I'm back... fresh and refreshed from a vacation to my home town. This probably is my first vacation to there unless you count the weekend/ holiday trips to home from out-of-station work. So this time it was supposed to be special... and in its own way it was.
- Yea... yea... the holiday was all roses and violets.... But underneath all the fun and smiles somehow it always felt that it was just a holiday and I have to come back to reality soon. Sigh!
- It was fun to land in Chennai, be in Chennai and talk about things that are Chennai.... and enjoy a part of Chennai.
- The travel to and fro was most definitely not fun. Although M was in her best behavior, I personally found the 12-14 hour stretch very uncomfortable. I particularly blame that as a recent for the jet-lag, which thankfully was/ is not bad.
- All the ideas and fantasies of how it would be to go back home after a few years and with M all grown up... well... now they are memories. Not surprisingly the mind and heart has quickly reset itself with new ideas of how the next time would be... while savoring the recent memories :)
- Met a lot of people. Family, neighbors....and really really special friends. [Few years back when I was living in town and they were also living in town... we never had the urgency to meet. But this few years of separation has somehow brought us closer and made us make an effort to catch up.]
- Very proud of the fact that almost everyone who met me commented 'You look just the same...'. It was particularly sweet when said by a college-friend...whom I had not seen in almost a decade..I must say...Hehehe
- M had loads and loads and loads of fun with her thathas and paatis. I think the walls in my parents house, even after a week, would still be echoing of her laughter and "performance rhythms" and her wonderful (?) tamizh.
- Got in touch with a friend after a long time. A one-of-a-kind friend. For sometime now, she was one of the two people with whom I was desperate to reconnect. [Remember 'My person' idea of Grey's Anatomy]. I called. She answered. It was that simple. All that happened and all that was thought to have happened and all those imagined emotions were all forgiven. Forgotten? I guess not. And now it doesn't matter anyways. All that mattered to her was to know me and all that mattered to me was to get to know her and fill in the blanks the years have left. I'm very glad I made that call.
- H visited me. And it was heart-warming to see that some people just don't change...what was there between those people doesn't change too. It was so easy to pick up where we last left off and have a good time.
- Some people were busy to visit or call. Weirdly I don't blame them. If this were a few years back I would have been irritated with them, but this time somehow I was not. Why?
- Airport and immigration checks in Chennai.... sucks. At a new level.
- Now when I'm done vacationing and all that's left to do is unpacking... I'm home-sick.
- It feels like all I did in Chennai was shop. Its surprising how we even found time to relax
- It all started with the feeling to want to go home. So we went...we came back. And it ends with the feeling that I'am home. That's progress I guess.
