City, Dead, Alive..

For a city trapped in a virtous cycle of decay, it’s hard to keep faith in its potential. Some have left, many are still leaving, yet I see a handful of my friends still betting on the future of my hometown. They are still willing to believe that the grand old city of India will pull it through. I wonder why? The feeling; is it a product of the love and comfort of the convenience and the pathos of a slow decay or is it some limitless optimism that blindsights the obvious.

Sinking in the cesspool of political turbulence, my city is slowly losing relevance in modern Indian psyche. From the dizzying heights of the intellectual movement to the nadir of obsolescence, the fall has been steady and painful. Yet a few stood by it, when none would. I didn't.

It’s a once-great city that, while perhaps not dying as quickly as the others, has been locked in a state of perpetual decay. In some ways, that’s even worse. It’s like an ever-present, dull pain that you can’t cure. And, in the last ten years never did I feel once, the urge to return; so why now? What changed so much so suddenly that I took to Medium. Infact nothing, yet everything.

Changing feeling for this city has been the only constant for me and for the millions who have left. The more I feel the urge to be part of it, the more I am repulsed by the decay. The more I try to help the city and in turn myself, the more alien I feel. However a recent conversation with a friend brought some perspective. He urged why inspite of every possible opportunity outside, he made this city his home. How the city has grown to be a part of him. I recollected that famous Vir Sanghvi article that resurfaces every year before a festival.

That conversation ended in a moment of silent reflection. The hopes of a few may be, just may be, might cure the city. All it needs is a bit of positive momentum to propel its way forward. What a spectacle it would be; the grand old city trying to win back what is its very own; probably it won't be named at the top for long, but it would be worth a shot. All it needs is a “few friends” like mine.