Not long ago I decided to spend more time in Zagreb. That is the only way for me to be closer to my beloved during much of the year. At the same time I decided to seek out the most interesting people in the Croatian capital. Out of a million people, I figured, there must be at least ten of them worth my while. Today I realized the people from Zagreb I do know already could help me with this chore. Focusing on the best and the brightest, as well as the most famous, I asked them to give me a list of ten people I must not miss in the city of my birth. As it turned out, I came up with a bit less than a score of people to ask for this favor, and I wrote to them via electronic mail in two separate messages addressed to less than ten people each. All of them are in the public eye both in Croatia and abroad. Wondering whether or not I would get any response from any of them, I find myself bursting into laughter every once in a while. Zagreb in a nutshell, too.

Addendum I (June 15, 2008)

A day or two later I sent the same message to a few more people. All in all, twenty-six artists, writers, architects, designers, film directors, critics, gallerists, and professors received my message. Here they are, in alphabetical order: Ivo Banac, Saša Bradić, Davor Bruketa, Slavenka Drakulić, Danilo Dučak, Ljuba Gamulin, Rajko Grlić, Mirela and Boris Guina, Rada Iveković, Branko Kincl, Želimir Koščević, Slobodan Lang, Boris Matić, Predrag Matvejević, Igor Mirković, Ljubo Miščević, Ranko Murtić, Goran Ogurlić, Vjeran Piršić, Nenad Popović, Vesna Pusić, Tonči Tadić, Tomo Vinščak, Ivo Vrtarić, and Nikola Žinić. So far, only a couple of them responded with a few words, but without the magical list. Both of them suggested that the task was quite onerous, and I thus do not expect to hear from them again. Alas, I tried!

Addendum II (June 29, 2008)

In the meanwhile, I heard from a few more people I had written to, but no-one offered the name of a single person I should meet in the Croatian capital. By now it is perfectly clear that the magical list will forever remain but a pipedream of mine. However, there is one surprising thing that should be mentioned in this connection: everyone I heard from had assumed I was about to move away from Motovun even though I very clearly stated that I planned to spend only a bit more time in Zagreb. In fact, I checked my original message a few times to make sure that I was clear in this particular connection, and I definitely was. As it turns out, all of these good people cannot imagine that anyone can survive more than a few years in godforsaken Motovun. In addition, they cannot imagine any other place except Zagreb as the ultimate retreat from all the botched experiments with life worth living.