City Of Swans

A FEW HOURS ARE ENOUGH FOR MANEK S. KOHLI TO FALL IN LOVE WITH ZÜRICH.

- Manek S. Kohli

The couple on a bench by Lake Zürich are surrounded by swans and ducks. The birds neither splash as they dive to feed on molluscs, nor cackle as they approach the humans in the hope of a cracker. Locked in a kiss, the lovers pay them no heed. The birds give up and withdraw soundlessly. I sit with a fellow journalist, Rama, on a bench separated from the couple’s bench by an assortment of flowers, and watch the scene unfold. She, meanwhile, records a time-lapse of the seamless movement of the trams on the nearby Quaibrücke bridge. Thus begin our respective romances with Zürich.

It is mid-afternoon and we are fresh from a media visit to the Swiss countryside. Since our flight back takes off late in the night, we have taken a train to Zürich Central Station to wander around its surrounding areas.