Of Old and New

This article was first published by India Abroad -

http://www.indiaabroad-digital.com/indiaabroad/20110729?pg=39#pg39

“I’m coming home ,I’m coming home ,tell the world that I’m coming home”, I surprise my kids singing along  the catchy chorus. It's a song by  Diddy Dirty Money playing on the radio.The  expressions on their faces –full of cheer, surprise and  a  bit of  bewilderment ,is obvious as their next question for me - how and when did I develop this passion  for rap music?

I look  back in the rear mirror gauging their puzzled minds and smilingly reply back , yes I  like the song ,yes I liked the genre , but it’s the lyrics of the chorus that wakes up the dormant singer in me and inspires me to sing along ! I relate to the song so well because I’m actually going home for a vacation after a very very long time.

The guava tree that I had planted years ago, along my dad, is bearing fruits this season, I am told. The little niece of mine, shy as a ‘touch-me- not’ plant, is now waiting to regale me with juicy gossips about her life in college, the faithful old maid of ours who provided  lifelong services to our household ,has sadly left this world last summer and I will not be able to see her or hear her wisdom packed one line statements. 

 It would be clichéd to say but it’s true that the more life looped me into its tight grip here in the US, the more I became embedded in its web, unable to break away, and time slipped away quickly just like in a sand watch, waiting for no one!

 I plan for my coming trip, with a hearty concoction of emotions, ready to recharge, renew and revisit places and people I had left behind. I hear that the booming India phase has had a positive impact in my town which has given it a new facelift. New landmarks have mushroomed up everywhere wiping out the old ones, changing the city scape like never before.  The big farmer’s market area has turned into a huge glitzy mall, the century old cloth market with shops as ancient as the banyan trees around them now bears the look of modernity with the construction of new multi- storied buildings, the potter’s street and the jewelry baazar are following the suite, I hear.
 The town looks more messed up and chaotic with the incessant construction going on, but the local residents like my parents don’t seem to mind it at all. Embracing the changes like never before they are enjoying and moving along with the new march of development.

Their enthusiasm has filled my heart too and I look forward to experiencing my town with a new set of eyes,ready to replace the old sights, smell and sounds with new ones. Not local lass anymore I would feel like a visitor exploring my own home town after years.  How fun it would be eating golgappa’s and Alphonso soufflé in chic food courts, where McDonald’s and Haldiram’s sweets exists side by side .Or shopping for the local and international brands, within the same roof, all of that and much more without the hassle of travelling around.
 The new Indian shopping experience certainly awaits me! Yet amidst all these changes ,there are a few places that I wish would escape the banner of development -I hope our town people can spare  the beautiful lake, only one in the area, where I spend my childhood learning Yoga and eating Faloda Kulfi’s, and the Herbal park- a green reserves of herbs and medicinal plants where we would flock early summer mornings for a dose of cool oxygen- just in the same way as they have preserved and maintained the numerous big and small temples that have been around since probably before the town began . It would certainly make our town an ideal place where development and preservation can go hand in hand !

 On a personal level I hope my capacity to talk endlessly at hours with family does not wane away after years of practicing politically correct statements!   Talking without inhibitions is so stress busting, almost therapeutic and I sure need a dose!And finally how can I ignore the dreamer in me who yearns to take an ambitious leap back in time to enjoy being that young girl once again, lost in her own loving world, in her parents’ home. Shelving away  roles and responsibilities, how  peaceful it will be go back being the person I once was  even if momentarily!