Though I like Pune a lot for its weather, Organized roads, the landscape and the blue skies, and a lot of other things, a part of me is saddened by this place right from day 1.
And that part is that of a daughter who incessantly loves her old man!
My dad, who's in his mid-50s, is compelled by his circumstances to live away from his family that puts up in Delhi. For most part of his career, he's lived in Delhi, with us.
Why this place hurts me is because the neighborhood isn't as warm and welcoming as it is in Delhi. And more so because people living in taller buildings keep their warmth and compassion locked up in a closet.
And as he took me around the place, I realized how the only people who spoke with him were other lonely elderly people in the neighborhood, as they had no one to talk to either. This came as a sudden slap on my face, as if I've failed to do something that I could have, to make his situation any better. As if I've failed to keep the promise of giving him a comfortable life. Because I suddenly realized that my dad's been silently leading a suffocating lonely life, at an age where he should be relaxing with his family.
And when I was left alone in this house for some 15 minutes, all I could hear was nothing at all. Silence is good only in a limit and I realized how the quietness can hit you hard, especially when you are used to being in a lively place all your life.
Also, Dad tells me that the people here are a bit closed when it comes to being social and celebrating festivities in the neighborhood. And having come from Delhi's Cosmo culture, I know how suffocating that would feel like.
The city that once excited me, suddenly makes me feel sad, not because it's a bad place, but because of the entire experience that my favorite man has been going through. And Of course this can happen in any other city too. But this is just how Pune made me feel for now!
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