Back home

Back home

When the realization struck me I suddenly became heavy-hearted. My two month odyssey in the vast land of the USA was heading towards an aurevoir. The curtain  was slowly falling.  The slaphappy vacation during which I saw places, savoured multi-cuisines , shopped like an insouciant  child, the blissful evening walks, weekend adventures – all these were to be wrapped up within a few hours. The flight back to India was only round the corner. Though the prospect of sharing my wonderful experience and meeting my kith and kin after two full months kept me on an edge of excitement, the dull ache of leaving was quietly felt somewhere. The last minute shopping was less electric, the endless zipping and unzipping were wearisome; the airport rituals less adventuresome; tear screened farewells were more perturbing…… A twenty hour forced upright posture between night and day, frequent installments of heterogeneous victuals  dexterously packed in scanty trays, periodic tours to miniature comfort stations, hopping through endless, carpeted transit lobbies, queuing  with anxious, cosmopolitan strangers and the unceasing , monotonous drones of the engines – all these eventually led me to the familiar terrain. The huge crowd waiting with eager eyes, and the honking cars further convinced me that I was treading  on my motherland. Soon I was breathing in domestic dust that had adequately immuned my system. The transition was smoothe. The noisy zig-zag traffic and the very visible accumulated litter welcomed me to my affable, own country. East or west, home is best.