What is so romantic about Paris? The only
other city I would really like to see in the rains…I have a love-hate
relationship with the rains and with my city, Calcutta…although I have seen my
fair share of rain in Bombay, it was somehow baffling and exhilarating
…torrential and yes definitely baffling…but in Calcutta (and I have heard also
in Bombay) when it rains (and oh it pours!) the roads are flooded, traffic
stops and in a way the city stops…but nothing beats the cool breeze of an early
April or late June shower and the smell of wet earth (which is related to some
bacteria)…but I am going off topic, what is it about Paris or Cairo or Calcutta
in the rains (even without the rains)…I was watching this movie called
“Midnight in Paris” and the film starts with a few sweeping shots of the city
and I felt so thrilled, remembering some of the streets I had walked in and
wishing (imagining) walking in some of the others, little bistros, splashing
puddles with flashing street lights and of course cobbled roads! I mean what’s
not to love? And there was something else they spoke of in the movie, the term
is “nostalgia” related specifically to some old time…the protagonist in the
movie wants to live in Paris in 1920s and in the rains…I found that absolutely
thrilling! Then my enthusiasm was dimmed a bit when his not so nice “friends”
pointed out that people who have such longing for the past they do so since
they are unable to cope with the pain and the ugliness of the present…I
couldn’t agree more…I mean why do we watch movies, read novels and why do we
travel…we do so to escape sometimes from the pressing needs and demands of the
present…The present is not such a “gift” as people would like to sell you to,
things like nothing like the present and today is a gift that’s why it’s called
a present…well hard luck returning the “gift”…what’s wrong with nostalgia…I
often visit my memories and sometimes imagine the future…even marvelous
trips….sipping wine and reading a book by a road side bistro in Paris…walking
through a bustling bazar in Cairo and petting a cat…watching the sand grains
slip through my fingers in the desert and looking at the pyramids in awe…I mean
why not? Sometimes I don’t want to look at bills that need to be paid, dishes
that need washing, and numerous everyday chores that need to be done…I am a
romantic and I often live in memories, but isn’t that a crime we all are guilty
of to a certain extent?
“Often I dream of far away streets and cats
playing peek-a-boo,
Corners of a dusty bookshelf dappled with
sunshine…
And a misty morning in June…
Sometimes I wish I could live in a far away
cottage,
Just beside the creek, and could hear the
water lapping,
Or just dancing in the moonshine by the
pool!
And then I wake up to tomorrow and the days
pass away,
I slip in and out of my day dreams, trying
to live through the way!”
