Streets that follow like a tedious argument of insidious intent

Everytime I read the opening lines of the "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", the greatest poem ever written, I think of Cities. Nay dream of cities. I'm transported by my imagination to those half deserted streets and muttering retreats. It is like I know exactly what T.S Eliot was talking about. See, I love cities. Absolutely adore them. Everything about them infact the streets, the people, the energy and even their dark underbelly. Really. So much that my transient nightmare is to wakeup and find myself in a idyllic suburb, driving a momsmobile.

Cities behold so much promise, so much possibility - kind of like the beginning of a new relationship. You don't know how it will turn out, but the initial promise, the latent potential is intoxicating. Oh do not ask, "What is it?" Let us go and make our visit. Whenever I land in a new city, I can't wait to get my hands on the map of the city and start scoping my days. Unlike most people, I don't go around with a guide book, I simply wing it. I talk to locals, get the inside scoop on where to go, where to eat and what to see. It's not the most efficient, but instead of following a book to the T, I let the place define my experience. That is how I've found places that make the best Sangria or coconut ice cream or caipirinha and when I do find these hidden jewels, I have all the pride and self-congratulatory flush of an explorer, of finding that which was not known to me. Oh so much fun!

Every city is different obviously, but I do have my favourites. Cities that I leave with a sign and make loud avowals of being back..in the near future. I always tend to look for a job or a possibility of a job in a city that I've love and adore, immediately after returning from the trip. I remember loving Amsterdam so much that I even looked at the possibility of taking dutch classes at school.

My first memory of how fabulous cities can be is when I visited Sydney on my first international trip. My brother, thrust a book of all the city streets and asked me to navigate! and there we went, driving through madly, past the street names and intersection and me trying to navigate and ogle at the beautiful city in wonder. It was a dreadful experience in the sense that we got lost several times, till a friendly toll booth operator pointed us in the right direction. But oh Sydney, with its darling harbour, teeming with restaurants and the beautiful opera house, gracing the shores, swan-like, more than made up for all of it. I'll always remember the people, how kind, friendly and boisterous they were.

Then there is Brussels. I was extremely sick when I visited Brussels but was determined as hell to go wandering about the city. I wanted to explore it at all costs. So I bundled up and made my way to Nord station, where I'll always remember asking for almond croissant and coffee in French. It is what I did everyday, go to Nord station, have my mini breakfast and then watch the huge board with train times and names, flipping wildy. That board mesmerized me. It promised untold adventure and mystery, if only I picked the right train. Brussels has other memory like dancing the night off in a cuban club and me blowing kisses at the pony tailed bar tender. Pony Tails are so HOT!

Amsterdam will always be etched in my memory as FUN! It was my best friend's and mine grand adventure. The kind we dreamed of as 12 year olds in prim uniforms. Of partaking in the art, the gorgeous scenary with idyllic canals and of course *ahem* other "risks." It was epic not only interms of passe stuff like clubbing but it rocked interms of food, arts and ofcourse the beauty of the city itself. Its convoluted 16th century, cobbled stone back alleys, its canals and its air of being a medieval port city. I can't quite explain the vibe of amsterdam to you without doing it gross injustice. It was a city that accomodated several worlds - the blithe and the serious, the debauched and the prim, the insouciant cigarette smokers and the suited investment bankers. It was a city that always managed to surprise you with its many facets.

I'm trying to convey what Rio De Janeiro means to me but I can't. It will always be a feeling. A feeling of feeling free and without inhibition. A feeling of being in a beautiful, scenic city with breadth taking views. A physical feeling of dancing, of dancing with joy and the gut wrenching feeling of walking in the Favelas with their murals and Ak-47 toting gangsters. Rio will always be a feeling, a pulse and a cluster of memories - beaches, stumbling about the streets in a drunken haze, copious amounts of acai berry, tropical forests and ofcourse jumping of a cliff, hand-gliding over the city like a bird.

Then there will always be Mumbai. The city that started my love affair with the urban madness. Visiting frenetic Mumbai, from sleepy, carefree Bangalore was always a treat for me. It's like the city kicked in me a strange adrenaline rush. It made me purposeful and purged any trace of lackadaisical behaviour. It made me want to move. To go. Do something. To walk (with long strides). One of my favourite things to do is to walk all day in the town side of Mumbai - past colaba causeway, past all the old colonial buildings and the maritime museum. And even in all my wanderings, the industriousness never left me. This city made me want to be something, it stoked a fire and thats why it is so special and close to my heart.

I will always be a city girl. I love walking past street lights and intersections from one end to another. It energizes me and ignites a visceral feeling within me. I can't explain it, I don't think I'll ever fully understand my love for cities but I can't wait to explore other cities like Istanbul, London, Tokyo or even cape town.

Yes, fie on you suburbs