The book is a delightful social commentary; a thoughtful look into the ever-evolving self, the personal, the social and the national. At display in this collection of essays is the art of observing the minutiae of everyday life coupled with succinct yet engrossing prose. The book is based on the weekly column that Santosh Desai writes for the Times of India titled ‘City City Bang Bang’. The essays are clubbed under nine chapter headings, under a broad thematic category.
The book is laced with nostalgia and for the younger reader, there is also some anemoia. The changes are mapped and juxtaposed against each other but not necessarily to suggest a re-adoption of the older ways of living but as a starting point to think about our lives now and if they could use some change again. The memory of the frugal use of electricity and of a time when the work of medical practitioners was mostly met with unquestioned reverence, or when ACs were a luxury, and other such changes that we perhaps brush aside as mundane are looked at with a keen eye revealing what they truly meant for our personal and social selves. The book delves into the self, work, entertainment, gender relations and other themes, sometimes with a magnifying glass, tackling the big with the small. For example, in the chapter titled ‘Digital Culture: Our Performing Selves’, one essay is ‘OTP: One Time Person’. Staying true to its name, the essay has some intriguing insights on the one-time password, now in use all the time.
There is something for everyone in the book. ‘Popular Pursuits: The Power of Melodrama’ has essays that would tweak the interest of sports enthusiasts, music lovers and the fans of Bollywood. Foodies too will find much of interest in this collection with several essays scattered around the book that discuss food in varying contexts like street food receding into restaurants, the simple pleasures of the good old khichhadi, the stall for South Indian food with an old but sturdy way of doing business, and the changing design of the kitchens, among others. The essays around work were particularly fascinating for me. Today the job market not only offers different kinds of jobs and modes of work/bussiness but also a more fundamental change in our very attitude towards work. A work-life balance is unfolding. These essays offer compelling insights especially for those navigating the work culture of today which is surprisingly becoming better and worse at the same time.
Some essays, especially the ones in the last two chapters of the book (chapter eight, titled ‘Outrage Media: The Coming of Hot Democracy’ and chapter nine, ‘Politics: A Sense of Righteous Belonging’), deal with the grim state of affairs of contemporary times. These essays recall the recent deterioration in the media, the politics and the rights of people in the country. One finds in these essays a perceptive understanding of why a certain kind of politics has a large chunk of the nation’s population in its grip. These essays, despite the concerning shifts in media and politics they address, are a breath of fresh air for good opinion journalism has started disappearing from the nation’s mainstream media. There are also assessments especially of gender dynamic in the nation and its back and forth between the goalposts set by a certain progressive politics and the unyielding push back.
The rapid infiltration of the smartphone and allied technologies in our everyday lives has unleashed a range of changes in our social milieu. These changes are sometimes met by resistance, sometimes by acceptance but mostly with a combination of the two. Sometimes the past is remembered fondly and sometimes with a sigh of relief that it is no longer how things are. The book captures the essence of this human experience in all its glory.
The book’s prose is engaging, with the right dose of wit, relatability and profundity. Each essay is a stand-alone bite-sized treat, and while the book by no means falls into the definition of a coffee table read, I would suggest it be kept on the table for it will make for a great conversation starter.
Shimaila Mushtaq has done her Masters in Political Science from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. She is currently Social Media Consultant with The Book Review.