What does this picture say to you? May be a close neighborhood or a chawl (The chawl is a name for a type of residential building found in Northern part ofIndia). People who are from India know Mumbai Chawl system very well. Apart from you making new friends easily, other thing that describes Chawl is the unity among people. No matter which religion they come from, one thing that ties them together is the warmth and care for each other. Due to the close nature of the quarters, trivial news and gossip travels quickly. On the other hand, however, this intimate living situation also leads to a friendly atmosphere, with support networks akin to familial relationships. They are good examples that show how peaceful different communities can live with each other. This type of housing is no longer built, but remaining structures are still in demand because of their relatively affordable rents. You can call it order in chaos.
Order in Chaos…
When I saw this picture, first thing that came to my mind was a chawl that are shown in the movies. Then when I looked to the pattern of shirts and the way they all are spread out nicely in an orderly fashion, I can only think of talking about India.
For this picture prompt, I am not going to write anything about patterns or chawl lifestyle. Instead, I am going to talk about life in India. When we live in India, we don’t understand the value of small things. Things like meeting our neighbors or attending weddings seems like a task. But when we move out of India, we miss these things Even if we have so much of chaos in terms of traffic, population, noise but one thing that no one can beat is the warmth you get from people over there.
Recently, my in-laws went back to India after staying here for 6 months. Now we are trying to adjust ourselves. The emptiness caused due to their absence is hard to describe in words. My daughter said, “it is so easy to get distracted in India. You have people around. You don’t feel lonely. ” I agree to her observation. I remember one post that I wrote on what my kids have learned from their India trips. And one of the comments said, it’s good that I have pointed out positives of India when most of the immigrant parents (after spending just 2-3 years) talks about what is not good there. I feel we grew up in India. Every place has some positives and negatives. But just because we have started living in a comparatively sophisticated environment, where there is order in everything, in all aspects of life, should we start talking about the chaos in negative manner? We can also change the essence of this chaos. Is’t? I have seen many kids here, when asked if they enjoy their time in India, they say India is so crowded and noisy and there is so much of pollution everywhere. I agree but is that the only thing that is there? I feel it’s not the kids but parents who are responsible for some such an interpretation. If we keep on talking about the chaos in a negative sense then kids will form that picture. On the other hand, if we tell them that amidst of all this chaos there also exists an element of love, affection, brotherhood and unity then I think kids would be able to paint a better picture of India.
What do you want to say about it?
Linking this to Write Tribe Festival of Words – June 2018
Day 2 : Image Prompt (from Pexels)
