I Call Two Very Different Cities ‘Home’

I say fall in love with cities just as you fall in love with people.

Mumbai, City of Dreams:

Severely populated and drowning in frenzy, this city can drive you crazy – ask me about it every evening on my way back from work and I’ll scream, ‘I SWEAR I’M MOVING OUT!’. But then I get home, back into my cloud of comfort – my family, friends and familiar faces, and it’s my happy place again. There’s one too many memories here, almost all my firsts and this city just holds way too much emotional baggage. This is my first Home, the one I ache to leave and to which I yearn to return.

London, my Forever Love Letter.

I lived here when I was 21 and young, so again, many firsts. And given the city’s charm, I thought a ‘Letter to London’ would be fitting:

London, I think of you and I think of the sweet, cold air that brushes my cheeks when I take that first step out on your street. Your playful breeze, teasing me, telling me “you’ve finally arrived…arrived in this glorious city waiting to wrap you into her arms.”

London, I glide on your streets, whisked away by the hundred others around me moving swiftly, following your whimsical air. I spend my evenings at the Pier, watching your Eye watching us all. Do you know how magnificent your sky looks at this hour, a melange of golden and crimson? Do you see me swaying to the tunes of your violinists and drifting away with the waters of your Thames?

London, I have captured every moment spent with you in memory. I met you that September in the fall, and I’ve withstood the warmest of summers and the coldest of winters with you. How I changed with your seasons! How I’ve loved you for your sublime calm and your majestic chaos.

London, I think you may just as well be the love of my life. A love once scorned, twice adored and never truly forgotten.

It’s amazing how you can fall in love with cities just as with people. Moments in the cities you love can make you smile just the same, make your heart happy and sing with joy as you walk the streets. A new city can help you discover a new self and each one can bring out a different part of you. And just like with people, cities can be unkind sometimes too; but all’s forgiven when you’re home.