You meet, you greet,

you smile you speak.

The talks are attractive,

the time is amazing.

You connect in comfort,

you surrender the suspicion,

you share your life, your goals your sight,

you share your nerves, yours scars you scare.

And then you simply say good bye,

for you know to end this good time

is the best way to preserve

the sweet memories with this naive stranger.

 

Moving to a city that was once like home to me, my excitement was low, as I had found my new home in the city of Boston. After all home is where the people you love and people who love you are. Even though Philly gave me everything I needed to succeed, there were very few remaining in the city that would make me feel like home.

After exploring my usual drill of going to the key places in my once home city, I realized that it was not the same feeling. The places were the same, the streets were the same, but the people were gone. At about the same time I also realized that this is the time where change dominates life. Its time to set the expectations of the past free and initiate a new relationship with the city. I couldn’t afford to rely on the people from the past to make me feel comfortable now and I shouldn’t compare my Boston experiences with my present Philly ones. It was time to rebuild my relationship with this city. Philly has no problem accepting me back, it’s just that I need to be more willing to allow Philly to be my home again!

After a week of bonding with my new roommates, settling the new apartment and trying to understand the dynamics at my new work place I was craving for this weekend. On my first Friday, I ended my day at work and drove back 22 miles to Philly. I returned my rental car around 5 PM at a beautiful old city location. Having no plans, I decided to walk from old city to the University where I now live –a stretch of about 6 miles. I chose a path from Penn’s landing to spruce hill via Rittenhouse and Penn campus – a path that exposes me to Philly’s entire commercial hood. I chose to walk on Walnut Street, one of the most beautiful streets of Philadelphia which houses many of the known classic restaurants, bars, gardens and shopping outlets. Along the way, a series of beautiful old memories started to cross my mind. I started to reconnect with my friends over calls/texts, checking on with them how each one of them is doing. I love that I have developed this habit to reach out to people as soon as I think of them, with no hesitation, this way you never regret that you are out of contact with people you care for. Walking along, I came over to Rittenhouse square, the place where I used to live. I chose to enter the park, – still on phone, walking around, I eventually sat at a bench right at the middle of the park. I could see different people indulge in conversations with friends, family, partners, etc, enjoying their evening. In my 30 minutes of being there on a call with a close friend of mine, I couldn’t avoid seeing this girl. Sitting alone disconnected from the world, her bright happy face was something that made her different in the crowd. She seemed to be of Indian origin, sitting on a cemented railing that was probably built sometime in 1800’s, she was really enjoying being with herself, her glowing smiling face made me walk to her.

I said hello to her and started telling her my story about Philly – Boston – Philly. I asked her if she was okay to talk a little more to which I found assertion in her action, she moved her shoes kept next to her stretched body on the railing and made some space for me to sit. I jumped on the railing, sat next to her and a rally of conversation built up, I guess we just felt comfortable with each other. I could feel that she was judging me based on whatever I was saying. After around 30 minutes, I casually asked her if she had any plans for dinner, to which she replied no. We agreed to continue with our conversation over dinner.  While walking down the block towards a sushi restaurant which she suggested, I realized that I had to buy a gift for my sister who was visiting me for Rakhi over the weekend. I asked her if she would be interested in helping me – her eyes sparkled upon hearing that. We bonded further by shopping with each other. Its always amusing how girls can end up buying more stuff than guys even in an unplanned shopping session. The entire thing was something that none of us would have planned thought or imagined. It just happened and we just thoroughly enjoyed it.  I could feel our bond developing- the bond of new friendship in a new city, a friend who could have the potential to make me adjust to this weird feeling I was having about being in a different Philly! Being forced to evacuate from the shutting mall – starving, we reached the restaurant she had picked, where she forced me to learn how to use chop sticks. I admit it was kind of interesting and addictive once I got into it. Laughter and fun comprised of every moment we spent trying to figure each other out. After almost 4 hours we realized, we hadn’t even shared our names yet. Our hunger self ordered more than what we could eat, to which I suggested playing Stone – paper – scissor to decide who would eat the next piece of Sushi! She made a lot of fun of my childish behavior, which I no longer mind thanks to another ABCD friend of mine – Karan! After a short walk and dessert, we decided to end the night with a light hug, exchanging our names then. That was the end of our spontaneous little one night friendship.

Giving the entire experience a thought, I realized how happy I was to spend this time with a total stranger. Talking about random topics with neither the burden to impress nor to discuss anything. It felt like therapy. I was light and happy.  I had never thought that Philly could offer me an experience which no other city I have lived in (6 so far) had. It showed me what it’s like to get back home and adjust to the change. It also enlightened me about how dynamics will be different with people you know and how one can always be open to find strangers who would add new dynamics to an old place. Life is beautiful. To be on social media, connected to all the people you know and care about is a precious gift to have but at the same time it is important to be out there, talk to random people and connect with them. That’s how mankind used to be. This entire experience has made me a better person, given me a new approach towards life and a memorable relationship which I will always cherish in future.

I hope you could connect to this experience of mine. I also urge you to go and make some stranger your friend, if not for always then for at least an evening. Who knows what magic it might create. And do share your experiences with me.

Author: Ananya Jain

Editor: Kritika Sanganeria