So much for all my well meaning intentions. This blog has been inactive for far too long and I have to admit that I have contemplated the possibility of erasing it off the virtual world forever more than just a few times. I salute those who manage to consistently stay consistent online and run blogs that not only are engaging but updated. Saying that I have been caught up will be an understatement and also an affront to those who always make time for a life online; so at the risk of both I now would like to say that I have been caught up. I really have. What are the chances that I would get this busy in a city where I arrived thinking that it was just a stop gap for a few months. Six months tops! Wow! I lived in Mumbai for over 18 months. Moved houses. Made friends I miss terribly and crave the walk to Coffee Bean every afternoon to get a gigantic portion of Americanised, very very sweet, flavoured coffee… If I say out loud that I love that version of coffee I might just give the coffee snobs that surround me now a chance to band against me!
Yes! I did leave the Mumbai chapter behind. It’s been five days and frankly Florence feels like home. Almost! I don’t feel like an alien despite the language and I don’t feel like I am lost. I know I will figure it out and I know I will manage.
So now you know. I relocated to Florence. Maybe the months of intense work was a buildup to this. Maybe the months of “no time to die” were a sign that I need to finish up projects and do things that I will not be doing for a long long time. I am here now and I have promised myself I will write every weekend. Like clockwork. I have to. Not for anything else but for myself. My sanity. My stretched connections with what I have left over 7000 kilometers behind and also for sharing. Sharing everything. Good. Bad. Nothing much. Simply sharing.
I am living a dream. And I want to share.
I know living a dream is not a dream. Its not easy and its not going to be without moments and hours where all I want to do is punch a wall or scream out loud. But I wanted this and I am willing to embrace it all. It is like starting all over again, yet again. But isn’t that what life is? Experiencing all you can. When you can. And in the best possible manner you can.
I have been surprising myself these past few days. I am proud of myself. Sometimes I wonder if I would reach that moment like I did three years ago when I simply called dad and cried on the phone for over half and hour. No reason. I just needed a good cry. I was overwhelmed. Rootless. Tired. Stretched. And, hug deprived. I needed to cry and I did. And it was a very expensive cry! Ask me! GBP before the recession was a nightmare. Quite like the Euro is now. I’m amazed at my capacity of finding myself in the most expensive corners of already expensive countries. First St Andrews in Scotland. And now Florence in Italy. Trust me I am laughing out loud as I write this, with Italian TV (which I clearly don’t understand!) playing in the background. Noisy Americans exchange students and tourists being noisy on the street below (just one of the pleasures of living in the historical centre of Florence! At least for now! I now do not intend to find a ‘charming little studio’ in the ‘Florentine heart’ anymore. I am thinking like a local and I don’t want to be surrounded by tourist all the time.) and wondering why the hell is it not getting dark. It is past 8:30 pm already afterall. I can’t wait to shower and dress up to hit the streets for the Nottarno. That time when the entire city is out on the streets celebrating. Live music in every piazza and everything open. Shops. Restaurants. Everything. Till the wee hours of the morning. This follows the day where the city steps out after 9 pm to gather around the river and other vantage points close by to see the fireworks to commemorate the day of the patron saint of the city.
Needless to say my first four days here have not been boring. I don’t even know if I am jet lagged. I think I might be slightly given I have consistently been waking up by 6 am or 6:30 am which is my IST wake up time if I didn’t have drag myself out of bed for work. And I know Vik always said I was always late but I tired. 5 minutes here or there is acceptable right?! No? Yes? Well, in Italy it seems it is ok. Or so it seemed on my second day here. But then it was also a holiday for the whole city and ours was one of the few offices that were open. So I shall reserve judgment till Monday. Thank god the corporate jackets and ties and heels are out of the picture here. I was crap at maintaining that exterior in Bombay (anyone who has seen me at a conference will tell you about the state of my hair and the fact that I would invariably change from hot heels to basic black flats within 4 hours. Façade over. Reality of achey feet kicks in!)
I am wondering what eat tonight. Everything is so good and so so so yummy. I am wondering if I should even bother with getting blackberry services activated on my phone. They aren’t cheap. I am wondering when will that damn language school respond to my email about learning Italian. I am wondering when will I find a house. I am wondering what to wear tonight. I am wondering when to hop across and check out the Capoeira school here. I am wondering if eating cheese the way the locals do will take me back to my super plump Scottish days. I am wondering if it is ok to say thank you in the Spanish way rather than the Italian way. It just comes more naturally for now. Maybe because of the Capoeira influence. I am wondering if I should bother with seeing the doctor for a strange bite I seem to have received on my eyelid from a random insect in the park yesterday. I am wondering if it’s ok to silently swear, in a happy way of course, when I see all this eye candy around me. I am wondering how can I be missing my family and friends and craving to talk to them and not be sad. I am wondering what made me go from being paranoid about things to saying “it’ll figure” and simply go with the flow. I am wondering when will that day come when I cry. I am wondering when will I drive to the Tuscan hills. I am wondering if I will ever be able to do everything I should be doing. Everything I want to be doing. This is a good follow through to the start I made in 2007. To the risk I took and that jump based on sheer faith in myself and in the fact that “it will figure out” and all I had to do was try my very best. Well here I am. Trying to do my best. And loving it. Living a dream is not easy. But then if it was it would stop being something I want. It will be boring. And I am not boring. I don’t want to be even close to that word. Shakira is singing “come closer.. come pull me closer” and I cant help thinking that that is exactly what I do with life. Pull it closer. Hummm… now what are the chances that I will find myself my own dishy Italian hottie who I could pull closer… hahahaha…
Oh well! Or as they ay here… Ellora! (I don’t even know if I spelt it right!).. what are the chances that my spellings will always suck? Really really high if you ask me… So much for claiming to be a writer… even if on the side!
More of my Florentine adventure soon.
Ciao my lovelies...
No comments:
Post a Comment