Home

The air in the street smelled of strong filter coffee…Meenakshi stepped into the old tiled house…she was visiting her native village after five years…She examined the house from one corner to another like a tourist examining an art work in a temple… the rocking chair, that was once strong and adorned the living room, was now rickety. It was moved from the centre of the house to a corner, like a neglected old family member. The strong aroma from the kitchen tingled her senses…while one part of the house smelled of sambar, the other side was filled with the scent of the incense sticks lit in the puja room….though nothing has changed in this house in the past few years, she felt like a total stranger…She moved to the bedroom, that still had the old bed with bright blue bed sheet with huge yellow flowers printed on it…”did we always use such bright sheets?” she thought to herself... she couldn’t recollect what it was like when she was a kid…she thought of her own bedroom which had a color theme…she chose the most sophisticated colors that reflected her classy taste …

As a kid she used to observe her mom get ready in the morning, the kanjeevaram saris, the gold jewelry, the big bottu…she loved it all...when the other kids at school made fun of Meenakshi’s long oiled braid decorated with a string of jasmines, ”they are just jealous”, her mom used to say…and she didn’t care much as she wanted to look like her mom, dress like her,be her…she looked at herself in the mirror now - cropped pants and a t-shirt, her long braid was now replaced with an above-the-shoulder layered cut. She did not look anything like her mom….

She went into the kitchen, where her family members were running around, preparing a traditional spread for her welcome…They were delighted to see her after a long time...showered her with all their love and affection. For the first time since she walked into that house, she did not feel like a stranger…she realized that it was not about the things in the house…it was the people, that she longed for…her people who were a part of her memories, her childhood, her life and this home…her home…