This Summer is spelt and felt in Vancouver, BC for the family.
It is a crazy land. Hippie land. water-land. Hope land. Ridiculously beautiful land. Many more positives hold good here.
The city is so close to my perception of San Francisco, only better. I have never seen this city with more grateful eyes.
But my first view of Vancouver was not this great.
If Vancouver is the big city, Calgary is the quaint, faint town/village. And it definitely felt so the first couple of days.
My being was filled with thoughts at the first sight of homeless people. Where did they come from? Are there such people here too, in Canada?
The freeze-to-death winter in Calgary probably made them non-existential there. And it took me this city to realize that I had settled down in my own world(with my own idea of it, of course)...in just over 2 years!!!
I found myself looking in all directions. I had no clue where I was. Not to bother what I was doing here.
I was everything from resistant to suspicious to ignorant. I surprise myself when I realize to what extent my-own-world has made me numb...Numb to everything around me.
It was interesting to look out and down from the 21st floor. It is abnoxious when luxuries are taken for granted. Specially when you pass by a couple decent beggars* every block.
I wasn't just going to watch the city from a high-rise.
I hit the roads.
Walked every street I set eyes on.
Me, a map...and of course a 4 year old side-kick who didn't have much choice to do otherwise.
Just seeing people face-to-face. For what they are...in my eyes. And their struggle for survival.
These walking days became longer. And days surely became weeks. And I don't know when I started feeling like I am part of it...this city and its people.
The beaches soon looked like haven. The parks welcoming, and the resistance eagerness.
I will leave the city soon to go back to the routine. And honestly, a part of me(that has settled down here) again erupts resistance, this time to go back to the usual.
A huge lesson to the self. Is this the way life really is? Or again, am I looking at it with my eyes?
* - who just sit. They don't bug you for money.
It is a crazy land. Hippie land. water-land. Hope land. Ridiculously beautiful land. Many more positives hold good here.
The city is so close to my perception of San Francisco, only better. I have never seen this city with more grateful eyes.
But my first view of Vancouver was not this great.
If Vancouver is the big city, Calgary is the quaint, faint town/village. And it definitely felt so the first couple of days.
My being was filled with thoughts at the first sight of homeless people. Where did they come from? Are there such people here too, in Canada?
The freeze-to-death winter in Calgary probably made them non-existential there. And it took me this city to realize that I had settled down in my own world(with my own idea of it, of course)...in just over 2 years!!!
I found myself looking in all directions. I had no clue where I was. Not to bother what I was doing here.
I was everything from resistant to suspicious to ignorant. I surprise myself when I realize to what extent my-own-world has made me numb...Numb to everything around me.
It was interesting to look out and down from the 21st floor. It is abnoxious when luxuries are taken for granted. Specially when you pass by a couple decent beggars* every block.
I wasn't just going to watch the city from a high-rise.
I hit the roads.
Walked every street I set eyes on.
Me, a map...and of course a 4 year old side-kick who didn't have much choice to do otherwise.
Just seeing people face-to-face. For what they are...in my eyes. And their struggle for survival.
These walking days became longer. And days surely became weeks. And I don't know when I started feeling like I am part of it...this city and its people.
The beaches soon looked like haven. The parks welcoming, and the resistance eagerness.
I will leave the city soon to go back to the routine. And honestly, a part of me(that has settled down here) again erupts resistance, this time to go back to the usual.
A huge lesson to the self. Is this the way life really is? Or again, am I looking at it with my eyes?
* - who just sit. They don't bug you for money.
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