Episode III - Sheep: Cause you gotta go somewhere...

I really love that song by Rush......Subdivisions. It really doesn't directly apply to Bangalore. But it does in sort of a circuitous way. I mean to say that it is puzzling how each society really is the same yet different. When we think of people that conform to society’s norms we usually think about order and self discipline. In Crazy Bangalore we are not thinking of this. So when I make reference to conformity think on the lines of discord and that dischord no matter how noisy is making beautiful music in a sick and disturbing sort of way....

I went to the (con)Forum Mall in Koramangala on Saturday to see Batman Begins. Decent Movie. It was a bit choppy in its delivery and it is in no way a great movie, but overall had a Dark Knight feel to it. I am referring to the 1987 Frank Miller graphic novel series where Batman kicks Superman's friggin' butt. I went to the mall to see the movie with a colleague from the office and we discovered some very interesting things. First off that place was packed. If I had been a sardine I would have been begging to be consumed. Sardines are not that tasty so maybe that is a bad self reflection. Oh yeah never order Pizza with sardines on it. Oh yeah, I don't think that they sell sardines on Pizza in India. Lucky India. Well back to the Conforumity. We entered the parking garage which had a long line to get in and it was reminiscent of lets say going to Disneyland....of course we were just going to the freakin’ mall to see a damn movie. Well we saw this small van in front of us stop at the basement entrance to the elevators. I think these Maruti Vans have like room for about 5 people, but in this case it must have been modified to handle 15 people. I exaggerate. Only about 10 people got out of the van, not including the driver. Talk about Sardines. Well the other strange observation I made was that they were all dressed as if they were going to a party. I thought to myself “am I at the right place?” I am only dressed in my shabby weekend clothes. Okay I shouldn't lie.....I wear that shit every day of the week.

Now the crazy thing is.....everyone was pretty much dressed this way. "Subdivisions." But as they say sheep will always follow the rest of the sheep. There is definitely a herd mentality at work here. Now you will hear something interesting from me. You probably think I am going to knock this behavior. I am absolutely not going to do that. They are the ones that are normal. They are conforming to societal norms. Sure they have a very limited view of what their society could be and what is currently is, but they really are still conforming to it. The concept of shopping in these malls may not be part of there plan, but going and hanging out at the mall to let's say have a family outing or to check out what other people are doing would make even Kevin Smith shed a tear of joy. Or at least Jay or Silent Bob. (See the '95 Movie Mallrats http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113749/). Okay I am now officially being really sick about this.

Well, when I was watching the movie, of course I had a really crappy seat, I kept hearing the person next to me talking to his girlfriend. I hate hearing other peoples conversations, but the ignorance of that dude was overwhelming to me. Oh but first, how is it that a movie that has been out for weeks is still packed. I must say that it is pretty cool for the movie studio, but pretty sad for the people of the city. It is either they really don't have anything better to do or the city really sucks and there isn't anything to do after 10:30pm. Oh yeah, everything closes at 11pm. Everything fun that is. I guess you better go out and vote those F'nuts out of office. And the bureaucrats. I am not sure what you can do there....I guess your best bet is to move to Mumbai. Damn, I mentioned Mumbai, sorry about that.

Back to the movie. Well this guy must have thought that the only other version of Batman was from the Pogo Channel. For all those that have not had the pleasure of watching the Batman series on Pogo, it is the 1960's campy series that was actually a comedy.... He was explaining to his girlfriend everything about that series and how this movie is much better. Damn funny. Ignorance is bliss. And there is nothing wrong with Ignorance. We all repeat mistakes of the past cause we don't understand history. Ignorance, gotta love it. We are never born with knowledge of the past. And the fact that mallrats exist here in droves proves it to me.

IF the city probably had more exiting things to do after 10-11pm THEN people would probably do other things. I think. Or rather I hope. Raising the roof. Something. Being real.

ELSE

people really must be trapped in their ignorance.

Slowly but surely there are people I am sure that will break from the herd. There are some people trying to do something different. I don't mean fooling around in the back seat of the car at the mall parking lot. Yes I accidentally saw that, sad. You know "Subdivisions." The lyric is something like this: “in the backs of cars be cool or be cast out." I mean doing something that that make us human. Expressing ourselves as individuals and demanding that we are not prisoners to our own devices. Basically becoming Sheep.

Cheers.

Episode IV on its way...