Monday, March 15, 2010

Fell In Love With The Twins...Thanks To Paris & Hollywood!


Yes, thanks to Paris & Hollywood, I finally did 'fell in love' with the PETRONAS Twin Towers! Well... sort of. I am actually very passionate about anything & everything related to mega, tall super structures.
 
Indeed, the very first time I saw a 'super tall structure' was actually in a Bollywood movie! That structure was none other than the famous Eiffel Tower and the film was a Bollywood classic called 'An Evening In Paris'!

The movie managed to capture beauty and grandness of Eiffel Tower in the most captivating and memorable manners ever... well at least that how I felt back then.




So, obviously, when I had a chance to visit Paris many, many years later after that 'inspiring' moments of watching the Bollywood flick, I made a point to step on to the tower and experience the 'magic' myself.

Well... it is not that wrong to say that a Bollywood blockbuster of the 60's 'sparked' my interest in tall, mega structures and my fascination with their great heights... and thus finally led me to fall 'head over heel' with the PETRONAS Twin Towers!

eSa @ Eiffel Tower Viewing Deck



My fascination with tall buildings was then brought further to 'another higher level' when I watched a Hollywood super-duper box office movie, 'The Towering Inferno' back in the 70s. It was about a very, very tall building in San Francisco, America which had been caught by fire. After watching the movie (despite some quite gruesome scenes, which now when I think about it, surprisingly resembled footages of the 9/11 event... especially the part when trapped occupants jumped off the building!), my fascination with 'anything tall & mega' had somehow reached to an 'obsession' level!

Thus, when I went to the US in the 80s, I made a promise to myself that somehow, someway I would find a way to go to the highest floor of the tallest building on this planet (at that time).



Yes... the building I had on my mind then was none other than the Sears Tower (now renamed as Willis Tower) in Chicago. Crowned as the Tallest Building in the World in 1973, it remained at the 'top of the chart' until 1998. That was when the PETRONAS Twin Towers officially took over the reigning spot of Sears Tower and declared as THE world's tallest building(s)! And yes. I did find my way:)


 eSa @ Sears Tower Viewing Deck

Sometime back in the 90s, I was very extremely excited when I came to know that Malaysia was building its very own super tall structure...the PETRONAS Twin Towers! Whoa! A skyscraper located right in my backyard? And it was later revealed that the said building was not only to become a very tall mega structure but indeed the tallest of all skycrapers on this planet! I was overwhelmed.

I have now come to realise that my fascination with tall, mega towers, especially my country's own PETRONAS Twin Towers, has indeed begun a long, long time ago. Indeed, it all started at the very moment when I first saw Eiffel Tower in that old Bollywood classic 'An Evening In Paris'...

Now... think of your own passion. Anything that you are really passionate or crazy about. Can you think of any moment... the moment... which might had started it all...?  

eSa @ Louvre Pyramid, PARIS.

eSa @ Arch de Triumphe, PARIS

eSa @ Field Museum of Natural History, CHICAGO