I will miss living in a small town

For most of my life, I've lived in small towns or cities. Over the past year, I've spent most of my time in Anantapur, Chandigarh and Solan, all of which are mostly small towns. Chandigarh is the biggest of them all but I could still drive from the northern end to the southern end within 30 minutes. At most of these places, I could get groceries within a 10 minute drive, good places to eat within 20. The air was clean because I stayed away from the town centers. I didn't have to deal with the sounds of traffic and construction that most cities have.

Before this year, I stayed in Ongole for roughly an year and Cambridge, UK for more than an year. Again, I could run out and come back within 15 minutes if I needed to get groceries at the last minute, if I needed to find a pharmacy at an odd hour or run odd errands.

The biggest places I stayed in were Chennai and Pune but even there, those cities feel like small towns stitched together. I didn't have to venture out of Magarpatta most of the time. In Chennai, I didn't need to drive more than 10 minutes away for anything.

By the way, when I say drive, I don't mean a four wheeler. I mean a two wheeler. Because at most of these places, the roads are too narrow to drive a four wheeler comfortably. A two wheeler is the vehicle of choice and the four wheeler is primarily used for inter city travel.

But all of that ends now. I'm in a city. If I want to venture out of the house with family, the four wheeler is the only option if I don't want to rely on a taxi or if I don't want to expose my family to the pollution. I can't visit a small grocery shop because there are none where I live.

It's not all bad. I have access to a broader variety of food. A wider range of activities are available for the family during the week and on weekends. Most of my extended family stays within an hour of driving distance from where we live. And an airport is less than an hour away. Thirty minutes if there is no traffic.

But I will miss living in a small town. The city is the only place that I can get the necessary health infrastructure so we'll have to make do.

PS: I reveal way too much personal history in this post and I hope it doesn't end up helping someone impersonate me.

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