‘Mythic city- as the name contests- are cities created not just out of concrete and mortar but romanticized and refurbished from the stories and escapades conjured by the mighty pen of journalists and travelogue writers down the ages. This is evident in the ‘golden bird’ stories of India conceived by travelers to the royal courts like Huen Tsang and Ibn Batuta. This is evident in contemporary times when the seventh estate is rocking the world with shocking and revealing headlines that rudely yet entertainingly and exhaustively seek to keep the glamour or cities alive in good times or in bad…and nothing can do them apart.
The beginning leaves an indelible mark with the Zoroastrian death ritual, impacting readers by a harsh tradition over a sensitive issue. The Zoroastrian and the Mumbai world are metaphors of a sacred but vulnerable universe that is exposed by the naked truth wrought out by magazines and journalists in their noble endeavour to inform, instruct and entertain. Lewis Carol once accused interviews to be hateful since it seemed to steal the soul of the person interviewed. Similar is the exposure through media that lays bare the realities of any city, its corrupt administration, Machiavelli politicians, its legal order and its religious frailties; as the author says…’it allows a vital energy to escape from the holy ball of fire.’
For the people of the city it would be nothing less than sacrilege to lay bare the demons, but it allows its readers to delve and revel in the new ‘mythic image’ manifested in films and the written gospel. Thus cities are soon becoming a figment of imagination contrived by stories, dreams, fears and aspirations of the national diaspora. The author is right CITIES LIVE IN OUR IMAGINATION…and this illusion and imagination feeds and thrives on publicized episodes of a city kept under wraps by its inmates. No city is a hard city, enjoying a cushy place on the map…they are all soft cities susceptible to change for the good or worse, a heady cocktail of embarrassing events and virtual Melting Pots.
Physical remoteness, associated glamour, money- estrange fiction and reality but fantasy becomes far more palatable for the readers. Cartoonists like Mario Miranda, editors like Russi Karanjia, writers like Salman Rushdie, tabloids like Mid-Day or Blitz and Illustrate Weekly undoubtedly add elitism to the topic broached but enjoy disseminating the absurdities, the modern spirit, the cultural arrogance and the bureaucratic ethos of a city. The myths are shattered soon and there is a paradigm shift in the perception of the people towards the city and its charm. Bombay’s mythology was cast in iron…entrenched by Bollywood ‘masala’ till it was hit by floods and terrorism that took a toll on its sacred name and besmirched the image of its politicians and administrators.
The ‘mongrel’ world of our metro cities tend to be soulless, with a dull government, callous city habits and capricious decisions. Liberal democracy takes a beating and the façade cracks. Decaying values are thrown up and the myth is relegated to the ‘once upon a time’ episode.
Cities are now crammed with the currency of competition and suspicion . paranoia reigns supreme with all the corruption, ‘power brokering and influence peddling’. With the ‘urbanization of poverty’ the myth finally crumbles and the new ‘generic city’ makes a bloodless coup. The 'historic' has been smothered by the 'generic' landscape that is anything but exciting or exhilarating. The ‘mythic’ cities are under the lens…’open for archaeological excavation’, hidden under the dust of myths proving cities are societies and need to go through the scanner despite the surreal stories shielding their reality.
The beginning leaves an indelible mark with the Zoroastrian death ritual, impacting readers by a harsh tradition over a sensitive issue. The Zoroastrian and the Mumbai world are metaphors of a sacred but vulnerable universe that is exposed by the naked truth wrought out by magazines and journalists in their noble endeavour to inform, instruct and entertain. Lewis Carol once accused interviews to be hateful since it seemed to steal the soul of the person interviewed. Similar is the exposure through media that lays bare the realities of any city, its corrupt administration, Machiavelli politicians, its legal order and its religious frailties; as the author says…’it allows a vital energy to escape from the holy ball of fire.’
For the people of the city it would be nothing less than sacrilege to lay bare the demons, but it allows its readers to delve and revel in the new ‘mythic image’ manifested in films and the written gospel. Thus cities are soon becoming a figment of imagination contrived by stories, dreams, fears and aspirations of the national diaspora. The author is right CITIES LIVE IN OUR IMAGINATION…and this illusion and imagination feeds and thrives on publicized episodes of a city kept under wraps by its inmates. No city is a hard city, enjoying a cushy place on the map…they are all soft cities susceptible to change for the good or worse, a heady cocktail of embarrassing events and virtual Melting Pots.
Physical remoteness, associated glamour, money- estrange fiction and reality but fantasy becomes far more palatable for the readers. Cartoonists like Mario Miranda, editors like Russi Karanjia, writers like Salman Rushdie, tabloids like Mid-Day or Blitz and Illustrate Weekly undoubtedly add elitism to the topic broached but enjoy disseminating the absurdities, the modern spirit, the cultural arrogance and the bureaucratic ethos of a city. The myths are shattered soon and there is a paradigm shift in the perception of the people towards the city and its charm. Bombay’s mythology was cast in iron…entrenched by Bollywood ‘masala’ till it was hit by floods and terrorism that took a toll on its sacred name and besmirched the image of its politicians and administrators.
The ‘mongrel’ world of our metro cities tend to be soulless, with a dull government, callous city habits and capricious decisions. Liberal democracy takes a beating and the façade cracks. Decaying values are thrown up and the myth is relegated to the ‘once upon a time’ episode.
Cities are now crammed with the currency of competition and suspicion . paranoia reigns supreme with all the corruption, ‘power brokering and influence peddling’. With the ‘urbanization of poverty’ the myth finally crumbles and the new ‘generic city’ makes a bloodless coup. The 'historic' has been smothered by the 'generic' landscape that is anything but exciting or exhilarating. The ‘mythic’ cities are under the lens…’open for archaeological excavation’, hidden under the dust of myths proving cities are societies and need to go through the scanner despite the surreal stories shielding their reality.
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