You don’t have to be necessarily influenced by the Hipster

I didn’t want to be a part of this but my friend squashed me from the bed and, in the funky T-shirt and boxers I was wearing, he took me to ‘Happy Streets’, CG Road, Ahmedabad, a place about which I have been hearing so long but had find no guts to sojourn. Well, a short note to every aspiring entrepreneurs and some professional persons who will make their own flow positively and not delusively. Before inferring to an acute analysis about how the external factors can take you to a fallacious direction. Beware !

What is Happy Streets?

Happy streets is a refined and refreshing initiative by The Times of India to get people’s spirits high out on the streets rather than having a super lazy Sunday Morning. A place which is nothing but a ‘Kumbh Mela’ for Youths; the only difference is that nobody [here] have to bathe in a sacred river, in fact, people come dressed meticulously.

That’s how it is defined to people who want to go there and take the mixture of CO2 (Carbon di-oxide) exhaled by the crowd and a little bit of Oxygen from air (If I am tall enough to inhale it before anyone does, LOL).

Reincarnation of Hipsterism

I thought that The trend has already ended before when flat caps and beards was a ‘Super Fashion’. What trend are we talking about? Well, “The Hipster’s Era” is back.

Are they surly and snobbish ? It seems like everywhere you look, there’s obligated to be at least one hipster stumbling around with skinny jeans, flat cap, overnice locket, farseeing beard and the fragrance of unnatural smugness.

From the warm confines of the local Starbucks, to the trendiest street corners of Ahmedabad, hipster groups are springing up everlastingly in society. Maybe, they want to crusade against Pune and Bengaluru, I guess. They say, “You are not a hipster until you take you Macbook to Starbucks.”

In contrast

There is a nice saying that goes by, “Entrepreneurs make their own river and don’t dive in the direction of the stream.” True. Agreed. Don’t take it the wrong way. The above quote suggests not to go with the flow but diving in the river is mandatory i.e. Crusading and Striving for your goal is required undoubtedly. Keep In Mind.

With their fixed-gear bikes and couple of pack of cigarettes in the pocket, hipsters are highly visible. They enjoy ear piercings, have silly haircuts, wear skinny jeans, possess invoking permanent tattoos. Some of the cliches would include: Quote Tees, leather boots, vintage sneakers, flamboyant flipflops, moccasin-style shoes, fedora type hats, overpriced watches, squared-off frames glasses, scarves are optional, cleavage showing low V-neck tops (Girls), ironic tops, Pink Floyd, Metallica, Van Halen band shirts, neon nail polish, pins, bright belts, bird necklaces, patterned leggings. Probably myriad of details I would not encounter (for all good).

I felt like it was a ‘Swayamvar’ of Hipster

Why would I join that retaliation?

Come on, people don’t even jog; they walk, and leering is so common.

I was reminded of an incident occurred few days ago when my grandmother wanted to tell me about a place she couldn’t recall the name of. She attempted to describe it as the place where tap water is served in yellow plastic cups, at least one staff member has a beard or tattoo, seating is mostly communal, uni kids with beards hang out, everyone around you is Instagramming their food and some hipster-ic promotional lines she said. But, now I can commemorate it that it ought to be this place.

You don’t have to be necessarily influenced by the Hipster

There are myriad options from where you get the motivation, positive energy and stirring push. Yes, Hipsterism is cozening but that is what you should not have as an attribute, knowledge and skill.

I am sure we all have friends who enjoy wearing suspenders, highwater jeans they purchased from the most expensive shop in the city, but they are not jerks, they are like- So strong and loud. Tweet tweet tweet, Rebel rebel rebel, Craft drinks, Pop-up this, pop-up that, Vintage shirts.

I am neither a hipster or a yuppie, though I am a millennial, and I hypothesize that it might be the rise of this hippie-like-culture that begins to bloom again.

Non-Hipster: I don’t smoke.

Hipster : Lol. Kids !

In fact, forget about smoking or any other nuisance (that are trendy) but there are far more accomplishment you can evolve in rather than ‘called a kid’. They are more like the kind of folks who cannot say “I like pizza with pepperoni”. It’s the hipsters who’ve fallen prey to fashion. Why should you?

Hipsters are only cool to hipsters. You think ?

People believe that hipsters contribute very little to society. I’m not complaining about this. A non-existent scapegoat may be the best scapegoat of them all. They all dress like lumberjacks, but layman would not admire, appraise or applaud them until and unless they do something for the society or at least something worthy for themselves.

We ask ourselves, “Are they rich?”

First let me say I do not resent or envy hipsters. I think it’s great that they have found a way to express themselves, with or without the great jobs and skyrocketing careers we were taught to aspire to. But, some stupid acolyte blindly streams with the so-called Trendy, Tentative and Thrilling course. No, they are not all rich, obviously. I have seen many guys who ride bikes but lends money to fill up petrol and many Macbookian who pleas for pocket money from some normal-guy-like-me.

Macbook is not the only thing that can take you to your creative presentation you want to show your boss or see being a boss yourself. Take that shitty mentally off your rigid brain.

Why all hate them ?

l They are snobby toward non-hipsters

l They consuming instead of creating.

l They are parasitic and pretentious.

l They create exclusive cultural ghettos.

l There behaviours are based social pressure and not real passion/love for topic.

There are no hipsters anymore. They are merely a figment of your imagination-at least none that live up to the crazy, incoherent stereotypes in circulation.

It took me 15 minutes to grab the concept of ‘Happy Streets’ and I thought ‘Why have I come to this place’? I don’t belong here; maybe, they will rename it ‘Fashion Street’.

From this article, I can filter out a conclusion, an essential conclusion, that going against the trend and society is not easy; it takes brilliant brains to figure out what is right and what is wrong.

All the views, expressions and opinions are personal.

Full Disclosure: I have a beard, I have a tattoo, I go to Starbucks but I am definitely not in the hippy categorized stylish chain-smokers who have forgotten the reality and living in the virtuality.