Bengaluru

It has been a long while since I came home just a little past midnight, when the city… most of it at least… was winding down. People were finishing the major part of the partying for the night and the actual homebodies were headed home. Cabs and autos filled the streets… people were driving carefully, avoiding roads that had cops if they were really drunk.

It was winter the last time I did this… and I huddled in the corner of an auto, against the biting wind. The wind was cold enough to wake me up and make me happier in a way that alcohol could not. The numbness in my face fell off and I reveled in the wind against my face and the sound the trees made. Alas now, it is summer and the night breeze holds only a hint of coolness… just enough to make you glad for skirts, if you were wearing one.

My ipod pulled out songs not heard in ages… chand sifarish from Fanaa and a few telugu songs before ending with Timberlake’s Sexy Back for the night. Each of those songs has a memory… traveling to Brisbane to watch that Hindi movie, and trying to find the one highlight of the movie so you would not feel that the night and the 3 hours of traveling was wasted. Admiring Kajol’s beautiful eyes and wondering what the hell was the movie all about. Sniggering at the white couple in a theatre with ten people… and wondering why they were even there. Getting soaked in the rain… and even then insisting that the trip was totally worth it as you sat in the car, shivering and trying to put the heater on full blast…

Summer evenings by the ocean, sitting up in a tree, day dreaming… watching the moon grow smaller and the night grow quieter. Evenings in front of the television, reveling in being one of the few houses to have cable, even if all you had the time to watch was VH1. Timberlake’s song playing at every club… which was quite a rage considering the top music in the country dated about two decades old. Oreo icecreams on the beach, Scissor Sisters on the radio, evenings at the restaurant, days at the kitchen, hair smelling of chicken or fresh shampoo…

And then I look around and I realise that I am back in love with the city. The crappy traffic, the heat, the lack of trees and so much more of my city that has changed. Bangalore will always own my heart, no matter where I travel… this is where the people I love live, this is where I know the nuggets on the city like no other and I discover new things everyday. GC might be my other love, and Rome my fantasy… but Bangalore remains home and my first and only true love.