Big city life.

I'm just not cut out for it. There are too many people, too many buildings, too many cars, too many bits and corners you'll end up knowing nothing about, even if you spend you entire life living there. While I'm sure these aren't exactly life-threatening matters, the matter to me.

See, I grew up in this small town. Well, it was a small town when we first moved there.. then it became a big town. And then a few years before I left, it was officially declared a small city. But I digress. The good thing about Asansol was that it was essentially small. I have, on occassion, managed to cycle from one end to the other (east-west along the G T Road) in a single afternoon. The other good thing was that my Mum considered it small enough to let me roam around with zot constraints. Which is far from what I can say about Kolkata. My dad sold his bike before moving here. Primarily to prevent me from getting myself killed (read: riding a two wheeler in Kolkata traffic).

And now that I finally have a proper 4-wheeler licence and have absolutely free access to my dad's car, that same Kolkata traffic has managed to make me hate driving!! Something I'd have found downright ridiculous under almost any other circumstances.

What I really hate about my current state is that I can't go running around the streets. I'd get run over, or choke on vehicle fumes. I can't go kick a soccer ball in the field nearby when I feel like it. There is no field nearby. I can't go hang out with my friends when I'm bored of sitting at home. Everyone I know is somewhere else, spending New Year with their family or at work/college.

Birds in flight.

Okay, so I did spend the last four years in Mumbai, and totally loved it. But that was different. That was more like living in an island of sanity, and looking out onto the insanity of the rest of the city. And I knew people there!!!