This used to be my childhood dream
This used to be the place I ran to
Whenever I was in need
Of a friend
Why did it have to end!"
These were the exact sentiments that I felt when I revisited all the places in Udaipur where I used to play and go to during school days!
I wonder why is it that we change as we grow up but do not like to accept changes around us!
I'm sure most of my friends and infact anybody who has gone through this would agree with me when I say this that no matter where in the world we go, we want the place where we grew up...be it our home or the city we grew up in to be unchanged!
Seeing the ever-changing transient world, I knew about the changes happening in Udaipur...but wooah!! It's a whole new city!! Living in this city for almost 14years I knew every possible place but my stay this time in Udaipur made me rethink about my knowledge of this beautiful city!
Known as the city of lakes and the Venice of India, Udaipur has always been a tourist attraction, I remember growing up here was fun, not many vehicles on the road, I used to cycle around with my friends, we could practise learning our two-wheelers on the road with ease not bothering about accidents, now Udaipur is full of tourists from all over the world but the sad part is that nobody cares about it as a city anymore!
With shopping malls and buildings taking over the small shops and cute lil houses, this city is like any other place in India, nothing beautiful or admirable anymore! The roads are full of vehicles and impatient people, all ready to fight at the drop of a needle. With the help of a friend I went to the city area where my school is and a few more areas where my friends used to live(now all married and gone to different cities), the roads are the same but buildings cropping all over the place, made my heart sink!!
I thought this commercialisation has eaten up a beautiful small city like Udaipur too, but I was wrong! Some things haven't changed like Sukhadia Circle...the paani puri guys still have their lil stalls('Thela' as we call them), near some garbage heaps and made with every possible unhygienic possibility one can think of, but amazingly tasty to the core!! The famous Red Thela Sandwich guy at Fatehsagar, so many years have passed but the taste and quality of the sandwich and the green chutney remains the same...TASTY! Rani road still has the guava guy and still has cars parked on the sides of the road( people I hope u know what I mean) Then there is The Palace Road...the shopkeepers still recognise me and still have that bargaining touch to them( though they all say I do not look like a 'Local' anymore)!!
So I guess u can change everything possible about this place but we still would manage to find our Good ol' Udaipur somewhere in all this!
No comments:
Post a Comment