Allahabad.

I am truly getting addicted to blogging.. I don't want people to think me as overly enthusiastic, and that is exactly why I have patiently waited for the next day to begin before posting this. You see, for a person who intends to keep her blog private, I am still so very conscious of my image. Something to do with my being a lady, I guess :)

Another reason why I am so keen on posting this is that the subject is so very close to my heart, and I just can't wait to write about it. I am passionate, to the extent to being crazy about Allahabad, my hometown. Its been a little over 4 years now since I left Alld., but I actually never left the city. I left my heart and my soul there.. I always feel that I belong to the place, it possesses me.. Any river is Ganga to me (I hate putting it as 'Ganges', makes me feel that it deprives the holy river of its divinity.. sounds like Thames or Hwang Ho.. completely alien to me.. ), any park is Alfred Park, any garden is Khusroo Bagh.. the memories just linger on, overshadowing reality. And it doesn't stop at that.. whenever I truly enjoy or like something, it gets christened to the name of its counterpart in Alld. If the chinese food is good at Three Quarters', it is El Chico of Alld., the Hanuman Temple of Tippasandra is Hanumat Niketan and so on and so forth.

I can keep writing endlessly about Alld., but u need to see it to believe me. Only somebody who has been to the city can appreciate my words. The city is sheer magic.. It has nothing to offer if you are looking for money, power or advancement, but it retains an old world charm to this date. It has all the peace, serenity and joy if you enjoy the simple things in life. The life is leisurely, a friend of mine once commented that Alld. is the city for the tireds and retireds, and I did not object. It is actually a place that offers you comfort and solace. To top it all, the people are marvellous, simply out of the world. Despite all the advancements, Allahabadis are still so naive and simple.. You will have to work really hard to find a person who could be really termed as fashionable. The language has very little English influence, you get to hear the purest possible Hindi in Alld. Even rickshaw pullers talk in pure Hindi, or probably the dialect which is more or less nice Hindi language, only made sweeter by the local interference.. It is a pleasure in itself.
Seems like this post shall keep me awake through the night.. Lemme force an abrupt ending.. will continue someother day with Allahabad II...