Travelogue

some memories. bitter memories. sweet memories.

many times it would seem impossible. it was contrarian to my nature.

Till 12th std the luxury of home was not so well understood. Engg made me understand the same. Life was phased to so near perfection.

I am usually glued to home. I hate cinema theatres and hotels and hangouts. someone must be even thinking that i shd have been in and out of existence 75 years before. I was not meant to be the new age GenX dude exactly. While the company of friends was always there, it was limited to specific locations like ur school and playground and a bit of home, both frnd's and mine. social gatherings even beaches was unheard of.

Till mid of 12th, T.Nagar was my abode. the traffic and the buzz around the chennai city can best expressed by this area. Pondy Bazaar was all the more fun. With a 5 min walk from my erstwhile home, and a school in west mambalam, the longest travel i had to make on a daily basis shd hv been 15 mins on a cycle which was all my travel guide ( though nothing remains now..its all borrowed service)

Then due to some issues, we ( family) had to shift to a suburb from where i had to complete the last six months of my 12th. It seemed so painful. all of them. the silence. the distance. the separation ( all class mates in T.Nagar). and worse, catching a crowded bus at 7.45 AM from NGO colony. going to T.Nagar bus stand and then taking my cycle parked at my aunts place close by, to my school 10 mins away across the subway.

If this seemed any difficult, the next was even more. Engg. To think that I was angry with my akka when she asked me to study only in madras seems now to me utter foolishness. after longing to study in a hostel coz my frnds were also in hostels..all my time was spent only in train trips from college to home n back. endless train journeys..every other day, i can imagine myself in the railway station corridor. worry of cancelled trains or getting caught by TTEs withour that superfast ticket. 4 years went slow and painful. i cut short my classes from mon to wed, just that i cud follow those afternoon tamil soaps as well my mom n granny.

Finally i said i m back home. was i?

After a struggle, God's Grace, i got a job. and that too far away from hometown. i never lived away from home on my own for more than 2 weeks( which was just once infact in all 4 years of engg). and i was in the arid regions of gujarat dusting across the petrochemical complexes. first visit home was after six months of joining job. and the next visit after 6 months. and then the last visit after 9 months. for a person who would visit home from vellore given a half day holiday..my life changed so much.

as if it was not all over..i got admission in bombay. again quite far away from madras.

but ofcourse this year only i hv made 5 trips already with one diwali trip pending. that looks like some record travelling. thanks to a couple of sponsored trips n a couple of urgent trips, flying saved a lot of time, while burning my pockets deep.

next year again, i m not sure whether home is far or near. Though parents will atleast be there wherever, i keep thinking abt our own home, our verandah, thenamaram, vaazhamaram n naarthangaa maram n all. and ofcourse my dear overhead pump which i so religiously primed even in deep sleep!

thinking back, from a non traveller, i graduated to a near nomad.

time will only said whether i m going to graduate from nomad to mad or get lucky enough to have a long awaited homecoming at the sweetest place back on earth.

That is Adambakkam.