Aren't cities like people. You can never know them well enough
Am back from my vacations.
After a month long time, I am walking on a street without
maps…This same city that I have been introducing as my ‘home’ lately.
As I landed back late at night the other day… I just
observed the streets around changed their names from long German words ending
with ‘hoff/ berg/per’ to short Chinese ‘ng/ho/tin’.
I just observed myself spotting the familiar spots on way
back to home and the little stories I have about them.
Oh… that’s my bus stop! That’s the Starbucks corner where I
watch the smokers every morning enjoying caffeine with nicotine and thank God
for protecting me from such self- destruction.
That’s the Chinese restaurant that smells of Basmati rice from
the road. I always thought that I’ll get
Curry-Rice here until I checked that the only vegetarian item they have is
bread-toast.
That’s the over-crowded ATM machine that I never get to use…None
around here because the machine is out of order today.
That’s the taxi stand where tourists with heavy luggage queue
up for airport transfers at hotel check out times.
The hoarding at the back by HSBC wishing Christmas is
replaced by Chinese New year wishes by Citi Bank.
And here comes the street name registered in my sub
conscious that I write under my name in Bank papers, Registry, utility bill
payments- as my address. I had taken a bit long to remove ‘Mumbai’ from it.
What separates a resident from a tourist?
The map-lessness? The conversancy? The years spent? The ID
card? The Continuance?
Or, nothing....
The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land. ~G.K. Chesterton
ReplyDeleteThe woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before. ~ Albert Einstein