A City so Beautiful

"This is a city of shifting light, of changing skies, of sudden vistas. A city so beautiful it breaks the heart again and again."
 Alexander Mcall Smith 

What do you do with such a beautiful city? Do you love it? Do you fall in love with it? 
Or do you just let it break your heart, again and again, regardless of everything? Well, obviously you let it break your heart. More than once; twice or thrice, or more. Not because you love the city. No, not at all. Because beauty demands tribute. What better tribute to give, than a broken heart.

 Karachi is a city of lights. For me it is the city of lights. The city where I opened my eyes in dark and light, like a newborn in this world. I wasn't born here. But I didn't know anything of the world, until I moved here. It filled me with all the bitterness in the world. And then one day it took all that bitterness away. Like the ebb and flow of bitter, salty, sea water. 

 At first, everything felt rusted. The air smelled of fish when I went to sea view. There was so much fear. So much trepidation. The fear is still there I think. We have all just learned to live with it. We don't have a choice. None that we know of.

 The city connects you with people. The city disconnects you with people. It is so consistent in its making breaking ways of life. My inherent ability to not feel connected to places came in handy at such moments. I saw people come, and others go. It was profound each time.

Karachi is somewhat like other cities by the sea but it's not just any city by sea. I don't know of another city so resilient. So unaware of its own resilience. 

A city where everything, always, goes on.




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