I often observe that travelling to
different places in different countries, there is always a lot of learning from
small places. And trust me the real culture and originality of people is hidden
in small cities only. They are not popular and you will not find them when you
do Google search for "places to visit in a country". It’s that you
have to be there and search and hear it from local people because metro cities
of a country are already modernized and they have lost their originality and
roots. How? Let’s get down to that road.
The metro cities are building sky
wrappers, while small cities are nurturing the nature in the form of
agriculture, horticulture, fisheries, orchids etc. You can't find these in big
cities. You will only find the big service apartments, pubs, clubs, hotels
and restaurants with a lot of noise. You can’t find peace in big cities. While
in small cities we have natural sanctuary, ponds, small and big waterfalls,
fields and crops, where you can breathe in fresh air and find peace. The sense
of self-realization is often observed when you find peace. Peace outside and
inside. On the other side in cities, you always feel people are rushing and so
much crowd and noise that you can’t hear your own voice. You are more close to
nature in small cities. I think that’s why we feel relaxed in a farm house
rather than a pent house in city.
Apart from feeling good from
within in small places far from cities, I have observed that most of the world
famous people come from small places only. Be it Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama
or Nelson Mandela or Mahatma Gandhi or Mother Teresa etc. All came from small
places and made a big impact in changing our society. There is magic in air for
those cities.
Most of the people already knew
this. But they don’t want to give up their current livelihood to enjoy peace in
small cities. More people are moving towards cities for earning money and from
money they can buy comfort. And later they realize that the real comfort is
when you are close to nature.
Adding to that, current status is
that the small cities are moving toward of becoming metro cities because the
facilities and ease of living they see in big cities. But still bloggers,
photographers, travellers and even stand-up comedian get their real stuff in
small cities. There is no variety in big cities, only taller building pubs and
restaurant. But in smaller cities we have a lot of varieties from natural
landscapes to different kind of people and their culture.
You can spot these differences in
big countries like USA, Australia, China, India etc. But in small countries
like Hong Kong, Macau, Japan they have managed a very good balance between the
big cities and their culture. Small countries don’t have much space, so they
have preserved their culture with use of technology very well.
