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Low Entropy Volunteer Writer Prateek Sur shares details of his childhood and surroundings in Jamshedpur, a small city in India, and how they both shaped his life and career.

 

The place where I grew up had an enormous effect on the way I think today as a mature adult. I grew up in the city of Jamshedpur, which is in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It used to be in the state of Bihar, until November 15, 2000 when the state was divided in two.

 

Jamshedpur is one of the very few planned cities in India, and the reason for that is it’s an industrial town. Two of the biggest companies in India, Tata Steel, and Tata Motors, have their biggest plants in this city. The entire district is a goldmine for minerals like iron ore, coal, copper, bauxite, etc. That’s primarily the reason why numerous industries were established in Jamshedpur and the adjoining cities over the past 100-plus years.

 

Growing up in such an industrial district, you invariably end up knowing a lot about minerals that are hidden deep inside our earth. You end up having a fascination for geography and minerals. That was probably why I loved the subject the most when in school. Even though I didn’t end up pursuing it as a career, I still have a fascination for the geography of the varied places I visit and read about. My wife always asks me what I do with that unnecessary information about a place that I might never end up visiting in my entire life. But I find reading books and watching shows about the lifestyle of varied cities from across the world helps me understand how people from different places behave, and what good things I can pick from their culture, which I can then incorporate into my life. I find pleasure in that.  

 

Also, I am a Bengali by birth. Bengalis are known to be readers and thinkers. That’s probably why, when I am on the public transport traveling to work, I am the only one who’s reading a book to while away the time while the rest are all glued to their smartphones. I enjoy reading a lot more, and I credit that to the zillions of books that I’ve read growing up. My dad is a voracious reader, and all through my childhood, I saw him reading a lot of books, which inculcated in me the same habit. This also resulted in me having a better hold on the English language and its grammar than any of my friends in school and college. That’s why I ended up being a writer, while most of my friends are either engineers, doctors or businesspeople.

 

Bengalis are also known for their inclination towards creative arts. In every Bengali family you will likely find that the son or the daughter is either enrolled in a singing or a dance class, or learning how to paint or play some instrument. My mom was a great singer and has a bachelor’s degree in music. She got me into singing as well, and I completed a bachelor’s degree in music as well. To this day, I enjoy singing songs and playing the keyboard whenever I have time. Plus, it is a great way to add life to the crowd during house parties.

 

In Jamshedpur, I was Bengali growing up in a predominantly Hindi-speaking society. This resulted in my Hindi being impeccable. That, coupled with my flair for writing, has led to me composing numerous poems in Hindi.

 

My parents were both bankers. Thus the value and importance of money were always instilled in my psyche, right from my childhood. I knew that money was important, and that it was a driving force to having a good life. They instilled in me the sense of wanting to be independent and the urge to make it on my own, without any nepotistic favours. I managed to do that, and I am proud of that fact. Whatever I do, I try to never short-change myself or my work.

 

Also, apart from music, my parents had a huge love for movies. That was passed onto me as I watched numerous films a week right through my childhood. I was watching and re-watching films not just from India, but across the world. That helped me develop a taste for good cinema. I managed to couple that with my love for writing, and today I write movie reviews for a number of print and online publications in India.

 

Finally, my love for living in the big cities emerged as I was growing up in Jamshedpur. It’s a very lousy town, to be honest, and the city shuts down pretty much by 8 p.m. I couldn’t hang out with my friends late in the evening if I wanted to, as nothing was open. It was during those years that I made up my mind that I wanted to live in big cities. Starting from going to college in Chennai to living for almost 10 years in Mumbai, and now being in the process of shifting over to Vancouver – I have always preferred big city life. The germ of that infatuation began to grow during my childhood in Jamshedpur.

 

In closing, I would like to say that where someone grows up has an immense effect on the way they end up living life as an adult. Right from the society within which they grew up to their parents’ backgrounds, to the city they grew up in – everything contributes to that person’s overall growth. All these things from my childhood have slowly and steadily impacted my adult life. You are a sum total of all that you’ve seen, felt and learned in your childhood.

 

What has stuck with you from your childhood? What environmental factors have shaped your life? Share your journey with us at a Conscious Connections meeting or in the comments below!