The quote "There is no there there" appears in Stein's Book "Everybody's Autobiography". When Stein returned to California on her lecture tour to the United States in the 1930s, she wanted to visit her childhood home in Oakland, CA. She records that she could not find the house. Hence, "there is no there there." –Sonja Streuber
Well, I was on one of my random wiki hopping session and came across the above on another site. It immediately captivated my attention. Not for the reason that things change a lot and places do not always exist, but another connotational meaning of the phrase.
There, to me, refers to a specific place with unique qualities, differentiating itself from all other places. There is something that it offers that justifies the 'there'. Increasingly, globalization is making the world a really small place. As with all perceived good things, there are some bad effects. To me, the two big effects are loss of local economy (and the subsequent reliance on transportation and logistics) and uniqueness. The first one is a major issue and is more or less the way it is going to be and I hope there is some way that technology will lend a hand.
The second issue is a more personal thing. When I read old books by non-resident Indians, they talk about the big changes that they had to adapt to live in their country of residence and how difficult it was to get Indian food etc. I seem to be of the thought that this is to be expected and it is these changes, experiences and being outside the comfort zone is what is normal. Why would you want to live in a country that you don't like? Before I digress into the sensitive "multi-culturalism" topic, the point I am trying to make is that places are ought to be different and should be digested as such.
When I travel around in the US, a vast country with fabulous geographical features, one thing that is interesting is the enormity of commonness among states and cities. I am fairly sure that things will be very different when I hop a few states in India - and that is a good thing. What good will it be if the entire world does things the same way? I am sure such things will never happen, but the small extent that things are now common is itself disturbing to me. I for one have not watched a Tamil movie at a theatre in US and I make it a point to see one whenever I visit India. Even if I wanted, I cannot get the Arisi Murukku laced with coconut in the US or any other city other than my hometown. There should be things that are very nice to do in every part of the world that they will be cherished. This cherished sense diminishes when things can be done anywhere anytime at any cost.
I am sure there is a differing level of things that people agree to accept as necessary to replicate at another place, but there could be some sense of individuality maintained, else, there's no there there, there is there here and here there and everywhere...
4 comments:
Very true.. loss of local touch and loss of uniqueness are inter related and I think it all comes down to having more money and resources and opportunities that man can satisfy every wish and desire he has. Once the basics (food, shelter and clothing) were covered, then came others (cars, playthings) and then came experiences (bungee jumping, skydiving). Now its the turn of bringing experiences to one's doorstep... who knows? in a few years, we might get murukku and mullu thenkuzhal in a remote part of the world :) Btw, good post!
Thanks. Why did you have to remind me of thenkuzhal now? :) Added to my India list.
There, there! (as in http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/54/messages/371.html).
for the US cities part, yeah i agree, when i see the same macys and jc penny and sephora etc in every mall, it feels stupid. but may be if we look deeper we can find the difference. Like now we know more about Boston.
Sandipan, thanks for the other version :) I wasn't anywhere close to that, for the record!
Sure, there are unique things are some level of granularity. We can extend your example of Boston to our own 'self'. But, my thought is that the granularity level was at a much higher level, say a state or country, and that seems to be getting finer and finer. A lot of interesting things get lost in the way. For example, I'd not expect to find a pure veg restaurant in Provincetown, MA. I want the place to be full of sea food and clam chowder. What will happen to Cape Cod if Saravana Bhavan manages to open there? (It only takes a few more Indians to visit to make that a reality). Specialization/Generalization/Temporal/Spatial combinations are my worry.
Post a Comment