These relationships exist in many forms - with people, places, things, songs, food - every conceivable love you have, may have a hate!
My pre occupation with this dilemma is of course, my beloved Bombay, a city I truly have a love-hate relationship with.
Since I moved out of the city, I've been back innumerable times, for short periods of time, where I didn't really have time to appreciate the good about the city, just what I didn't like. Which worked out well, coz really, a part from friends, I didn't really miss anything!
This time around is slightly different, I'm here for 2 months, and that can be a dangerous thing. The freedom the city allows you can get heady at times, and will make you want to stay forever, before all the bad comes back up to the surface. It's a vicious circle, as you can tell.
2 single girls meet at 11:30pm, after having had individual evenings out. They go to the house of one of the girls, and gossip and giggle and chat away, well into the night. Finally, it's time to go home. The 2 girls decide to walk to the others girls house, which is not far, without even giving it a second thought. They walk to the other girls house, without a care in the world, without feeling unsafe or uneasy at any point - it may as well have been in broad day light. Having dropped the friend home, the other girl doesn't feel like walking up the hill again, not for any other reason, but sheer laziness, and so she jumps into an auto, and gets home without incident.
Instances like the above, make Bombay such an easy place to live in, where really, no one cares what you do. Of course society will still judge you, but it's fleeting, and they'll forget about you, coz they have better things to worry about.
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| Bombay Traffic - I Hate |
Since I moved out of the city, I've been back innumerable times, for short periods of time, where I didn't really have time to appreciate the good about the city, just what I didn't like. Which worked out well, coz really, a part from friends, I didn't really miss anything!
This time around is slightly different, I'm here for 2 months, and that can be a dangerous thing. The freedom the city allows you can get heady at times, and will make you want to stay forever, before all the bad comes back up to the surface. It's a vicious circle, as you can tell.
2 single girls meet at 11:30pm, after having had individual evenings out. They go to the house of one of the girls, and gossip and giggle and chat away, well into the night. Finally, it's time to go home. The 2 girls decide to walk to the others girls house, which is not far, without even giving it a second thought. They walk to the other girls house, without a care in the world, without feeling unsafe or uneasy at any point - it may as well have been in broad day light. Having dropped the friend home, the other girl doesn't feel like walking up the hill again, not for any other reason, but sheer laziness, and so she jumps into an auto, and gets home without incident.
Instances like the above, make Bombay such an easy place to live in, where really, no one cares what you do. Of course society will still judge you, but it's fleeting, and they'll forget about you, coz they have better things to worry about.
My biggest grouse with the city - The entire entertainment industry seems to be stuck between the old tried and tested formula and doing something new - breaking form! But I guess it's not easy in a city like this, where everyone wants to be mainstream, and by wanting to be in the mainstream, they're settling for mediocrity, rather than doing something small and original, that might be amazing. And because of this, everything is bordering on bad to semi-bad! It's very disheartening on one hand, and on the other hand, it really makes me want to do something about it, something to shake people up, and say - this is possible as well!
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| Moon over the bay - Unbeatable |
I know people like this in Delhi, who are doing what they want to do, not conforming to any pre-conceived notion of what is 'mainstream'. They're doings things that they find interesting, challenging, engaging - and the end product is far superior, than anything I've seen in Bombay.
People want to be 'different' in Bombay, but being different in Bombay, means you do the same thing as everyone else, just package it differently. As we say - same but different!
No one in Bombay dares to think out of the box - they can't! I mean, they can, but they can't because if they do, people will say it's too different, and they're not ready for it! What does that even mean?!?!?
I LOVE that most of my peeps, my BEST friends, live in Bombay! If I want to go for a walk down the road, I have a friend I can call. If I want to go to a play, I have them all to call. If I want to go dancing and be crazy, I know who to call (All of them!!!). If I want to bitch, if I want to cry, If I want to be sulky, happy, go eat at some bizarre place - I know who to call! I think that's what I miss MOST about not living in Bombay! The friends, and the madness that comes with knowing people so well, that the term 'boundaries' does not exist.
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| Besties - I Adore! |
I have to admit, Delhi has been super kind to me as well. Friends have introduced me to friends, who have introduced me to friends, who have in turn introduced me to more people... Everyone has been so lovely, and gone out of their way to show me around, take me out, show me Delhi's most amazing things! I cannot thank them enough!
Even though I don't share the same level of familiarity with them, not yet at least, it doesn't feel strange to be there, they don't make me uncomfortable, they're in fact all really friendly, and they're people like us! :-)
But the average Delhi person is WAY more aggressive, than any place I've lived before. There is a certain attitude that you can't help but eventually adopt as well, to survive!
I kept saying they are the way they are for Historical reason - just look what the North has gone through- the Mughals, the British, Partition - and then a friend sent me an article on Delhi just yesterday, and this summed up their general attitude so well. There is a lot more the article discusses, that I found fascinating - http://www.ranadasgupta.com/texts.asp
With that to ponder over, it's time to go meet old friends and maybe meet some new ones too!
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| Friends cooking - I Love |
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| Home away from Home |
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| The squalor vs. grandeur - Depressing |
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