are practically redundant today.
With the advent of Wi-Fi and social media, we can’t fool our children into thinking that food left on our plates meant a child somewhere else in the world would go hungry! I never did understand that concept, but the guilt was overwhelming. But now, the kids will discuss the merits and demerits of governments that create a ‘political’ famine for poll numbers or even wage an unnecessary war!
All this brings me to the topic I must touch upon… the ultra-mega, grandiose pre-wedding celebrations of the ‘first family’ of India. And Lordy! What a grand spectacle it was. It turned us into a nation of voyeurs, what with people from all spectrums of life staying glued to their phones, watching the kaleidoscope of guests arriving from all parts of India and abroad. Everyone who was someone was there!
I bemusedly watched as the Mark Zuckerberg(s), and Bill Gates (s) walked awkwardly with the Indian stars, politicians and head-honchos in their (errr, ahem), rather ill-fitting desi-wear. Of course, Ri-Ri performed because the hosts had acquired a major share of the cosmetic company she represents, (though I wish she had put more ‘werk, werk werk’ into her performance), Bollywood bigwigs actually served food and all of them danced, sang and showed their mettle.
An obscure place like Jamnagar was paved, spruced up and airport ready for a slew of private planes, and the people who mattered saw India as she is meant to be seen…Glitzy, glamorous, industrious and ambitious. This was a PR exercise par excellence…
India shining? Indeed! Namma ooru was not to be left behind. It should be renamed from ‘pubcity’ to ‘way too many pubs in the city’! Everybody and their uncle is launching or re-launching an eatery or a pub. The diaspora of places like Koramangala and Indiranagar has completely changed. There is hardly any place for people to live! So investors and owners have been moving to the city outskirts, which is a wise idea if only the infrastructure of our city wasn’t so pathetic. I had heard great things about a new pan-Asian restaurant called EIGHT.
But alas! It was situated in the Mall of Asia, my old nemesis! Anyway, I invited a close group of friends to dine with me at the restaurant and I was pleasantly surprised when they all promptly agreed. I certainly must be more popular than I thought. Needless to say, the superlative food and company, coupled with exemplary service made sure the dinner was a sure-shot-winner. Especially, if one has the ability to have meaningful conversations and authentic ‘catch-ups’, then the evening abounds with a special aura of empathy and joie-de-vivre.
I have solemnly promised that I would visit the new ‘kid-on-the-block’ Virat Kohli’s One-8-Commune which has been in my neighbourhood for a long time now. My opportunity came in the form of an invitation to the opening of a new cocktail bar that they opened up on the top floor. The bar was packed with familiar faces, the cocktails were fabulous, the food was great, and the place was full of shiny-young-people.
India-shining? Of course!
(The writer’s views are personal)