Soul of a City

Being married to an IT consultant, I've  been fortunate to have travelled to and lived in many cities across the world. The constant moving about did leave me longing to call one place as my home at times. But, it also gave me an oppurtunity to explore many places in a manner touristy travel doesn't.

There were cities where we stayed on for years while there were places we just spent a few days. Almost all these cities have certain similarities, rather cliches, attached. Over crowded urban jungles, shopping h(e)avens, some dirty, some clean, fast paced and so on. Yet, beneath the surface, every city has a soul of it's own, possessing unique qualities very much like the personality traits of a person.  What if I were to refer to them as different persons? How, what or who would they be? Here's four of my favourite American celebri(c)ities and their desi hearts!

 

Seattle, one of my favorites. Please don't go by 'it rains 9 months a year myth'. I lived there and no, it doesn't. This is undoubtedly the most beautiful city in America and also the cleanest. The picturesque cityscape under the backdrop of the majestic snow capped Mount Rainier gives a view unmatched by any other place I've seen. Home to Microsoft and Nirvana, the town is both known for software and heavy metal! My honeymoon town (spent the first year of marriage over there) is sophisticated, edgy, intelligent, beautiful and an almost OCD like perfectectionist. The first name that rings a bell is Aamir Khan. 

This second place is never second on any list. NewYork. The world's most famous hang out that had also seen the world's worst terror attack. This premier metropolis is a world hub of arts, culture, music and theatre (broadway), juxtapositioned with Wall Street, Crime and Dons. It is actually a multiple personality town with each Burrough having distinctive traits. Though people usually refer to Manhattan when they say New York City. The  women in the fashion capital of America seem to have a strange fascination for black so much so that the city looks like as a Sea of Black any given morning. Elegant, beautiful, gritty with a dark sense of humour, it has to be the Diva of Indian Cinema, Rekha!  (Angelina Jolie, if it weren't only Indian celebs we are talking about)

My next favourite is San Francisco. The bohemian hippie town before it became the Silicon Valley. 

The whole place has a casual, free spirited vibe about it. It enjoys lovely weather throughout the year. This charming metro has great seafood, yummiest sourdough bread, authentic Chinese food ( probably more authentic than in China itself as they are one of the oldest immigrants, some of whom seem to still live in ancient China!)

Carefree, smart, witty, savvy...who could that be? Farhan Akhtar!

The last one is a city in the US that is uniquely Non- American, New Orleans. The city of the infamous cocktail 'hurricane' had to succumb to the real hurricane, Katrina. Though my husband and I never actually lived in New Orleans, we were lucky to have visited this exotic town quite a few times. The place has a strong mixture of French and African influences. The birthplace of jazz and a fusion cuisine called creole, this lively town is most known for the annual carnival 'Mardi gras'. Dirty, sexy, grungy, ecstatic....can't seem to pin point, Kalki Koechlin is a close. ( the French blood, I guess. French actor, Gaspard Ulliel is the perfect fit)

There are many other big concrete jungles in the US, but if you exclude Los Angeles (for Hollywood), there aren't many more great personali(ci)ties on offer. Unless, you are into cows, hats, ranches, guns or potatoes!

So there it was, a small exercise of humanizing a mass of land. Did not include many other great cities I visited or stayed like Glasgow, Rome, London, Singapore and of course Aamchi Mumbai as I wanted to limit this post to the ones in the US for today. Would love to hear your thoughts on any of your beloved towns across the globe.