1 – Shri 420
Just like a zillion other places, we couldn’t see the Imperial Palace from the inside, why – because we loved it so much from the outside that before we could even think of going in, the doors were closed for the day.
There was no sunset that day, but we got a hint of the setting sun by a strange orange color that appeared in the sky just for a few moments. The city was covered under clouds, it had been like that for almost whole of the day, but without a drop of water.
As we proceeded to leave the imperial grounds, someone took the tap off and it started pouring down heavily. I looked for my umbrella, but there was none in my backpack. Prerita, fortunately, was carrying one. We quickly got under it, while barely saving ourselves from the downpour. This was our ‘Shri 420’ moment.
2 – Midnight in Shibuya
A sudden burst of raindrops coming from a colorful sky had naturally decided the nearest subway station as our next destination. We went through a maze of electronics at a six-story BicCamera store next. This place was a real test for this recently turned minimalist couple. We came out a winner, didn’t buy anything at all!
Shibuya district was far from there, but we had heard so much about the place. People go there, just to see it filled with other people. Constituting two sets, one interested in looking at another one, and the other, which WAS interested in looking at the other one.
It was getting late, we wondered if the place would still be crowded? The travel pass in our pockets allowed us unhindered access to any part of the city, we decided to go. As our train came closer to the famed station, we started seeing younger faces around with an interesting sense of attire. This was different from any other part we had seen earlier in the city.
The square was visible from the station building. The number of people was easily in four digits. Waiting to cross the square, each individual with a unique story but unified at that crossing. After a few seconds, the lights turned yellow, for a brief moment the square went empty. But the very next moment, there was no space left to be seen. It looked like a chaos, but still pretty much organized. We wondered it was 10:30 pm but none seemed to be in a hurry to go back.
It was addictive, to see the light changing its colors every time and people marching to the other side of the road. After watching it for a few minutes, we decided to explore the area around. Before we could realize, we were also a part of the crowd waiting for the signal to turn green.
A fraction of numerous stories that no one could count.
