Different Perspectives

I went to my first Hindi movie last night... It has been sometime coming but I am glad to have gotten there in the end. My friend from work Shibu took me with his mates and I sat there in the cinema, the only white person and enjoyed the romantic comedy "Honeymoon". And well minus the fact it was all in Hindi I didn't really see too much difference from western romantic comedies, well minus the sex and add a tendency to be a little more "wholesome" in it's themes, although it dealt with the perplexities of relationships, homosexuality and feminism. But I guess what became apparent to me again last night as we watched the movie, went out to dinner and then went to the beach to chill and play the guitar is how we learn so little from staying in our box...

I apply it to myself. Now I have spent much of my time in Dubai to myself, surfing the net, reading books, travelling for work, and on MSN with Farah. And it became apparent to me last night that to some extent I had forgotten why I had come here... for different perspectives. A night out, chilling and doing nothing completely special... was a nice change for me... and I had to contrast it to what a night would entail with a westerner.... inevitably drinking... It is funny. What is it with western culture and drinking? Well I can't judge as I love a drink too, especially if Farah and I have a few wines together, it's always nice. But it is the occasionality of the drinking that I prefer. Why do westerners drink so much? Are we so keen to forget all the troubles of our material abundances at the bottom of a bottle? I don't know what I am trying to say.

I guess it is the non-western vision I came in search of here. I mean I realised a while ago that something was going wrong with mainstream culture in the west. The move towards consumerism and individualism was not sitting right with me. I couldn't sit and just flow into that life thinking it was normal, nor did I want to spend my days banging my head against the brick wall that is pop culture. So I left... In search of new ways to live something that I worked with and that felt right, healthy and sustainable. Alas I confess to not having found it yet. Western life still has the lure of familiarity for me, although when I see it, especially in it's characaturic forms here in Dubai, I am sickened and want to run even faster in the opposite direction. But where do you run to? I mean Indian pop culture is running toward the west as is much of the world. And the sad thing is that they're running away from some pretty damn good things. Close families and communities, social capital that the west could only dream of, but they destroy it in the name of progress and economic and social liberation. Mmmmm... Why do we always think the west knows best?

I mean granted the west has offered so many great things, education, research and development on a scale only dreamed of the world over 100 years ago... But what has it taken from us? The meaning of belonging to something bigger and more important than ourselves, the freedom to sit down and relax to not be coaxed to buy at every turn, to value our fellowman more than the bottom line... And it has destroyed nature.. or at least subdued it to a shadow of it's former self....

Why one way? Why can't we mix with rather than replace other cultures? We are living in a time of social and biodiversity destruction... I see it before my very eyes here in Dubai...And I have seen it since leaving home... When will people realise what they lose when they exchange culture for a mobile phone, ipod and a Japanese sports car?