I must have born as nomad.... but atleast by heart I am nomad and have this lust to see the world as much as possible before I rest forever. May be because of this (wander)lust I get restless after staying in a place for more than two years and my heart starts longing for a new place. Will I be able to rest my hat in a place for long? This is the question that arises When I look back the places I were in ever since I was born. Some places had impressed me while some places made me look out soon for reasons more than one. So this blog is all about the places that were close to my heart or that made me puke...
Coimbatore:- This happens to be the place which is so close to my heart and I had even wrote a blog on that long back 7 years ago. I had my education and a job there totaling a stay of 3+ years. My love for Coimbatore is unconditional.. Looking back I never had things going for me in Coimbatore, but there was this peace of mind irrespective of the worse turns of life. I was ready to trade off all my aspirations for a serene life in Coimbatore. I was ready to rest my anchor down in Coimbatore for a salary of Rs 7000/- p.m a decade ago. At one point, my sister warned me of under estimating myself still I was adamant of staying in Coimbatore. But fate had its way and the moving away from Coimbatore was for good. At one point I came close to buying a property in Coimbatore but things didn't work out. Ofcourse the evil eyes of DMK fall on Coimbatore and now it had lost its rustic charm in a major way... I am not getting to visit Coimbatore often as earlier, still Coimbatore was/is/will always be a place close to my heart.
Dubai & Abu Dhabi:- I had spent a good 3 years of my life in UAE and even hold a valid (till 2015) driving license there. People may say anything... it is just a MMFD (miles and miles of f**king desert), there is nothing except shopping malls and hot beaches... I lived in shared rooms... but nothing takes away the charm of Dubai / Abu Dhabi for me. That could be the reason why I still want to go back to UAE. Given a right opportunity, I'll drop everything to land in UAE. Some places will give you that warm vibes without any rationalisations and for me Dubai & Abu Dhabi are such ones. Even today when I pass through Dubai Airport, my heart longs for taking a break and get out of the airport and take a stroll in the city.
London:- I had a brief yet considerable stay in London for 6 weeks. The stay was not like a tourist visit but I lived like an expat living in the cit making their livehood there. I stayed in Hounslow West for 6 weeks and commuted in the Tube train for an hour every morning and evening to the office. If there is any place abroad I will want to settle down at, it must be London. I am impressed by the way the historical look, culture is maintained in the core city. You can find both the modern and historic buildings comfortably situated next each other. I remember the bank of Thames every inch even today. When I see those places in movies / songs, I still identify that this is next to that street, behind this monument etc. If you travel for half an hour, you can reach the suburbs of London resembling the picturesque villages. I love anything / anybody which progresses but retain that heritage.... this pretty sums up why I loved London. In London you can easily call a home "brand new" if it is of 20-25 years because the houses there are easily 100 - 150 years old. I was so lucky to have Mr. Ian Watkinson taking me to Leeds, his friends and gave a memorable introduction to rural England. That also compounds my love for London.
Chennai:- Like any fellow Tamilian, I had no other choice than moving to Chennai for starting my career. Chennai and I have this strange love-hate relationship. When living in Chennai I never like Chennai and used to say that I am looking for an opportunity to move out of this dreadful city. But once I move out of Chennai, I realised that how much comfort I had in Chennai, all my hobbies and literary indulgences were satiated in Chennai easily which I missed in Bangalore / Coimbatore. That is the reason why I was looking forward when I got an opportunity to move back to Chennai. Arre yaar... this is the place where I started my career, Akila gave birth to Buttu, where I attended painting classes which was my dream for long... I can get anything related to my hobbies, books when I am in Chennai. So this time Chennai had comfortable placed itself comfortably & definitely in my favourite city list.
Bangalore:- If there is any city where I moved with expectations but left disappointed, it is definitely Bangalore. Before migrating to Bangalore, I had few visits to that city and it was extremely warm and loving. That is the main reason why I chose to buy a home there. But I had my share of disappointments / heart breaks in Bangalore. Quitting Keane and joining CTS, Bangalore was a blunder in my career and I had to struggle a lot before I found my groove again. Certainly I was frustrated so much that I had chosen to quit Bangalore and move to Chennai again. Admitted that Bangalore is a warm, vibrant city with a nice climate and I would like to go back there at a later time of life. I am literally obsessed with my flat in Bangalore and emotionally attached with that because it is my first property in my life. Atleast for that sake I will return to Bangalore after some time.
Cuddalore:- This happens to be my hometown where I was born and brought up. At one point of time, especially by the time I was into undergrad, I had this loads of love for Cuddalore. Being a district headquarters, towards the end of last century so many colleges coming up and ofcourse with a lovely (near) pristine beach, Cuddalore was posed for a great growth with Nagarjuna Petro Chemicals kicking off their project there. But things never happened that way and instead Cuddalore went on regression mode. It started going back in terms of the people's psyche and infrastructure development. For me things became worse with my friends drifting apart, I lost intrest in Cuddalore. It will still remain as my hometown but certainly not close to my heart anymore.
Salem:- My relationship with Salem is a perfect example of more you hate something, more will be attached together. I lived in Salem for four years when I was doing my undergraduation. Really I am not fond of that city because it is the place of dumb people dumped together under a hot sunny place. There is something about Salem soil that whomever settles there, they automatically become dumb personalities. I hated that place so much that God took revenge by sending a Salem girl as my wife. So Salem became somthing inseperable. My parents want to settle down in Salem and now the "bonding" with Salem is bound to get stronger. So somehow I have to move Salem from my hate list.
Hyderabad:- I lived in Hyderabad for a month when I took class for SAP SD Certification in Siemens. Even though I hadn't gone out much because I used to run to Bangalore on weekends, I had this comfort feeling in Hyderabad. If I get any irresistable offer from Hyderabad, I won't hold any apprehensions towards this city. This is one of the cities where I can take a stroll without any any sense of discomfort.
Lagos:- The latest one to be added in my list because I have lived here for six weeks... I didn't have the chance to travel and explore the city on my own but was able to visit some nice places (read as restaurants), boat travels and beach. More about the Lagos city is in my previous blog. :-)
Once I thought of writing this blog and had penned down the list of places I have lived (not just brief visits), I felt "wow" for a moment - 11 cities/towns. Certainly I feel happy and lucky to have spent considerable time in these cities and I pray that some more cities be added in this list.
