Big City Lights

by Radhika Basu Thakur

What’s the big deal about living in a big city? London, New York, Sydney, Mumbai, Tokyo – big cities with big populations and even bigger dreams.

A return to innocence is being demanded by most in our generation. We read Wordsworth and Milton and long for “serenity”, “tranquillity” and “inner peace”. After all the big bad big city lights only tarnish our hopes. But I don’t get it? What is that people really want?

I’ll just come out and say it. I love a big city. I could never live in a small town or in a village. I love the people, I love the competition, I love the hustle-bustle and I love the busy-ness of it all. Whether it’s New York or Sydney, big cities across the world have a certain spirit to them that a Florida beach town can’t quite hope to achieve.

Disapproving supporters of the country lifestyle will tell me the city is a brash, ruthless place to be. Maybe the ruthlessness keeps my adrenaline pumping. They say, the competitiveness simply makes you a competitor in a rat race. Maybe, the competitiveness drives me to work harder. And what of the unfriendliness and lack of personal encounters. Well, maybe it’s a good shield from meeting unnecessary people I don’t want in my life anyway.

And what of the Big City Dreams...the dreams that millions around the world have? I have them too and not all of them have been fulfilled, but being around people who’re dreaming just as hard, it keeps me wanting to dream too.

I like my big cities, the return to innocence can wait.