A Tale Of Two Cities

As soon as u come across this post's title (A tale of two cities), it brings to ur mind the famous piece of fiction by Charles Dickens which was set in London n Paris.....incidentally, my life has also been a tale of two cities...namely, Ahmedabad n Delhi.
Ahmedabad's the place i was born in...'twas a small town then in the early '80s, almost synonymous with simplicity....was nine years old when my parents shifted base to Delhi, where i almost spent a good ten years of my life, before coming back to my hometown, my very own Ahmedabad.

Compared to Ahmedabad, i've spent less time in Delhi...but both the places find an equal space in my heart. The national capital has a charm of its own...there's something 'bout the air there (wahaan ki hawa mein hi kuchh aisee baat hai) that completely holds u....it's a commonly agreed-upon fact that there's a certain natural shine or glow on the faces of Delhiites, which's contagious, 'coz if u stay there for a while, it gets onto ur face as well (believe me, i've experienced this)....not surprisingly then, being in Delhi makes u look more b'ful............was in Delhi recently, for a short while though, i almost instantly fell in love with it all over again despite the fact that time n again it really gave me a 'lost in the crowd' feel...walking round the circle at Rajiv Chowk makes u realise that Delhi's totally not just a desi but also a videshi cultural melting pot......wht a metropolis...i loved it, completely, though it does give u that eerie, unnerving feel that haunts u...

Delhi's nice, not that Ahmedabad's any less.....it's in a league of its own....the kind of growth n development this city's seen in a small time is easily astounding to most people...the kind of negativity(that comes as a part n parcel of development) that u find in most big cities is conspicuous by its absence, n u still have a decent amount of simplicity here (vis-a-vis Delhi, where people have a tendency to complicate even the seemingly simpler things).....n best of all....Ahmedabad very efficiently combines the merits of a small town n a big city....u have the malls n the multiplexes n most facilities u'll get in a Delhi or a Mumbai, yet everything n everyone is still eminently reachable.....

More on Ahmedabad n Delhi in my future posts...