Madrid Diary – The Farewell Symphony
The Delhi walla‘s pretension in writing makes me want to lodge a bullet in his balls – Blogger Nimpipi, the woodchuck chucks
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The last day in the Spanish Capital.
[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]
9pm. Begona metro station. Walking down the stairs. Ticket counter. Waving at the lady behind the glass. We are friends. One euro for Chueca. Now running down the escalators. Turning right. A long corridor. Left. Escalators again. Platform. Four minutes for the next train. Sitting down on the floor. Reading Mansfield Park (bought from a bookstore in Callao; three euros).
The train coming. No hurry. The train stopping, doors opening. Getting up, casually; entering the train. Feeling cent percent Madridi. Suddenly, a music man appearing; he is starting to play his tunes. The sound vibrations flooding into the ears, creating chemical reactions inside the brain, the heart. Being washed with sadness. Time is disappearing fast. Within twelve hours I will have to catch the flight to Delhi…
… Hey, Plaze De Castilla station…
… I don’t want any longer to be a Delhiwalla. I want to be a Madridi. The air here is cleaner, the sky bluer, the museums livelier, the people gentler. The traffic courtesies are kind to pedestrians. The paella is good, the wine sweet. No dust, no smog; cafe tables right on pavements. True, there are beggars, but not many. And so many people here read.
I don’t want to be back in Delhi…
… Hey, Gregorio Maranon…
… Breathing in Madrid is like re-reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera – in original Spanish. Romance hangs down from apartment balconies, like wet T-shits from clotheslines. People kiss in bus stops, hold hands in bars. Passion, which in Delhi could only be felt, becomes a touchable stuff here, especially during the flamenco meals…
… Hey, Alonso Martinez…
… and there is no type of love in Madrid that is fearful to speak its name. Here you are free to express your basic instincts.
No mam, I don’t want to go back to Delhi…
… Hey Chueca, my stop!
Adios Madrid.
The Last Day in Madrid
The Last Day in Madrid
The Last Day in Madrid
The Last Day in Madrid
The Last Day in Madrid
The Last Day in Madrid
The Last Day in Madrid
The Last Day in Madrid
The Last Day in Madrid
The Last Day in Madrid
Adios, Adios and Adios
The Final Twilight in Madrid
Time to watch (rewatch?) the films of Pedro Almodóvar…
Madridis are such passionate people, it jhalak-es in the pics.
and they look Kashmiri too. or the extreme North Western Marwadis. or like a few Punjabis.
so is this blod being officially reanmed as
The Bewafa Delhiwalla”?
Buy some books in Madrid ,before u come back 🙂 🙂
Nice Place …Must be a beautiful experience to be at such a place .
i specially liked the pic “The Final Twilight in Madrid” and the first pic of “The Madrid Sky”!
Just a thought….”Even if you get something that you have always “craved” for and “that thing” remains with you in the long run ,you wont be able to value it much!importance of anything starts diminishing once u “receive it”.
Come to Chennai! People read a lot here too.
ahhh! all good things must end! seems like you only just got there!
nice series of posts, Mayank!
Peter