Returning home…

15 days–3 train trips, 3 flights and some 300 odd kms of taxi and auto rides.

3 mega-cities– 2 re-unions, 1 big happy Bong wedding and some interesting interviews and chats.

Time spent with family ( dad and daughter), with friends ( from school, college and work) and some beloved kids of the next gen.

Minimal shopping, minimal gifting and minimal preening….lots of sharing, laughing and eating.

You will be reading about the different experiences and adventures I have absorbed this December. But today evening, with grey clouds on the horizon and a definite nip in the wind, my thoughts hover around that phrase–returning home.

Home is  a comfort zone. Home is where one’s favorite things, clothes, books, whimsical bits of life and family and every familiar thing lies in its designated place. Home is where one is meant to relax, to sleep deeply and soundly. Home is our version of paradise.

But home is also filled with unfinished tasks, lists of to-dos, piles of stuff which need to be cleared up and a whole lot of documents and papers which have to be tackled. My home has stacks of wool which need to be knitted up… and yes, those bank papers and agreements and drafts which just slide out of my work table.

While I traveled by train, road and air…while I slept in different beds and heard the night in the city….while I supped and drank feasts and family meals…I thought of home and the dogs and the sunlight streaming into the bedroom. I would talk about the mountain view, invite everyone to the hills and wait to hear the oohs and aahs when  I would describe my life in Ranikhet. Home seems perfect!

I returned two days ago, through snow covered roads and icy winds. I could see clouds forming from melting snow and I could feel the damp roads through my shoes. The dogs came bounding through the snow and gave me a huge welcome. The house was clean and bright and welcoming me with cold arms. There was no electricity, no Net connection, no warm corner or room.

Things improved by night and I slept soundly in my own bed with the dogs in their usual places. The daily routine kicked in and now it feels as if I have never been out of home!

I need to thank those piles of papers which need to be tackled, those yarn bundles which send me on a guilt trip and that long list of resolutions which are giggling in the background.

Everything remains the same!