The Mall Watch
By:Rajbir Deswal
Walking on The Mall in Shimla at the fag end on 2009, and watching couples of various ‘amalgamations’, I was reminded of a ‘research’ we carried out at Nainital. This was pulished in The Hindustan Times.Here we go...!!!
The best part of the training course we were undergoing on Government Management at a popular hill-station last summer came at the end of the official proceedings. After our fill of lectures, audio-visuals and interactions we had much interesting stuff to look forward to in the evenings, which not only soothed our tires eyes but was refreshing and rewarding.
Free of the academic constraints, we would be ushered into a more ‘enlightened’ world a la Buddha, when some half a dozen officers daily visited the Mall for a ‘research’. In that wanton crowed of revelers and holidayers, the scope of our study was limited only to the youngish category of couples. Excluded strictly from our eagle-eyed observation were the oldies, even if they walked more couple-like.
We would position ourselves at a vantage point from where we could have a researcher’s view of the subject under study, the topic of which was no less interesting: “the dynamics of the relationship between the malling couples.”
Here we go:
The came walking not only hand in hand but with a bodyline-to bodyline contact, resting their head on each other’s shoulders, turn by turn. The man’s hand would go reconnoitering the posterior of his partner once in a while. They would not lift their eyes to see the world around them, picking their way through a romantic realm in which others didn’t exist. Thus, sleep-walking, they would every now and then bump into a passer-by, pleading an unmeaningful “sorry”. The collided one could only look back at the apologetic couple, forgiving their “blindness” with a smile. Well they were the honeymooners.
The second category of couples looked more homely. Without hanging on each other literally they preferred walking their own, self-confident way. The man would ogle at other women, and the woman by his side would also not force herself to ignore the admiring glances coming her way. The man would carry a shopping bag in one hand and the woman her purse both with a firm grip on their belongings and their sentiments acquired through experience. Their’s was not a hush-hush talking tone, rather others could also hear the stuff. Perhaps they seemed to be hiding nothing from the onlookers. They were surely married couples of about five years conjugal bliss.
The third category of couples looked ready to pick-up a fight not only with each other, but with all others, be he a shop-keeper, a hawker, a passer-by, or a rickshaw-puller. They walked keeping a safe distance from each other, but carrying on a conversation all the same. One could very well hear their arguments on the child’s progress in school or the mutual tirade on managing household affairs. They would talk about their budget and postpone further individual purchases in favour of a pair of jeans for their teenaged son or a dress-set for the daughter. Surely, these couples were in the bondage of matrimony for a decade and half.
The fourth category was not of the couples but a “coupled” heterogeneity. This man-woman duo cast their apprehensive looks at the on-lookers. They were quite close to each other yet the fear of being caught strolling together was quite evident on their faces. Flamboyantly dressed most of them were husbands and wives of other wives and husbands. Or one partner of this combination might have had a marital status and the other might have been unmarried. The strain of trying to look natural only confirmed the forbidden aspect of their relationship with each other. If someone passed some remarks on them they would simply choose no to have heard it. They were, as the Bard of Avon put it, “no other stuff than what adultery is made up of.”
The last but not the least important category that came within our study was that of the unknown and unexplained relationship of man and woman walking on the Mall. Well, they could be at least cousins, if not, brothers and sisters our for some fresh air, while the parents relaxed elsewhere, with not a worrisome thought.
The best part of the training course we were undergoing on Government Management at a popular hill-station last summer came at the end of the official proceedings. After our fill of lectures, audio-visuals and interactions we had much interesting stuff to look forward to in the evenings, which not only soothed our tires eyes but was refreshing and rewarding.
Free of the academic constraints, we would be ushered into a more ‘enlightened’ world a la Buddha, when some half a dozen officers daily visited the Mall for a ‘research’. In that wanton crowed of revelers and holidayers, the scope of our study was limited only to the youngish category of couples. Excluded strictly from our eagle-eyed observation were the oldies, even if they walked more couple-like.
We would position ourselves at a vantage point from where we could have a researcher’s view of the subject under study, the topic of which was no less interesting: “the dynamics of the relationship between the malling couples.”
Here we go:
The came walking not only hand in hand but with a bodyline-to bodyline contact, resting their head on each other’s shoulders, turn by turn. The man’s hand would go reconnoitering the posterior of his partner once in a while. They would not lift their eyes to see the world around them, picking their way through a romantic realm in which others didn’t exist. Thus, sleep-walking, they would every now and then bump into a passer-by, pleading an unmeaningful “sorry”. The collided one could only look back at the apologetic couple, forgiving their “blindness” with a smile. Well they were the honeymooners.
The second category of couples looked more homely. Without hanging on each other literally they preferred walking their own, self-confident way. The man would ogle at other women, and the woman by his side would also not force herself to ignore the admiring glances coming her way. The man would carry a shopping bag in one hand and the woman her purse both with a firm grip on their belongings and their sentiments acquired through experience. Their’s was not a hush-hush talking tone, rather others could also hear the stuff. Perhaps they seemed to be hiding nothing from the onlookers. They were surely married couples of about five years conjugal bliss.
The third category of couples looked ready to pick-up a fight not only with each other, but with all others, be he a shop-keeper, a hawker, a passer-by, or a rickshaw-puller. They walked keeping a safe distance from each other, but carrying on a conversation all the same. One could very well hear their arguments on the child’s progress in school or the mutual tirade on managing household affairs. They would talk about their budget and postpone further individual purchases in favour of a pair of jeans for their teenaged son or a dress-set for the daughter. Surely, these couples were in the bondage of matrimony for a decade and half.
The fourth category was not of the couples but a “coupled” heterogeneity. This man-woman duo cast their apprehensive looks at the on-lookers. They were quite close to each other yet the fear of being caught strolling together was quite evident on their faces. Flamboyantly dressed most of them were husbands and wives of other wives and husbands. Or one partner of this combination might have had a marital status and the other might have been unmarried. The strain of trying to look natural only confirmed the forbidden aspect of their relationship with each other. If someone passed some remarks on them they would simply choose no to have heard it. They were, as the Bard of Avon put it, “no other stuff than what adultery is made up of.”
The last but not the least important category that came within our study was that of the unknown and unexplained relationship of man and woman walking on the Mall. Well, they could be at least cousins, if not, brothers and sisters our for some fresh air, while the parents relaxed elsewhere, with not a worrisome thought.
2 comments:
Interesting, however I wonder how far the interpretations of the relationships is accurate - initial assumptions could well be wrong. You excluded older people and same sex couples - could have added to the picture!
Well knowing no traita of them I left them to 'fend' for themsleves! Thanks
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