Reflection

"Are you home?" When my friends ask me over phone etc, in the back of my mind, the question would which one do you mean? chennai, or maybe I could put another city in front. Rarely would I be really "home" at cochin, in fact I have spent so little time at my family home, in the past eight plus years or so.

My thoughts go back to the day when I got on the bus to chennai many years ago. It was my first job, with lot of hopes and dreams, It was comforting that two of my college mates were also joining the same company.

Still remember a funny incident during that trip. The bus was hopelessly old and somewhere near Madurai, it found it apt to go dead rite on a railway track near midnight. Pushing the bus was fun, It took at least half an hour or more of pushing (or rocking it up the tracks, after which it would come back right down) and all four of us were having a good laugh. We were too happy to care. Well it was a metre gauge track and there was no train until next morning, which I had confirmed. The fellow passengers were not finding this funny at all though, with the bus still on the tracks. The fact is only around 8 people can push a bus from behind,the paint is too slippery on the sides, and four were us guys, and we were more interested in discussing about who among us had a good arm. Finally the driver was able to start the thing. :)

We would arrive in Chennai by afternoon, a lot many hours late. The place struck me as strange, my first time I would staying in a big city, need to search for a place to stay, the crowds, the noise, dust and of course the heat was decidedly unfriendly. Never felt so out of place. Lot of questions were running in mind how I would cope, what to do to pass time and all.

After a few months we were almost at home. I would explore much of the city which seems to spread over such a large area. My favourite locations were always its beaches. There are so many to choose from. Those trips to pondicherry, mahabalipuram and all the crazy things we used to do.

I still remember, a close friend asking me, if I plan on going back to Cochin. Both of us agreed that was there would be no living in Cochin for a long while now, either it was going to be Chennai, maybe Bangalore or another metro, Of course we would joke about great many cities around the world too. Paris was a hot favourite, it still is, but those were mostly dreams. :) It is anybody's guess that both of us are now in North America.

It is easy to fall in love with Chennai, a city that calm and peaceful and quite rocking if you have right company, which I was luckily never short of. I have always found the people to be very friendly. Our two house owners were so friendly, in spite of our wayward nature. The city that has taught a lot of things. Like where ever in the world you go be yourself, make yourself at home, think about all else for later. ;) . My first experience was a sort of shock, never seen poverty at such levels, then later I would accept that as a fact of life. I am not exactly ignorant of the world around me and I have seen poverty close by, but in Chennai that was an awakening of sorts.

The first time I went out of country, there I was waiting at the immigration in Brussels, a young lady was at the counter. I was having a wrong visa, a business visa while I needed a worker visa. Her first question was what I was going to do there? I had the answer ready, I was in for a discussion with my customer who is in Antwerpen, it was not a lie, but mostly I would be doing something else. :) She was smiling by now, I used to look way younger than my 21 years, and was wearing a T-shirt that made it worse. Nothing looked convincing except for my confident answer. So she asked what I do, so I dropped a word about satellite communications. I noticed her jaw dropped kinda, and knew there was nothing to worry about. The office was in a sleepy village, and the taxi drivers used to hold us guys in awe, they even let us try their expensive mercs. It helped that the office was a bit small and there was this huge lawn on which were a large number satellite dishes of all shapes and sizes pointed towards the horizon. I loved the place, it looked straight out of X-Files. :)

Lot of things have changed, there are no strange places or strange countries for me now, it is all just a small world. The place where you are and where you are going is all just part of life. At least I am not in Kabul. The Canadian winter is not good, but then the Chennai summer is not so good either. I love Cochin though, getting wet in the monsoon rains is just fun, all those trips in the boats, the countless hours spent talking and looking at the harbour figuring out which direction the ships are going. Some of them so big and so slow that it is difficult to figure out. Huh I am looking forward to my vacation at my cochin home ;) in April.

I already have a list of places to visit, friends to meet so think the vacation is going to fly away fast.