My wife asked me recently about that one thing that I am looking forward to about our upcoming India Vacation. My reply was - I am so looking forward to being in Mysore - My 'Home Town'. I am sure every one has a place/town/city in this world where they feel at home, for me it is Mysore. This blog is not a 'Travelouge' about my city though.
My Dad cam to this city probably about 40 years or so ago and then he fell so much in love with it that after completing his studies and becoming a banker he decided to stay on in this city rather than take promotions at job which would make him move constantly. Now, as a teenager this did not make sense to me and I kept rebelling saying- I will move out on the first given chance. The chance did not come for a long time as I was one of those (un??)fortunate ones who got to do all his education in one city, you guessed it right - Mysore. So the first chance I got to move out was when I got my first Job and had to move to the Silicon Valley of India - Bengalooru or Bangalore as it was known then.
Being only 132 kms away from Mysore, it gave me a chance to come back home every weekend. And slowly but surely I realized that those train journeys over the weekends were eagerly awaited by me. And a Friday evening 6:15 train was like a weekly target which was not to be missed and I would end up meeting so many of my school/college mates and other friends on that train and every one shared the same sense of happiness about going back to 'Mysore'. I remember one of my friends telling me this line - ' I don’t know what it is but the moment you set foot in Mysore the sense of relaxation and happiness you feel is totally out of this world'.
As Fate would have it, I was posted to Mysore after my training. On hearing this one of my close friends had mentioned - 'Not many people get to be born, get
educated, work and live in the same city all their life'. At this point I was actually happy for the way things had turned out in my life. And the next 2.5 years I spent working in Mysore were the best ,and the credit also goes to the awsome people I worked with. But as they say - all good things have to come to an end and from the last 4 years I have been away from India not just my Home Town.
As I so desperately look forward to roaming around the roads of Mysore, I can only think that only a few cities in this world would have such a characteristic which would make people miss it so much. Along with the city, I will also blame the 'Y' chromosome in my body for this love for the city that I think I have picked up from my Dad, but I am not complaining .
My Dad cam to this city probably about 40 years or so ago and then he fell so much in love with it that after completing his studies and becoming a banker he decided to stay on in this city rather than take promotions at job which would make him move constantly. Now, as a teenager this did not make sense to me and I kept rebelling saying- I will move out on the first given chance. The chance did not come for a long time as I was one of those (un??)fortunate ones who got to do all his education in one city, you guessed it right - Mysore. So the first chance I got to move out was when I got my first Job and had to move to the Silicon Valley of India - Bengalooru or Bangalore as it was known then.
Being only 132 kms away from Mysore, it gave me a chance to come back home every weekend. And slowly but surely I realized that those train journeys over the weekends were eagerly awaited by me. And a Friday evening 6:15 train was like a weekly target which was not to be missed and I would end up meeting so many of my school/college mates and other friends on that train and every one shared the same sense of happiness about going back to 'Mysore'. I remember one of my friends telling me this line - ' I don’t know what it is but the moment you set foot in Mysore the sense of relaxation and happiness you feel is totally out of this world'.
As Fate would have it, I was posted to Mysore after my training. On hearing this one of my close friends had mentioned - 'Not many people get to be born, get
educated, work and live in the same city all their life'. At this point I was actually happy for the way things had turned out in my life. And the next 2.5 years I spent working in Mysore were the best ,and the credit also goes to the awsome people I worked with. But as they say - all good things have to come to an end and from the last 4 years I have been away from India not just my Home Town.
As I so desperately look forward to roaming around the roads of Mysore, I can only think that only a few cities in this world would have such a characteristic which would make people miss it so much. Along with the city, I will also blame the 'Y' chromosome in my body for this love for the city that I think I have picked up from my Dad, but I am not complaining .
