Familiarity breeds contempt

“Familiarity breeds contempt,” I have observed this saying, which plays tricks on our minds, testify its veracity very many times in my life. For instance, a well-loved bedtime story is reduced to a recitation. Learning by rote becomes mindless repetition after a while. A beaten path to a regular destination makes us wear blinders to the surroundings. A regular visitor loses his status as a guest.

Well, I did not expect the adage to come alive when I was in one of the most exotic destinations on my bucket list. When I flew into Milan, the fashion capital of the world, I was quite dazed. The well lit, decorated space, the length of the queue at immigration coupled with long wait, travel and the jet lag lent it a very ethereal quality. I stepped out, to be warmly greeted by a young cousin and later on joined by a very dear friend of mine.

I enjoyed my train ride to Milano Centrale taking in everything that I could see from the window. The place unfolded its magnetic charm in bits and pieces and culminated in the railway station which looked surreal with its archaic looks. I must confess, I spent more time looking up than watching my steps as I walked in the station towards the metro station. We checked into a hostel and spent the next three days taking a metro train to Milano Centrale and seeing the cynosures of the city before buzzing back to our nest. Over time, the station became familiar. This was proved by the fact that instead of looking at the classical looking staircases and sculptures, I started spending a few minutes listening to random violinists and artists performing on the platform. The shops, advertisements, the railway tracks, cobwebs and a mixture of old and new trains caught my attention by the sixth time. When we went there for the eighth time, we indulged in window shopping to avoid stepping out into the rain. I remember crinkling my nose up in the air when I had to use a dirty washroom in the station.

On the day we left the place to our next destination, I recollect that I was making calls and looking at the digital notice board for information on arrivals and departures. It was only in retrospection I realized that that the truism had been rendered true. As William Hazlitt had put it, “Though familiarity may not breed contempt, it certainly takes off the edge of admiration!”