01 November,2024 07:15 AM IST | Mumbai | Rosalyn D`mello
The vibe of Naples was electrifying. The chaotic city seems to have found its own gestural language for subverting the logic of capitalism. Pic/Rosalyn D’Mello
I was somewhat embarrassed by how loud, smelly, and chaotic I found the city. My debut visit was in 2018, when I was a tourist who had only ever known the lived environments of Mumbai and Delhi - two ginormous metropolitan cities that were continually bursting at the seams. Naples felt familiar because I had grown up in Mumbai and had spent so many years in Delhi. The chaos, the traffic, the pace of conversations among people, the brightness of city life, the loudness of it all felt comforting. I'm no longer a tourist in Italy. I have been living here for almost five years. Even though I am based in a border town in the Alps where the language is predominantly German, I have travelled through many parts of Italy and know the language too. After the relative quiet of where I live, the sense of order and focus on attentive caring of the environment - the municipality workers literally change the decorative plants display every few weeks, in keeping with the season and the civic systems actually work - I had many moments of culture shock in Naples. Of course, I had to laugh at how I was looking at the city through the lens of someone who comes from a âfirst world context'. The tap water didn't taste as good as where we live, or in other parts of Italy. I had to literally close the outside doors of the balcony at night because the sound of traffic interfered with my ability to sleep. I had to keep guard of my belongings because I had first-hand experience of someone trying to rob me in Naples in 2018. And why was there so much trash everywhere?
But gosh, the city's vibe was electrifying. The incessant traffic and the frenetic pace seemed to have altered people's perception of time. Instead of being in a hurry, they had learned to slow themselves down. In fact, everything unfolded at a snail's pace, in a sense. You ordered a cappuccino, but in between noting your order, the barista pauses to converse with his co-workers. It's the same at the grocery shop. It is as if the city has found its own gestural language for subverting the logic of capitalism. I walked everywhere and I found myself always regaling at the shrines at every corner with a statue of Madonna, reminding me of Goa as well as every other Indian city. I visited museums, churches, galleries and the catacombs of San Gennaro, the patron saint of Napoli. I was constantly travelling back in time, given the historic nature of most sites. Many dots from trips to other parts of Italy began to intersect⦠like the mosaics in Ravenna⦠In Napoli, I visited the oldest baptistery in the western world and it was a treat to see these mosaics, as it was to see the reliquary containing the San Gennaro's blood which potentially liquifies thrice a year. If and when the miracle does take place, the city considers it as a sign of collective good luck. But apparently, during the pandemic, the blood didn't liquify. Soon enough, Maradona died - a loss that Naples is still grieving.
All of this is to urge you to do a solo trip! Especially if you do not have someone depending on you for care, and even if you do, make arrangements to have time off to wander, to be nomadic, to let yourself happen within the set-up of a city or a town or a village where there is something to be discovered. I returned feeling so rejuvenated, a better mother to our toddler, a better spouse to my partner.
Deliberating on the life and times of every woman, Rosalyn D'Mello is a reputable art critic and the author of A Handbook For My Lover. She tweets @RosaParx
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