#SoCS May 13, 2023

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “starts with over.” Find a word that starts with “over” and use it for your prompt. Enjoy!

Overt display of emotions in public is not very common in my part of the country. People are reserved. I had not really observed this till an acquaintance brought it to my notice many years ago. She lived in North India after her marriage. She and her husband returned to her hometown when he retired from service. Whenever I met her, she always said people in the city where she had lived were very friendly and helpful. And here people were not so. In fact, she always lived in the past. She found it very difficult to adjust to her present life. Each stage in life is different. I found her attitude towards life surprising.  

I think it was only in the 1990s that the divide between North and South India started fading. We were in New Delhi in the seventies. I remember the wedding processions starting from the bridegroom’s house. There would be a lot of music. The bridegroom rode a horse and people in the procession danced with enthusiasm. The music would be overwhelming. I remember my heart hammering due to the loudness but friends and relatives in the procession enjoyed the occasion. I have not seen that in my South Indian town. But there are changes 😊. The younger generation among our near relatives enjoy dancing at weddings and related functions.

 A few months ago, the Kannada movie Kantara was a hit all over the country. But in the seventies, it was different. Movies which were a hit in Karnataka flopped miserably when shown with sub-titles in the north. People could not relate to the customs and traditions that were followed elsewhere in the country.

With the information technology boom in the late nineties people from North India have been migrating to South Indian states such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka Tamilnadu and Kerala. Many have settled down in these places permanently.  The television and the internet have changed the thinking of people. In a way they have brought the people of the country together to some extent.

As I am writing this, my husband and son are watching cricket on the television. There is no cricket season now. Test matches, IPL, One-day matches and so on are being played throughout the year. Certainly, an overdose of the game 😊.

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