व्हेनिस Venis (Venice - the City that Floats on Water)

व्हेनिस हे रेल्वेचे अखेरचे स्टेशन होते. लेखक स्टेशनबाहेर आले, तेव्हा त्यांना रस्ताच दिसला नाही - त्याऐवजी एक प्रचंड कालवा (ग्रँड कॅनॉल) दिसला, ज्यावर अनेक लहान-मोठ्या नावा (बोटी) उभ्या होत्या.

Since Venice was the last stop for the train, railway staff walked through the carriages shouting 'All out.' When the author stepped outside the station with his bag, he was struck with astonishment - there was no road at all! Instead, a vast canal, like a broad river, stretched before him. This was the famous Grand Canal, lined with small motor launches ('porter taxis') and large mechanised boats. Realising that the boat-bus was cheaper than a taxi, the author bought a ticket for two hundred and fifty lire, and his boat set off swiftly carrying about two hundred passengers.

कालव्यावरील वातावरण अतिशय प्रसन्न होते - हवेत गारवा, वाऱ्यात उत्साह होता. एका इटालियन लेखकाने आधीच सांगितले होते की व्हेनिसचे वर्णन शब्दांत करता येत नाही, तिथे प्रत्यक्ष जाऊनच अनुभवावे लागते.

The atmosphere on the canal was utterly delightful - many spirited travellers moved swiftly back and forth, as though boats were bustling along this waterway the way vehicles crowd a highway. There was a chill in the air, exhilaration in the wind, and a youthful vibrancy seemed to fill the surrounding water. The author recalled the words of an Italian writer he had met in Rome: 'Venice is the one city in the world that cannot be described in words; you must go there in person, breathe its air, live there, only then will you truly understand what Venice means.'

व्हेनिसमध्ये एकही मोटार, वाहतूक पोलीस किंवा ट्रॅफिक लाईट्स नाहीत, कारण इथे खऱ्या अर्थाने रस्तेच नाहीत - फक्त कालवे व त्यांना जोडणारे पूल आहेत. दुरून हे शहर पाण्यावर टाकलेल्या हिऱ्या-माणकांच्या ढिगासारखे दिसते.

The author explains that Venice is the world's only wondrous city set on water - there is not a single car, no traffic police, no traffic lights, and no crowding on the streets, because in the truest sense there are no streets at all. There are only canals, connected by loving bridges, like a child's arms wrapped around its mother's neck. This town is not a city in the conventional sense but a cluster of many small islands, and from a distance it looks like a heap of diamonds and rubies scattered across a blue velvet sea, with the spires of churches and old palaces piercing the sky here and there.

व्हेनिसमधील प्रवासी घाईगर्दीत नसतात - ते कालव्याकाठी बसून कॉफी पीत नावांची ये-जा पाहत बसतात. एका मुनीमाला व्हेनिसचे पाणीदार रस्ते पाहून पूर आल्याचा गैरसमज झाला होता, अशी गमतीदार आठवणही लेखक सांगतात. दोन दिवसांच्या मुक्कामानंतर हे शहर सोडताना लेखकांच्या मनाला हुरहुर वाटली.

Life in Venice is remarkably unhurried - chairs and tables line the banks of the Grand Canal, where people sip coffee and watch the boats glide by; travellers on the boats experience the same charm in reverse, watching the leisurely, colourful crowd on the shore. The city is entirely detached from the frantic pace of places like New York, Mumbai or Hong Kong. The author shares an amusing anecdote - an accountant unaware that Venice's streets were actually waterways flew in from London, and seeing water everywhere, cabled his employer that Venice was flooded, asking whether to return or wait for the flood to subside! After a leisurely two-day stay, leaving this sweet, art-loving city that floats on blue water left the author with a deep pang of longing.