Back at Home

Just feels like yesterday when we moved to London as newly weds. We found a spacious flat that would house future guests as well, and filled it up with everything we would need. The tube station was just across, and whatever we needed was just a station or two away. After a week of settling in, this new house eventually began to feel like home. I began my culinary experiments on patient Ro and our pots and pans, while Ro went to work. We travelled a bit, explored a lot of London, and spent several hours watching movies and enjoying sitcoms. And before I knew it, I was back in India, expecting our first child.

This move seemed to come abruptly, maybe because I wasn't really ready for it as yet. The experience as been bitter sweet, for though I was looking forward to being back home, I miss Ro and London. Friends ask me what I will miss most about London the most. "A lot of things", i answer. I will miss having high-speed inter connectivity, the ceremonious service at St Paul's Cathedral, Magic 105.4 radio, ancient buildings brimming with history, traveling on the tube, the library just across the road, parks with swans, ducks and horses, huge shopping malls, the fresh air, pedestrian paths, all those colorful flowers, polite bus drivers and postmen, the human statues and street performers at Covent Garden.......the list is endless.

However, despite everything I will miss, the chaos and commotion back home is quite the welcome sight. The sight of those muddy unkempt streets and the cows lazing on them oblivious to the honking traffic makes you realize you are finally where you belong; home. The familiar sounds of neighbours chatting, the clanking of pots being washed, the sweeeping of leaves outside, the chatty relatives and friends, the familiar aromas from the kitchen, and regional television brings about a certain "homey" feel that I missed for so long.
It sure is good to be back. Now for a two-month wait before Ro is back too!