Two cities, One soul

I believe in dreams coming true. I believe that when you really wish for something real bad, wish for it with all your heart, it does come to you and sometimes in the most miraculous ways. One such wish/desire came true in 2009, for which it will remain one of the most memorable years of my life.

Like the profile of my blog says, I love to travel and the one place I've always wanted to visit has been Paris. Fondly called La Ville d'Amour (The City of Love), spending some time of my existence here has been a dream I've cherished since years altogether and have raved about it to every single soul I know including my senior colleagues at work. So when my senior colleague called me to inform that my birthday gift was underway and I get to travel to the city of cafés and couture in October 2009, it was hardly believable. But as I headed to my journey, a new revelation unfolded.

I wrote a lot during my brief stay in the city. As much as I saw the city, I craved for more. It was much like discovering the varied facets of your own soul. And realisation struck to me on why I love this city so much...
I found Paris to have a soul quite like my first favourite city in the world Bombay. I instantly found multiple reasons to prove this.

• There are tonnes of food places around. Several bistros, patisseries, restaurants alongside Chinese takeaways, Italian joints; offering a very global feel to the city.
• Parisians love being by themselves quite like any Bombayite.
• They are as protective about their language like a Mumbaikar, at the same time as global like any Mumbaiite.
• They are a complicated set of people, love their own space. Hence, they might come across as snobs. But they are very welcoming people.
  
• Paris like Mumbai has several narrow roads, with long cars screeching their way through them. Traffic is a problem there as well.
• There is some magic in the air. While you would see people standing on the bylanes, sipping coffee and watching the world go by, you sense the character of the city in itself, the soul of its surroundings. It just makes you feel alive.
• River Seine and the Arabian Sea keep the cities' soul stirring
• People living with hearts on their sleeves. Both the cities are the haven for lovers. While we find ours crowding up in Marine Drive or Bandstands, theirs stand in the middle of the road expressing their love as the voyeurs pass by. The musicians on the sidewalks, the smiling waiters, fill you with the sense of life that you might feel while taking a walk in Marine Drive.

• You can endlessly keep walking in the city and yet discover a new thing, a new aspect, an architectural wonder everytime.
• And like Bombay, Paris never sleeps.

I still reminisce the introspective moments spent in the city. Going to a quaint little store near my hotel to pick up some souvenirs for friends back home, having small talk with the shop owners nearby, passing through the cafés to smile to absolute strangers, the city told me to come back again, to discover some more, to fall in love with myself all over again.

This is to both Paris and Bombay, two cities with one soul. This is to that soul. Je t'aime.