It was raining as I came out of Nagpur’s Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport. It has been 30 days since then. I close my eyes. The roar of an engine. The honking horn far by. The tweet of a bird. Someone using their mixer in the kitchen, or probably it’s a drill at that construction site. The swish of leaves of the neem tree. My own heartbeat.
All these different stories, these different images, engulf me and overwhelm me. Nagpur is a city like all other cities around the world. It has a culture, a people, a dialect, several thousand gossips, a hundred more complains with the government, almost the same taxes to be paid, the heat to be dealt with. But it is unlike any other.
I breathed in Nagpur air for the first time in my life back on May 15, at around 8 o’clock in the evening. And it was raining.
And since then it has been a truly interesting experience. What is that they say about discovering places? Ah, yes- you rediscover yourself.
It has been a month here. And I feel like I have only started. I am afraid I haven’t done much justice in exploring the city. It’s vast! And it is colorful, I have-as my File Explorer says-210 images of my time in Nagpur. I have a thousand more in my mind’s eyes.
From the refreshing morning air of the Seminary hills, the gunshots inside a cinema hall, the sweet innocent walk under the sun, the stunned silence in Pench, the total incomprehension of a game of Teen Patti to the realization of meaning of love and life I am going to tell you exactly how Nagpur and it’s story touched my soul and reserved a special place in my heart. So, you in?
penndiaries 