Oh my dear hown town! I love you

I have heard my friends saying, “Oh! Finally I get to go home”, “I cannot wait to go home and see my family”, “I am home sick”, “I miss my home” and stuff like that. So the problem with me is I never understand this feeling because sadly, well yes you heard me right! Sadly, I have never been away from my home. I was lucky enough to stay with my family from the time I was born.  However there are times that I have wondered how it would be to stay away from home. Is it painful? Depressing? What happens when all your friends ditch you and you end up being alone? Things like this keep running in my mind. On the other hand, I was over pampered and over protected by my parents that I have never seen the real world! So there is this time when I want to be away from home and get the taste of being on my own. I used to think hanging out with friends, having my own schedule that doesn't rely or clash with my parent’s schedule, being on my own and making my own decisions would be fun.

So how is it like to stay away from home? I had no clue, really! But when I am elsewhere and see a TN registration vehicle or a bus from Tamil Nadu I jump saying my place! My language. Then I got a glimpse of it when I stayed away from home in the recent months. I missed my parents, my house, my bed, the comfy chair I sit in, my mother’s cooking and to my surprise my gym and the workouts. Although I love the place I stayed in and was enjoying a lot, every now and then the thought of my home kept coming in my mind. I used to be with my friends and yet feel lonely at times. I would think maybe mum should have been here with me doing this thing we would have enjoyed it more. The night before I had to take the train to my place, my happiness was boundless and I thought what everybody tell me when they go home, ‘Oh finally, I am going home!” and now I know how it feels! While on one hand I was really sad I would say I was grieving because I am going to miss the friend I stayed with and had loads of fun; on the other hand the happiness and the relief of going home kept increasing. To my surprise, both the feelings were proportionate.

When I finally came to Madras (that’s how I call Chennai) I sighed and took a deep breathe. That feeling my people, my place and I know everything about this place is heavenly and I felt like I have landed in heaven. This is my home and I could feel that in the way I walked carrying my bag. I was confidently fighting with our autowalas. I knew the nook and corner of the city and I can go wherever I want without help and I atleast know I am safe wherever I am because I know this place, after all its my home. First of all, I got to speak in my mother tongue which is awesome! And no more roaming charges, hey! :D And I cannot help but remind myself of a song by Illayaraja – ‘Swargame endralum adhu namma oora pola varuma” which means Even if you go to heaven it can never be as good as our native! J