Life of a Hipster

Pic: Random

You have excessive facial hair, a scruffy unshaven look, enough to make any Bangali mother cringe in disgust. You believe it makes you look more serious. Even if that’s not it, you like it anyway.

You discuss politics and philosophy (aka ‘antlami’). A group of people having an animated discussion on the current political party in power and coming up with the most exaggerated ‘conspiracy theories’ is a hipster thing to do. If you wish to join, make up your own theory. You don’t want people saying that they came up with it first!

The ‘Original Hipster’ was the jhola-carrying, kurta-wearing intellectual. And a fashionable goatee, for him!

You probably puff a cigar or a pipe. Or bidis and rollies — hipsters will forever roll their own cigarettes. Even though this works out cheaper, it’s really more about the principle than the money. You are what you smoke.

You condemn TV-watching. You condemn big brands like Starbucks. However, you’ll spend the same amount of money buying special filter coffee (since it’s not that mainstream… yet!).

You don’t wear Converse anymore because everyone wears it. You find other vintage shoes.

Pic: Random

You carry an analog or vintage Polaroid camera. You collect LP records. At the same time, you own cool tools and will take out a MacBook from your satchel (not backpack) and in all probability will possess the most expensive sound headset.

You stand out with your Woody Allen glasses or large black-framed glasses.

You focus on upcoming indie bands, not bands that are currently popular. It could be The Antlers, m83, St. Vincent or Snowmine. The first thing you’ll tell others is, “You probably haven’t heard of them yet....” You need to use Spotify for these.

Hipsters are never happy. That’s why they love Twitter.

You think it’s cool to cycle. You cycle to college (sometimes, even nightclubs).

Edward Yang 

You probably like Taiwanese New Wave filmmakers like Edward Yang and Hou Hsiao-Hsien. You watched Ship of Theseus months before anyone here had even heard of it.

You eat organic food and attend farmers’ markets. You drink chamomile tea.