I haven’t been to many places in my life but to my luck I have been to some of the amazing places, one of them being Mumbai. Though I stayed there for a very short period of just 2 days but believe me I loved it. The entrance of the city itself is so breath taking. The wavy sea, still mountains, breezy coconut trees, flagged old working boats, moving black clouds, big drops of rain; it was a mix of the repose and the zing. That rush hour life, those clouds, that water, packed places, lovely buildings; it was love at first sight. Note that the buildings I loved were not the skyscrapers but the old ones that come along the way when you walk from Church Gate station to the Gateway of India. Those made up of large rocks, well I really don’t remember the names that they bore but I do remember the design. I was there at night so the street lights and the fading sun was showing an impressive silhouette of the edifices on the way. I was so tired when I reached the sea but just looking at lovely horizon and the cycle of waves in the vast body and the movement of large clouds over it made me relax some how. I was there for my job interview, after clearing the 1st round I was kicked out of the second, yes Mumbai also brings that prick of rejection along.
The next place I loved is the Wall Street in the lower Manhattan. It is awe-inspiring. I hardly find words to describe it, it is incredible. The road is thin and dark with tall antiquated buildings on both the sides preventing much of the sun to touch the ground. It will make you think of the times it has seen and in a glancing moment you will even see yourself in that era. Times Square I liked just for the first time but Wall Street that’s my love I would like to go there again and again to feel and absorb the richness it has of the past. The dark black street attracts. It is a ‘jungle of buildings’ in a true sense.
I also like Chandigarh it is one of the most well laid and well kept cities of India. Broad clean roads, lots and lots of trees, flowers here and there, clear-cut footpaths, superb drainage system, traffic well controlled, good parking lots, children parks, no electricity problems, nice places for weekends, it has got every thing a person wants his or her city to be like. The only thing I disliked was the ‘goal chakars’ on the main crossings; yes and also most of the markets and sectors seemed pretty much the same so being new to the town and finding places was like treasure hunting, you keep coming to the same place again and again when you can’t find the right clue.
Even Jersey City is a good place but then most of the places in US must be good to live in, so no discussing this place.
Also Delhi comes in my list but don’t have much to write about it.
Last but not the least, my home town Dehra Dun would always be my love, I really adore that place. Though after becoming the capital of Uttrakhand, it’s population has increased by leaps and bound because population and pollution goes tandem so this place has lost its beauty with time. Though things are done but the skeleton of the place being that of a valley, which was never supposed to be inflated so much, is almost breaking under the burden of heavily packed smoke puffing traffic, growing colonization and deforestation. Now it has a colossal size and tarnishing beauty. Still I love that place because I grew up there and have spent some of my best days in that amazing place. That lovely weather with summer never so hot, winter never so cold, at times surrounded by snow clad mountains, a little fog, lots of rain, cool breeze, those bushes of wild roses and blue bells, birds singing, kids playing; I miss it so much. “…I wish I could, turn back time, impossible as it may seem, but I wish I could…”
