Chronicles of Lucknow

 

When I was in Lucknow, I went to meet a friend. While she was wrapping up work I had time to kill. My friend suggested a nearby mall that also had a bookshop. So I landed in the bookshop, and started picking some books from authors that I generally don't see much in the US.

I ended up picking a bunch and as I was heading for the checkout counter, a man, maybe he’d been watching me and it was just out of some gentle concern, couldn’t help but suggest that books here are all overpriced and inflated and that I’d find them cheaper online.

I was totally aware of the economics of price differentials that exist between buying a book from a physical book store vs buying it online. I already knew and barely cared for that price difference but I decided to play along. Because the way he said it, wasn’t nosey. It was protective. Like he couldn’t let a stranger walk into a small loss without at least trying to save her from it.

We spoke for maybe five minutes. I don’t remember much of what he said. But what struck me was the care and concern a fellow from my city that I no longer live in, was expressing. It was like a small, unexpected warmth, The kind that catches you off guard because you didn’t realize you were cold.

I feel like when you come back to your city, you catch up with friends, with family, with the versions of people that have been living without you.  But you also have to catch up with the city itself. The city has also been changing, forgetting, remembering while you’ve been away becoming someone else.

At one point, Lucknow and I- we belonged to each other. Like peas in a pod. Like me-a girl driving her scooter across its streets, tasting her first freedom while the city quietly gave her the wind she needed to grow her wings. 

So when that gentleman suggested to me that these books are really expensive and I would get them much cheaper online, I made him feel like his advice was really valuable and I didn't know of this reality. I felt I owed to the city a certain debt that I had to pay.

I dropped a few books from the bunch that I was going to buy just to honor his concern for me. I kept a few and told him that I couldn't drop these because I need them for immediate use. 

I sat with those books in a cafe and whiled away the time, flipping through its pages. Sitting in that warmth of the familiar, it made me realize, a city takes a piece of your heart, and somehow, quietly, you end up living in its heart too. It's a never ending love affair, because some stories are never meant to be complete, they are just meant to be longed for!