Back home after ages!
Gurgaon
I have always believed that if you want to see India in the best possible way, take the Indian Railways!
We had started about a fortnight ago from Delhi to basically rest to Hyderabad, but I had no clue that there was so much in store already. I had gone with no expectations, but just to meet my aunt, Tuffy and lots of rest. But I had surely expected train journeys, which always make me think, think and may be think more. But I got gifts which were not material, but very emotional.
I loved Hyderabad's evening breeze, which is amazing always. That I guess is the only constant in this ever changing city, for the better. This breeze is an icing on the cake after you get up after a nice afternoon nap!
But what was nice was meeting and chatting with my cousin Nannujiji, who had come from Brisbane, who had come back without any airs. I like it when people don't forget their roots and habits. She was exactly the same person I had seen when she left India, twenty years ago.
The cover or the surface of every person has to change with time, but what matters is the core, which was intact for Nannujiji. The joy with which she met her father first and Mosi/Khala later,at the airport was a vision worth cherishing.
And then she reached home, and she met the lady herself, her mother. Wow, what a hug it was. Plain love!
I remember the three people who saw the hug (including me!) could not prevent smiling to the fullest.
My mother or her mosi asked her that what would she have and she replied within a second, "Chai!"
Happiness everywhere!
We slept off with it and then I woke up with Nannujiji shouting and showing Malathi badamma (her mother) faceapp videos of her kids. I thought I was not ready, but she got the phone to me and I saw Yaseen and Ifrah smiling at us. We were sofar from each other geographically, but the smiles had got us very close.
As the gifts were being shown and shopping being done by Nannujiji, my mother and Chhote mai, she landed to meet Chhote mama. Lots of blessings and love exchanged with minimal actions. Smile, again was the common link.
As the smiles were settling in, came Tuffy, rushing in...
Nannujiji was in Hyderabad for just a week, but in this course we saw her birthday, someone's wedding, her cousins meeting her, a distant relative's death and a death-prayer meeting. She met so many people, with no plans. I realised that God makes plans and we should listen to the universe.
I liked the fact when Yaseen and Ifrah would be talking and facing us on faceapp. Technology had definitely bridged gaps. I kept writing, eating and sleeping like a log. Meanwhile, she left for Brisbane.
I remember the first time she was leaving for the country down under. We were all so young, so different then.
She walked in and did not turn around once to her parents, as that would make anyone cry! But this time, things were different. She went in and she kept waving at my mother, me and most importantly, her father.
It's just a matter of fortune that I am somehow always there whenever she is here. I have seen Yaseen and Ifrah at different stages, but this time we saw the cute Hasnain.
A lovely trip which looked as if it was super-planned, but we just listened to the universe and we saw so many smiles.
I was back to my college taking lectures today, was fun. I also have to pen a new play which is growing inside. So, summing it up, I am back to life :)
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