Chhota Shahar-Bada Shahar

Rashmi in her excellent post tried to define a 'chhota Saher' and 'bada Saher". Its very difficult to define whats chhota or bada sahar.Gaurav feels that if young people from a city like Indore want to move out to big cities than its Chhota shaher.well we can debate what's Chhota or Bada Shaher and never find an answer. Its like who is Indian?
Though i was not convinced by arguments put forward by Rashmi.Attitude of people of Indore is present in magacities like Mumbai,Chennai(of Khushboo fame) and many other.I have stayed in Mumbai my entire life but i have desire to settle down in small(!) towns like Baroda, Valsad, Navsari or Gwalior.The reason I dont pursue this is due to the fact that I am spoilt by this uniturrupted electric supply in Mumbai and am wary of daily Load shedding of some 2-10 hrs thats part of life in other cities. This desire to go to small city may be is the result of nostalgia of my years spent in Girgam(Mumbai).
One way of defining chhota shaher is Physical Boundaries of a city.Small towns have bit of intimacy.We meet same people on different occasions,time and places.People know the landmarks and there are places, shops,food joints known and visited by many residents. There is someone famous for chaat,other for Kebab,third one for Kachodis and list goes on.This is almost impossible in metropolis like Mumbai. As a city grows this intimacy, togetherness is lost and then its bada, anonymous sheher where people mind their own business and are not bothered about you.City looses its characteristics and is like any other city in the country.Visiting Cities in U.S.A. gives you same sense of deja vu.You have seen one, you have seen all. But this is just an academic discussion.This change will be relentless and we will have to live with it.We will be nostalgic about the small town,village we came from.But its a mirage. If you ever return, you will find it has grown to big Sheher, just like one you came from.

Blogfriend.

That excellent journo-blogger Sonia has informed her blog admirer that she is as pretty as his grandmother but meaner. Now I will accept the first part of this but meaner? naa.That brings me to a question? Can you profile a Blogger by reading his/her posts.? I am regular reader of her posts.I don't know whether she is Beautiful,pretty,Attractive, fair,tall or Short and Fat, unattractive or looking like my grandma.But her posts inform us about her concern for dispossessed,those who got raw deal from life but have chosen to fight back against heavy odds, a battle they may loose.A post on Book reading gave her views on rich and famous having a sham ball at a 7* dos.Her trip to Cambodia.........
I believe that's where blogging is different than writing a piece in Newspaper or weekly.There writer is bit impersonal. Write up is about an event or person in news.Sometimes the write up is different form of advertisement and nothing remotely nasty can be written in it. Novel or short story is all about characters of the story.Sometimes it is autobiographical or writer's past experiences may intrude but its not whole thing, otherwise all the characters of the story would be almost same.
Blogging is about your day to day life.What you feel about happenings around you.YOUR experience,views,take on daily events in YOUR life.Thats why eventhough sometimes the language,prose is not great but its imminently readable and interesting as its all about life through bloggers eyes and mind. Sometimes we have witnessed the same event but someone will blog about it with absolutely different and interesting viewpoint. This reveals bloggers traits which helps you to profile him.Most of the bloggers do write about their friends,workplace,events in their lives, their relatives,spouse.....At the end of the day after few months you develop a friendship with this blogger which he/she may not reciprocate.It takes you to their blogsite everyday to read what your blogfriend has to say about world around him.