home coming

Was on India visit jan of this year. Stayed home for about a week,(remaining time at in-laws place) relished mom's cooking, had dahipuri in Shivkrupa, took my daughter to play in the park at Sagar Vihar, met old friends, And stayed home a lot. :)

Sitting there by the window, watching the chaotic traffic move by, most vehicles with no regard for the environment puffing black poison. Man! how did I never see it before? Was Vashi always so polluted? Was it always so difficult to breathe? Was it always this warm in January? The beautiful scene from the mini-seashore which i saw every evening...why does it look lost in fog? Wait! Is that the pollution? It wasn't there 6 yrs back. Or was it?

Have the roads always been so unsafe? Did I really cross these roads every day in full traffic? Were the drivers always this horribly rash? Little school kids forming a human chain waiting on the sidealk for a chance to cross the road. Was I one of them? Were the stairs in most buildings always this Dungeon dark? When were the buildings last painted? Whats the black soot like thing on every standing structure in the city? They looked so fresh a few years back.

Were my school age photos this yellow right out of the studio? Was our house this small? No, its got smaller over the years I am convinced. Was there so much dust behind the furniture before? When did the Fridge get its beautiful blue paint all chipped off? Did we never have a closed shoe rack? Was the neighbour's conversation always audible in our house? The adjacent building was not this close, looks like its moving closer by the day.

The TV, the dining table, the Fridge were much bigger. Believe me. They have been sheddding weight. The ceiling too was higher before, its caving in. The fans actually made the rooms airy and cool, not go in circles just for the sake of it. Like they do now.

A few years away from there, and how things have changed in my absence. huh.