Bari

An air conditioned room, a cane rocking chair, uninterrupted supply of calorie and non calorie food, parents and not a worry in the world. I have been talking about changes throughout the past month – this seems to be the biggest leap I am about to take.

Tomorrow, I board the flight to Gurgaon; a place I have not known at all, to people I have known for a little while, taking the largest independent step in my entire life. I feel a little shaky, but I know it will all be okay, with time.

My father just spent the last three hours talking about things he learnt in life, from his parents, and mistakes he made. He seemed perfectly composed, and confident that I would in all obviousness, do well. He does not usually have much to say about how I should live my life, apart from those occassional potty jokes, which are of course, hereditary. He has always maintained that to become gold, one has to pass through fire, time and again. He has enormous belief in me, and maybe that is why sometimes, when I feel that I cannot go on, I magically get some strength back. I have inherited a lot of his character – not being able to say ‘no’ to people, charity, deriving happiness out of doing small things for people, and so much more. Like father, like daughter I am. The man has spent all his life, living in a desert, orthodox country, so that people who depend on him could have a better life. He has done us so proud. There is not one practical thing on Earth that I wished I possessed, and I do not.

Ma, on the other hand, is coming with me, this time to help me set up. So I am not all that upset. Although, I hate saying goodbye to Baba alone at the airport; keep thinking about how he must feel when he returns to this huge empty apartment, which was so full of life, for the past month – but I know he is strong, and so like him, I will try to be.

I wish I can come back here soon, as no other place feels so much like home, than the place you have grown up in, the place where you went to school, the place where you climbed mountains, the place where there are a zillion memories attached to everything you see around – a bus stop, a telephone booth, a fax machine, albums, souvenirs, the old study table, the oh so comfortable bed, the nice smelling clothes, and just the fact that you have both people you love the most in the world, around you.

Goodbye for now, Muscat. I will miss you lots.