Life In a Metro

-

 




Living in a big city presents us with many opportunities to learn and grow. We get to mingle with people from diverse backgrounds. We enjoy multitude of options when it comes to eat, shop, play, travel and entertain. In addition, the same daily house chores seem interesting to perform with varied tools and technical products. There exists some flip sides of city life as well. The constant hue and cry of city can interfere with one's physical and mental health. 

I spent my childhood in a small town. I used to hear about students enjoying sophisticated education system and used to ask my parents to send me to some good school there. As time passed, I got the chance to live in big cities in India and abroad. After spending few decades amidst fanfare of metro cities, now I yearn to go back to some rural place. There is a saying, 'home is where the heart is'.

Once we get caught up by the life style of a place, it is quite difficult to reset the habits. The idea of uprooting from the current place feels uncomfortable. So we often try to replicate the positive aspects from our ideal place to the current place. One such aspect of living we wish to replicate is having greenery around. Another aspect is getting our daily routine tuned to the flow of nature. One more interesting aspect is nurturing an active social life. 

Now human being is prone to stay in a race to have it all from both the worlds. I recently moved to a big community in Chennai which offers me good city living experience combined with blessings of village life. But busy daily schedule often prevents me from savoring this bliss. Also maintaining the amenities comes at a cost. This makes me ponder over my craving of living a city life at childhood. I now realize my desire was more about freedom to expand horizon and ability to bring change rather than the change itself. The same quest is continuing till now as I crave to settle down in a laid back space close to nature post retirement.


Change is the only constant in life. I came across this quote from Bhagwat Gita in a xerox shop when I was in college. I did not know how my life will unfold so many diverse experiences in coming years. I treasure the encounters I had with varied people I met in different places I stayed. I wish these encounters will continue no matter where I get to live in my remaining years.



Comments

  1. Sanjeevani BoseJuly 10, 2024 at 3:01 PM

    Your craving for living near to nature is showing your need of a peaceful life, where you can take sigh of relief. It's like a bird, who starts its day by wings in the vast sky with lots of willing and hopes; but returns to its small peaceful shelter at the end of the day, after facing lots of pain & uncertain situations.
    Being your close, I can feel your longing for freedom from suffering & a peaceful life without any condition.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnshuJuly 10, 2024 at 4:01 PM

    Shows how close you are to nature. Yes you are so right, Most of us has come to City in search of happiness, but we didn't know what precious thing we left behind. From far, to all, city life looks so happening, but now as part of this city life, we know what we are missing....

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My connection with Maya Nagri

-
Image
Each of us has some favorite place to go where some strange comfort awaits us. It may be some place with childhood memories or some religious place or a remote place away from chaos of daily life. I feel that kind of connection with Mumbai - Maya Nagri (magical city) of India. I visited Mumbai in 2011 for official work. It was a 2 day trip. I landed Mumbai on a rainy evening in August. The city cast a magical spell on me in the next 24 hours. I made a promise to myself that I would return to this city one day as an explorer. I kept this promise. I revisited Mumbai this January. This time it was a 4 day trip and I explored the main attractions of the city. I was trying to sense the same old charm that I felt ten years ago.  And I was trying to understand how this city is different from other cities I visited so far. People say life in Mumbai is very fast paced. Of course, urbanization has reached its highest peak in Mumbai making it center of business for many major industri...
More Thoughts »

Strangers with memories

-
Image
We meet many people in real and virtual world every day. Some strangers turn into friends. Some are forgotten. In pre-internet era, we often used to lose track of the people we had met during a journey. Strangers open up to us just as much as our friends, sometimes even more for whatever reason. I came across some wonderful strangers during my travel who left mark in my mind. I used to travel from Howrah to Asansol, my home town, every alternate Friday during my graduation days in early 2000.  This used to be six hour long train journey. I loved to watch the scenic beauty of rural Bengal from the window of the compartment and feast on snacks and tea. Some days some co-passenger used to catch my attention.  One day I met a middle-aged woman who was unnaturally silent and almost oblivious of the surrounding. Few hours passed. Slowly she regained her composure and noticed my curious stare. We started talking. After few pleasantries she opened up to me. She lo...
More Thoughts »

How are you

-
Image
  How are you? A common question we exchange with people around us without expecting a genuine answer. Life is short and uncertain. The problem is we think we still have time. After the corona period, we started living our life with double zeal. Rate of travel across the globe increased drastically. Many of us became oblivious of the fragile nature of our daily pursuit of self importance.  My recent visit to Varanasi, one of the oldest cities of India, stirred the question of 'being' inside me.  Majority of the people in Varanasi depend on tourism for earning a living. People keep visiting the place throughout the year. I took a boat ride on Ganges river on a moonlight night. The boat crossed several ghats on the river. Devotees gather on the ghats to witness the majestic Ganga Aarti in the evening. Harishchandra Ghat is considered pious place for cremation. The famous Kashi Viswanath temple is situated within a kilometer from Dasaswamedh Ghat. The road from Ghat to c...
More Thoughts »