Nothing can be intensely gratifying.. the feeling of immense relief after having attended one of nature's critical calls. The emptiness suddenly filled with moments of absolute peace, the lightness of being, floating like a leaf, breaking free the flow of thoughts clogged with rapt attention a while ago. One of the crude effects of cold weather can not get more gruesome in a city which has more public transport stops stretched across a kilometer than public toilets. Sometimes and perhaps most of the times when you desperately want something, the laws of the universe dictates that a conspiracy is concocted to hide it from you mocking at your ordeal all the while. But when the frantic search triumphs and all ends well the mask of mockery gives way unveiling a benign smile shining upon your gratitude.

The weather forecasts predicted periods of rain and they turned unwittingly true. It wasnt anything like the torrential downpour back at home, the rains here were invisible. Numb with cold and silent like dead the only life of sound was that of the piercing winds chilling down to the bone marrow whistling along the lanes. Like the sound of a siren announcing a curfew thrusting people indoors. The leaves began shedding its colour slowly turning dry and dead and the trees wriggling itself free of the charred remains. The rustle of winds breaking into rhymes bidding farewell to the last of autumn and praising the dawn of winter. And people cocooned into the comforts of the jackets.

Jackets, in shades of black and brown leather and woollen varieties clinging to their bodies strolling along the rain soaked streets. Intimate relationships inched closer under the sepia-tinted evening lights in a bid to beat the cold. Hand held in hand embracing the warmth and presence of each other. Faces turned cherubic pink breathing out whiff of hot misty-white air through the cherry lips often engaged in a kiss. The city suddenly smells of love sown from the seeds of romance scattered by the winds. The fragrance of love the warmth and comfort of it present everywhere, in the many couples oblivious to the weather and the surrounding world. A few singled out, yearning for their dear ones, deeply engrossed in the intricately woven passionately engaging lives and tales of fiery and romantic characters provided by the book.

And finally left was an odd character, a lone figure with a superior sense of observation and abysmal absorption. Sucking them all the winds of seasonal change, the romantic sketches, the burning desires emanating out of the book reflecting in their eyes, unflustered by the fond fragrance. Sucking them all with a smile, Satan-like, and slurping an ice cream...

Standing in the queue staring at the departure timetable.. waiting for our next flight.. the board blinking the Turkish airlines flight to Istanbul at 04:10 AM.. scheduled. scheduled.. scheduled... delayed.. the blink of an eye and the clock sprinted three and a half hours ahead.. the blinking resumed to 07:30 AM scheduled.. The reaction was everything.. distress dismay but surprise.. the inordinate delays, as we anticipated, were an integral part of the Turkish package... The extra time now burdened on our already heavy baggage in the rain soaked Mumbai Terminal.. If there was anything that stood common among the over-crowded Mumbai airport, deserted Istanbul and the earnest land of Budapest showering words of welcome, it was the seamless rains... Things began to tread along at its own snail pace and after hovering around the clouds for an hour ( One hour in the cloud colony gave me an insight of their lives. The majority of them sacrificing their identities amassing to form something shapeless and float aimless.. like the most of us.. and the very few retaining their shapes alligator-like, willow tree-like, beetle-like free willed, intent with purpose and reciting their stories along the journey... ) we coming out of the clouds, unkempt weary but high-spirited, were ready for our descent... winding our watches back giving the notion of time travel, the very irony of it, it was time travel that was awaiting us in Budapest...

Walking along the lane closely guarded by tall ancient buildings on either side, flowers sprouting out of the balconies perched on the cold steel railings.. cold and bold breathing in centuries of human existence, sturdy testimonial to the transition of technology traditional whims and cultural fancies.. those railings were revealing the journey of its life through its telepathic gaze.. And the buildings are entered through signature style giant oak doors which usually are expected to be locked with heavy metal keys but, this is the first step to the strikingly contrasting features of the city, they open with keyed in numeric codes. The buildings that stood unfazed for centuries open into the world of state-of-the-art apartments, levis es, super pumas, kfcs, burger kings, guccis brandishing their brands and designs into the antique structures. Unlike many places where classic designs are rendered obsolete and brushed under the carpet.. this city has not given away antiquity to accommodate modernity thus holding its foot firm into the past and the present.

The contrast continues to bear resemblance with the people of Budapest. On one side we have the elderly perhaps as old as the buildings, classic and gentle in their disposition.. and the other one belongs to the beady-eyed, blonde-haired, scantily-cladded, FCUK-imprinted, smoking or smooching more often seeking pleasures of the tobacco, flamboyant, flirtatious new generation.. Geographically the city is divided into Buda and Pest.. Buda, steady with time preserving its heritage in its ancient buildings, royal palaces and churches.. Pest keeping pace with the wheels of time, advanced and fashionable.. The river Danube flows through the contrasts of Buda and Pest merging an inseparable connection between the time separated cities generations separated people and stringing together the cultures of yore and novelty of the present...

I cant think of a better welcome to a foreign place.. There is more to be known and revealed about this city.. Until then its Jó napot..!!