Dare to be Indian..
I parked my car across from an abandoned parking lot, which was filled with street pigeons. Colouring the asphalt surface in a blueish gray, they searched for the remnants of the last meal that had been strewn across the ground earlier that day. They did not seem to be scared of humans and lazily stepped or fluttered there wings just staying out of reach of the little boy's hands.
The pavements were dotted with papers and other unidentified rubbish. The shops around faces tormentingly old as the landlords had failed to upgrade them. Parking attendants roamed the streets looking for an opportunity to find a parking space for the hundreds of cars that were making there way to the food center of the city.
Sidewalks crowded with vendors selling there wares. DVD's, pirate of course, fake jewelry, watches, sweetmeats, sweets and a myriad of other wares eking out an existence from the hungry consumer based society. Restaurants, established by immigrants who have managed to create an eating sensation, interspersed with well know franchises all trying to lure the unsuspecting into there clutches.
Scenes, that were once foreign to our country, paan stalls and tandoori chicken vendors. Shops with names painted in Urdu script, a proliferation of barber shops where you can get a haircut and a shave. Tailors who will make any garment and the chaos of the crowds of people.
This is a little piece of India in the middle of Johannesburg. Is this a struggle to hold on to tradition? Is this a rebellion against the progress made and the norms of the western world? Is this a people crying out for there homeland who feel consistently displaced? Is this a community seeking union in what once was?
I do not know, but what I do know, that in spite of everything one can dare to be Indian here :-)
The pavements were dotted with papers and other unidentified rubbish. The shops around faces tormentingly old as the landlords had failed to upgrade them. Parking attendants roamed the streets looking for an opportunity to find a parking space for the hundreds of cars that were making there way to the food center of the city.
Sidewalks crowded with vendors selling there wares. DVD's, pirate of course, fake jewelry, watches, sweetmeats, sweets and a myriad of other wares eking out an existence from the hungry consumer based society. Restaurants, established by immigrants who have managed to create an eating sensation, interspersed with well know franchises all trying to lure the unsuspecting into there clutches.
Scenes, that were once foreign to our country, paan stalls and tandoori chicken vendors. Shops with names painted in Urdu script, a proliferation of barber shops where you can get a haircut and a shave. Tailors who will make any garment and the chaos of the crowds of people.
This is a little piece of India in the middle of Johannesburg. Is this a struggle to hold on to tradition? Is this a rebellion against the progress made and the norms of the western world? Is this a people crying out for there homeland who feel consistently displaced? Is this a community seeking union in what once was?
I do not know, but what I do know, that in spite of everything one can dare to be Indian here :-)
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