Whirlwind (On Hold-Will Be Back Soon!)

Chapter 4

Alexandra spent her first week in Italy exploring Rome. Rome, though much smaller than London in size and population, had incredible variety in places of interest. It seemed to fit in a volume of attractions that one would expect in a city double its size. Alexandra visited and conducted exhaustive research of the Colosseum, the Bocca della Verita (the Mouth of Truth), the Palazzo Farnese, the Portico of Octavia, the Piramide Cestia, the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore among others. She had even picnicked at the Savello Gardens on the third day of her landing in Rome! But she was still not half-way through her list of Roman monuments and places of historical interest.

Alexandra was enjoying herself thoroughly. She spoke to her parents and sister every alternate day and they could make out how taken in she was by the city by just the sound of her voice.

On her 8th day into the trip, Alexandra decided that she had resisted temptation far too long and that she deserved a treat. She could still not believe how she had been in Italy for a week and still not visited the Casa-di-Giulietta...Juliet’s House!

She had no intention of delaying her visit any longer. She immediately rented herself a car, a Volkswagen Beetle, and set out towards Verona. Her GPS informed her that the journey one-way would take approximately 5 hours.

It was 9 am when she left her hotel. According to her guidebook, the Casa was open to public till 7:30 pm in the evening. She reckoned she would reach by 2:30 pm tops and would have enough time to spend there. She had already packed some sandwiches and a thermos of tea to take with her and eat on the way, so that she wouldn’t have to stop for refreshments.

As Alexandra drove out of the city, she encountered a sea of several yellow Vespas. All over the road! She smiled to herself-she was witnessing the Italian ‘Vespa craze’ first-hand! She regretted not learning how to drive a two-wheeler. She would have loved to zip and zap across the street the way these people were. Feeling the wind in her hair, her scarf flying behind her, breezing through the streets…

It was exactly 2:17 pm when Alexandra entered Verona. She had hardly encountered any traffic on her way, and for that she was immensely thankful. She drove directly to the Casa-di-Giulietta. She was so excited that she was trembling! Every single scene of the movie Letters to Juliet came alive in her mind. She felt like a child in a candy shop, the biggest candy shop in the whole wide world!

In a daze, she walked in and took a seat on the stone bench. The brick wall in front of her was covered entirely in paper of all shapes, colours and sizes… Each one of them a plea for true love, a plea for sustenance of love. She pulled out her own notebook and pen from her purse, tore a sheet of paper and started writing her message to the spirit of Juliet Capulet. When she finished writing her letter, she looked to her left and saw the bronze statue of Juliet. Pressing the right breast of the statue was supposed to bring good luck in love. Several people were actually doing it! But Alexandra just couldn’t. However much she loved the idea of love, she just couldn’t go around touching statues and their private parts. It was just too… awkward! She had to draw a line somewhere.

Alexandra observed the people around her. Most of them were women-some very young, perhaps teenagers, and the rest could have been mothers, grandmothers, aunts.

Love knows no age, she reflected.

She got up and walked towards the wall. She had her own letter clutched tightly in her hand, but she longed to read what other women had written to Juliet. However, she realized that this would have amounted to trespass and invasion of somebody’s privacy, even if they did not know it, and refrained. Instead she focused on finding a spot to fix her letter up on. Once she did get a spot, she put her letter up, moved a few paces back, re-read it, and satisfied, left the compound of the Casa-di-Giulietta.

“Dear Juliet,

I think he is here, somewhere. I can feel it in the air, the water and the trees. But I may be wrong and I will wait if I must.

I have only one request-please let my wait be worth it. Please give me a love without boundaries, without distances, without anger, without tiredness and without selfish intent.

Give me a love that can stand the tests of time and people. Give me a love that is not fickle and changing, but long-lasting and passionate.

Much Love and Adoration,

Alexandra”