On 6 Cities & Many More To Come....

The bed in my current house is kept right next to the French windows that go all the way up to the ceiling and overlook bright lights of the city. I have developed a habit of staring out into the night before I sleep; the calmness yet occasional sounds of traffic give me a sense of belonging. As if finally, though slowly I am finding my roots in this city.

When you start identifying with the sounds and colours of a city, you know you are on the right track.....

My bio on twitter goes something like this - 6 cities, several homes, a writer, day dreamer, painter, alternate healer, tarot card reader turned advertising professional or vice versa.

Let me tell you, the 6 cities part is quite a conversation starter. Now that I’m active on Twitter so many people ask me, ‘So, what’s the deal with the bio and the six cities?’

I never quite thought about it and it has been more of a matter of fact for me but now when I don’t see many Indian women my age, single & shuffling cities I presume it might be a little strange for a few people.

The thing about moving cities (and not travelling – which I have been very lucky to have also done, quite a lot) is that you become a person of nowhere but somehow of everywhere. 

You don’t have the one set of friends but every time you leave a city you filter friends and by the time you move into a new one you have a few close ones left behind in the previous city. 

You start slotting your life in stages according to the place you were in at a particular age and when you look back, you seem to yourself like a different person.

Before you sink deep into a city, a city has to take you in. 

Listening to a song today made me realise how connected we become to the places we call home. Strange things link us to places – songs, smells, food...

And then when you leave a city just like an old love affair, a trigger can ignite a memory, a dream and takes you back into the past, you yearn and long to be back into the arms where you once belonged but soon your eyes open and you are in the present trying to embrace it in the best possible way. 

In my series and attempt to cultivate gratitude, after my friends (in the earlier post) I am so grateful for the cities that took me into their arms and allowed me to make a home and to those that are yet to be made into a home.

I might just be the luckiest person alive!