Is it premature of me to say that I am in love with a city? Yes I have a lover's relationship with a city. It was not love at first sight but eventually I started getting closer and from friends we moved on to became lovers. No there was no proposing and cocktails but there were endless chats, long sleepless night and excitement of being together. I find it hard to believe that something not living and breathing could catch my breath and make me skip a beat or wait does a city live and breathe?
I cannot help but wonder can a city become something our friends and relatives cant? I was brought up in comparatively small town but my insistent wish to get out got me into a city of dreams, which was before I started dreaming about it. I was brought up to believe that each city had boundaries- the ones in its municipal control but I am yet to see the boundaries of my dream city. With each year passing by it’s just increasing in both length and breadth.
Some time ago I was a timid girl who acquainted this elder and mature city. I was naive and ignorant; I dreaded even the aura of this magnificent city. But like all other, kind and compassionate loved ones, the city took me into its arm without judging me. Each time I fell, there it was with its arms held wide open to make me stand back and in time it became my friend, philosopher and guide.
Just like any other relationship we were separated and had our quarrels but this just kept on proving how real WE were. The long wait for a taxi in the scorching heat, the push and pull of the local trains, the long line for some theaters, the exorbitant rates for something as common as a roadside ice cream... the list can continue but then there came moments which made it all worthwhile. The late sunset, the sparkling street lights, the breeze which could take your breathe away, the long walks to nowhere with no one just to not feel lonely... each day is a new journey to Neverland, as if no one grows old here.
At a level much deeper, the city gets into your system. It’s in the air we breathe, it’s in the touch we feel, it’s in the food we eat, it’s even in the dreams we see and before we know it, the city is us and we are the city.
I cannot help but wonder can a city become something our friends and relatives cant? I was brought up in comparatively small town but my insistent wish to get out got me into a city of dreams, which was before I started dreaming about it. I was brought up to believe that each city had boundaries- the ones in its municipal control but I am yet to see the boundaries of my dream city. With each year passing by it’s just increasing in both length and breadth.
Some time ago I was a timid girl who acquainted this elder and mature city. I was naive and ignorant; I dreaded even the aura of this magnificent city. But like all other, kind and compassionate loved ones, the city took me into its arm without judging me. Each time I fell, there it was with its arms held wide open to make me stand back and in time it became my friend, philosopher and guide.
Just like any other relationship we were separated and had our quarrels but this just kept on proving how real WE were. The long wait for a taxi in the scorching heat, the push and pull of the local trains, the long line for some theaters, the exorbitant rates for something as common as a roadside ice cream... the list can continue but then there came moments which made it all worthwhile. The late sunset, the sparkling street lights, the breeze which could take your breathe away, the long walks to nowhere with no one just to not feel lonely... each day is a new journey to Neverland, as if no one grows old here.
At a level much deeper, the city gets into your system. It’s in the air we breathe, it’s in the touch we feel, it’s in the food we eat, it’s even in the dreams we see and before we know it, the city is us and we are the city.
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