Random Musings of an Idle Mind

I commute by Delhi Metro every day and needless to say its an exhausting but at the same time an interesting experience for me each time. I feel like a curious kid who is eager to and tries to absorb as much details about the fellow commuters as possible while I am in the Metro. Well, to say the least its a great learning experience watching people get on Metro and get off it - it kind of reminds me of the struggle we face in our day to day lives - pull someone, push someone, make your presence felt, etc. - PHEW! And then there are times when I feel like a wandering soul - just enjoying the ride and in no hurry to get anywhere in particular (I must admit that is rare though). Anyway, this post is not about the Metro experience (I think I can dedicate an entire blog to Delhi Metro). Generally, I travel by Metro listening to music and reading at the same time. 

So, this morning I was reading this book Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (yes, the Julia Roberts' movie is based on this book) and came across a very interesting piece about how an entire city has one word. What the author wants to convey is how a particular city can be described by a single word that connects its people, how everything in this city is associated with that one word E.g. New York has the word ACHIEVE, Los Angeles has the word SUCCEED. 

This one-word-for-the-city thing got me thinking and my mind started wondering about the one-word for our Indian cities. When I think about Delhi, the word that comes to my mind is FOOD since everyone everywhere in Delhi is thinking and talking about food all the time. All our conversations either start with or end with something to do with food. For Mumbai, possibly ACCOMPLISH because every individual in Mumbai is out there earning a living for himself/ herself. Similarly, Jaipur is HERITAGE, Bhubaneswar RELIGION, Chandigarh MERRIMENT, and so on... And as I smile to myself trying to think about the various cities and flavours our country has, the Metro ride ends (only to resume the next day)!

P.S. Yes, I am back! :-)