Picture perfect? Not really

Ever notice how any place usually looks better in a photograph?

I always noticed this in pictures we friends took in each others’ homes. An inevitable comment would be, “wow, my home looks so pretty in this photo!”

I remember looking at pictures of foreign lands and wondering how any place could be so beautiful. Just before I went to Perth, I did some research on the place and came across pictures of the city. Seemed to be the epitome of cleanliness and neatness. Everything was so bright and picture perfect. When I went there, I saw that the place was certainly lovely, but somehow not the same as in pictures. Like some magic dust was wiped off. Downtown Sydney was so different in the movie “Dil Chahta Hai” from what I had seen of the actual place. The dirt, the filth, the dust – all seemed somehow to have receded into the background in the movie.

On a dusty winter weekday I took a picture of our very own VT (or CST) station. No one would believe that it was the same place we are all used to seeing in real life. It was almost like I had first dusted and mopped the place and washed the very atmosphere before I clicked the picture.

Well, so now I know that all the different places that I see pictures of in magazines and the internet are not nearly as lovely as in the pictures… sigh. Perhaps I should not visit the places I found most beautiful in those travel brochures. Let the magic dust stay in my eyes a little longer.