Me in Melbourne… and Melbourne in me

“A dream you dream alone is only a dream.
A dream you dream together is reality.”
(John Lennon)

I know I dream. But do cities too dream? I believe they do and they constantly dream of people. Cities thrive and flourish when there are people there within it and loving it. No, this isn’t a mere Walt Disney sort of toon fantasy, but is true. It was in York more than fifteen years back that my conversations with cities began. And I’ve had interesting bits of small-talk as well as serious debates on burning issues with all sorts of cities… yes, I’ve been to Seoul, London, Jhansi, Leh, Jaipur, Agra, Edinburgh, and even Sydney, to name just a few. They’ve all been eager to talk and hold long conversations.

Cities don’t just ask questions, they also hear you out. They converse, as I said earlier. And conversations like these make you want to meet more and more cities… and I mean it, I ‘meet’ cities. I don’t just passively ‘see’ cities. Come with me and I’ll take you on a short journey through a few of these conversations with a few of these cities of the world. Obviously, each city adds more interesting bits to their conversation… not because there is not enough that they know or want to share but because you gradually learn to accept more.

The surprising part is that most of the cities I’ve had a conversation with come back to me every once in a while to feed me with refreshingly new tid-bits of their lives… relationship with cities never really fades away. They are again going to come to me tonight as I write this post and will surely have something to say on Melbourne too. Let us read on and discover.

You’re never too old

London says: “you are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream”

London began the conversation when I was standing near that lovely old double-decker bus that still runs and connects us to an era gone by.

‘You know C S Lewis wrote that you are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream,’ began the city of London. No, I wasn’t really surprised to hear the city speak and I was waiting for the conversation to actually begin.

‘Yes, and I really like the way these buses continue to enthral people,’ I replied, and continued, ‘and I see that London has all the exquisite architecture from its past still maintained.’

‘You’ll see more history and more architecture, my son,’ intoned London in a gruff but loving voice, ‘you’ll meet people from all over the world here. You’ll get to taste foods and imbibe art. But just you wait until evening to get on the London Eye. I have a surprise for you there.’

Well, cities don’t believe in a single and lengthy conversation. They come and go at will and you really need to be always ready to tune in, if I may use this phrase here. It was when my wife Specky and I were in the London Eye, that the conversation began again. ‘See the wonders of technology… the entire city is below you and you can even see the Thames winding and meandering sensually.’

Yes,’ I said in what was just above a whisper. I was actually spell-bound and just watching.

‘And when you look at the picture just clicked you’ll know what else technology has done to us,’ said London in a mysterious tone. The city actually made me hand my camera to another obliging tourist inside the capsule… and later when I looked at the picture, I knew what London meant. I could see the nearness… and yet the distance of people sitting even in a closed capsule…

And now, as I write this post, I can hear London close to me and whispering in my ears, ‘Melbourne is a dear friend of mine. Say my hello when you meet this wonderful city. When you go there, ask my friend to take you around all the past that is so well preserved. Go and see how technology has done its bit to make the city more alluring. I can tell you… it’s your time to visit Melbourne NOW!’

‘Yes, I will,’ I assure London.

You see the stars only when it is dark

Andaman knows that “without the dark, we’d never see the stars”

It was a February evening and we were tired after an entire day of discovering Port Blair in the Andaman Islands. Our last target for the day was the cellular jail in Port Blair… and it was inside the jail when I had clicked the elongated shadow of the barred doorway of one of the open cells that Andaman decided to hold a conversation with me. ‘The cellular jail is all brick and mortar and a lot of iron bars. They are everywhere in the world. But this set here is brimming with feelings and emotions and also a lot of trauma and torture.’ The voice was sombre and soft and did not make me jump at all.

‘Patriotism is written all over,’ I said.

‘History,’ insisted Andaman, ‘what matters is history and all those who helped create history. This is all you will find as you go around the city. From the Saw-mill to the old jetties, from the museum of anthropology to the old markets… history is everywhere.’ Andaman was silent for a while and then continued, ‘You can dive into history here, quite literally.’

I smiled. ‘Dive I will, that’s for sure,’ I said, ‘we’ll be going for scuba diving lessons on Havelock Island. And I’d also love to dive into the delicious sea-food here.’

‘Adventure is the keyword,’ said Andaman, ‘never fear to step into the unknown. It is here in the unknown that you get to know yourself best.’ I nodded in agreement.

And now, as I write this post, I can feel Andaman excitedly whispering again, ‘I am quite happy that you’ve decided to write this post. It is not about Melbourne and yet it is Melbourne that is rising within you. I can feel it. There is Melbourne written in every line… there is this fervour of emotions and feelings that are oozing out of every word. This is what you must ask Melbourne to show you – the real meaning of intense emotions and the adventure of stepping into the unknown.

And remember to ask Melbourne to take you out in the night too. Look at the dark corners where tourists never go. As Stephenie Meyer has written: I like the night. Without the dark, we’d never see the stars. I can tell you… it’s your time to visit Melbourne NOW!’

Best to have sight as well as vision

Chandigarh says: “…what you need to really do is look between the lines, look closely, look with empathy, look to solve mysteries, look to add more, look to put clues together, and look to find more”

Nek Chand was the guy who had sight as well as vision and he went on to give the world the famous Rock Garden of Chandigarh. Not that this city has ever had any dearth of visionaries… Le Corbusier was one in whose vision this city was born.

Surprisingly, Chandigarh did not converse with me as I went on exploring the Rock Garden… yes, I was expecting a contact but it came that day in the evening as we strolled by the Lake Sukhna. I stopped to capture the hands of a grandfather holding a toy guitar and Chandigarh said, ‘You have both sight and vision, just like Nek Chand and Le Corbusier. You look through the camera and see what many will never sight.’

I thanked the city for appreciating me and asked, ‘Is it really essential to always look for things that not everyone is able to see?’

‘You can choose to look through a camera or binoculars or just your naked eye,’ said Chandigarh, and added, ‘but what you need to really do is look between the lines, look closely, look with empathy, look to solve mysteries, look to add more, look to put clues together, and look to find more.’

‘That’s quite a handful of looking,’ I said and smiled.

And now, as I write this post, I can feel Chandigarh urging me to mentally take notes of all that will need to be looked at. And quite predictably, this is exactly what Chandigarh said, ‘Look where everyone looks for there is all that everyone knows. But also look at where no one looks, for there you shall find a lot that everyone will then turn to look. ‘Why be the most pathetic person in the world who has sight but no vision?’ Helen Keller said this and I thought I must share the words with you. Melbourne will have a lot that everyone will look at… and also a lot that you must find and discover and unearth and then talk about in your posts. I can tell you… it’s your time to visit Melbourne NOW!’

Show your dreams

Seoul believes that “a city needs to communicate fast”

“It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else.”
– Erma Bombeck

My visit to the heart of Seoul revealed sea-food, culture, and technology. ‘Here is a city that literally hops on bytes, glides back and forth between eons astride culture, and appreciates food in ways that are seen nowhere else,’ Seoul had told me in a rather stentorian voice. Yes, the city never whispered anything, it just told me in a no-nonsense tone all that needs to be done and applauded. And yet I never feared the city. I fell in love with it.

‘Once I began understanding you,’ I told Seoul, ‘I realised that you are almost like a lobster or a crab or a clam that has a tough outer shell but has a soft inner core… and you’re actually quite a tasty morsel, literally!’ Seoul laughed at my metaphors in an appreciative way and replied, ‘You won’t be able to read a thing here but you’ll still understand everything. That is the beauty of a city that always wishes to communicate well. Language is not a barrier where bridges exist.’

Yes, Seoul hand-led me into tasting all the possible culinary delights, including baby octopuses and molluscs that needed a lot of careful twisting and pulling. It made me sit and watch tradition as it is perceived by the Koreans and deftly mixed it with the right doses of tech innovations. ‘This is a city that communicates at 100 mbps,’ said Seoul proudly, ‘and a city needs to communicate fast.’ Lesson learnt, I told myself.

And now, as I write this post, I can decipher Seoul waiting to unleash another of its thundering but quite proactively meaningful insights. It thundered, ‘You’ll be travelling far across the treacherous seas and into Melbourne. Salute the way Melbourne has integrated people from so many nationalities into its own cultural fabric. You’ll find the best Indian restaurants just as you’ll find the most proficient chefs preparing and serving the most delectable dishes from all the cultures all over. This is a truly cosmopolitan city, so prepare to experience a bit of the entire world every time it exhales! I can tell you… it’s your time to visit Melbourne NOW!’

You never tire of dreams

Sydney knows that a city is “like a newspaper that brings you all the news and all the views from different times”

Sydney just envelops you warmly and you feel like a Koala hugging a nourishing and nurturing tree! The city spoke to me in a rather light-hearted voice that seemed to come to me riding sea waves. ‘I am like a reflection box making you happy showing you all the colours that are captured inside me,’ said Sydney and then continued, ‘I am also like a newspaper that brings you all the news and all the views from different times.’ Saying this it led me to the sculpture that you see in the picture.

I actually found myself loving every bit of the city… from the art on the pavements to the graffiti on the walls, from the high rises of concrete to the absolutely awesome climb up the harbour bridge, from smiling a slowly hopping kangaroo to staring at the three sisters in Katoomba! This city swished you back and forth between nature that is God-made and structures that are man-made! ‘When you walk on my streets,’ said Sydney to me, ‘you actually tread on art. This is what you need to find out. You need to discover what the people here believe in and you will know what I am.’

So I interviewed a Graffiti artist, a rickshaw puller, some workers enjoying their evening break, a tourist in a train from Sydney to Katoomba, and my club hostess at the plush hotel where I stayed. I realised that Sydney was absolutely correct in asking me to mingle with the hoi polloi and the locals to understand it in the real sense of the word… or a city would remain just a few bright lights seen from the 32^nd floor of my hotel, so to say.

And now, as I write this post, I can feel Sydney quiver with a strange excitement as it tells me, ‘Melbourne. Ah, Melbourne! This is a city that everyone thinks is running a race with me… but no, we are siblings and I’m the city today that you’ve known so well. I’ll make sure that I send a message whispered to the winds imploring it to carry the words to Melbourne. As Bill Bryson has written, there is much less that ‘separates Melbourne from Sydney than separates Los Angeles from New York or Birmingham from London.’ Melbourne is a city that reflects all aspects of life that are worth knowing… from art and culture to a lifestyle that vibrates. You’ll love it all. I can tell you… it’s your time to visit Melbourne NOW!’

The world’s most bizarre right turns

No, I haven’t yet had any conversation with Melbourne so I cannot possibly tell you what it will tell me and how the city will guide me to become a yet more discerning and aware traveller. But I’m sure I am going to pay heed to what all the other cities of the world have told me about what to expect in Melbourne and how to go about discovering it street by street… and right turn by right turn! Yes, Bill Bryson writes in ‘Down Under’:

Melbourne… has something in its way no less singular: the world’s most bizarre right turns. If you are driving in central Melbourne and you wish to turn against the traffic, you don’t get in the middle lane, but rather pull over to the kerb – as far as possible from where you want to be – and sit there for an indeterminate period (in my case until all the clubs and restaurants have shut and everyone has gone home for the night) and make your turns from there in a frantic moment just before the lights change. It’s all to do with keeping out of the way of the trams – Melbourne’s other speciality – which go down the middle of the road and can’t have turning cars blocking their way. It’s immensely confusing. Not only to visitors from overseas but to other Australians – even, I suspect, to many Melbourne people.

Not just bizarre right turns but what my intuition tells me is that it is the Melbourne sense of humour that will be quite interesting to explore. Yes, there will be all the art, graffiti, architecture, markets, laneways, museums, bistros, stadiums, cricket grounds, rooftop bars, cafes, docklands, parks, gardens, exhibitions, public art, arcades, wharfs, and the waterfronts. I’m sure the Aquarium and Zoo there will be fun, there will be so much at the Ian Pottery Centre, so much to discover and unearth at the Royal Botanical Gardens and the Fitzroy Gardens, the amazing sights from the Eureka Skydeck, and to know the truth about Melbourne’s love affair with coffee. Then there would be the Koorie Heritage Trust Culture centre to visit and the Colonial Tramcar restaurant to sit and savour, Chinatown and its ornate archway, Townhall tour, a couple of walk tours and maybe a cruise. However, there will also be all the interesting people to sit and talk to and maybe interview… I love doing that and do have quite a few videos on my YouTube channel. Melbourne is surely not going to be an exception to my penchant for short video clips!

Yes, I’d certainly love to find out all the adventure that is there in the city and once I’ve been to Melbourne, I’ll have one more friend to guide and inspire me in my discovery and understanding of the world and people of the world. Therefore, I write this poem as a gift for the city that shall soon converse with me:

Cities unvisited come in my dreams and go away
Somewhere into the dark recesses of the subconscious
Waiting to be recalled

Cities unmet appear like a blank line drawing
That has all the excitement and life and electric fervour
Waiting to be coloured

Cities are always faraway fascinations
Carrying in them the truth of civilizations and time
Waiting to be retold

Cities want to converse, tell all the secrets
To those who care to hear them out
But wait until you are in them

Melbourne, I know, waits for me
To come to it and talk and tell and rejoice
Moments that will then live forever!

Yes, it will then be
Similar to “me in Melbourne and
Melbourne in me.”

Here are a few of the line drawings of some of the fascination that Melbourne will have for anyone reaching out for this great city. The line drawings are from images that have been taken from various sites on the internet. The conversion to line drawings was done on Photoshop.

What matters, however, is that line drawings can be filled with colour only when a person actually visits a city… and the city converses with the person. Only when the person in the city converges into the city in the person that colour of the best hue will emerge. The line drawings:

Melbourne Skyline and Princes Bridge

University of Melbourne

Classic Melbourne Tram

Luna Park Melbourne – scenic railway

Melbourne Flinders St Station

Australia-Victoria-Melbourne – city centre – Yarra river bank

The twelve apostles near Melbourne

Melbourne  is not just a city… but a city that converses with you!
Visit Melbourne. This post is written for a contest “It’s your time to visit Melbourne NOW!” on Indiblogger.

Arvind Passey
14 September 2012