Rural Folks
While many folks head towards the Caribbean for their vacations I head to Madurai, in particular away from the city. I finally got a bit of land purchased here. My vacation "spot".
What is it about Madurai that I keep coming back to it? Why? Madurai is by no means anything rosy — like anything in India, it has its share of contrasting realities and harsh ironies – from the quaint obliviousness to the concept of etiquette (like awaiting your turn in queues!) to the more ugly things which I won’t care to mention here.
I think one of the main reasons I prefer to stay around in Madurai longer (apart from the fact my parents are settled here) is because the town is still raw and earthy. One thing refreshing about rural folks is that there isn’t a bone of pretension in their body – no swooning after pop-culture, no material excess, no snob factor. If it all there is any clamoring it would be after their culture, their native festivals, their way of life. There is no chasing paper air planes, no illusions, no “American Dream” (which is no longer just “American” these days).
Like I hardly find rural folks turning into snobs no matter how big the make it in life. Rural folks may be technologically backward and technologically unrefined, but at least they sure as hell are not pretentious. I can always depend on a person of rural background in the USA or wherever. Probably the competition of the city makes relatively more city folks (i.e. not all) sort of two-timing and always in it for themselves.
Even my dad says among his former PhD students (all placed in top universities or companies in the USA) those who show gratitude and return it in some way or the other to their native place, even after 20-30 years later, are those of rural background and/or those who didn’t buy into the pop-culture of the cities.