December 20th 2007
i board the train to bangalore ALONE....with not a care in the world...my "concerned" relatives say it's not safe....my friends open their eyes at the very idea of me travelling alone ("but you are so dumb!", they say.)....but i'm still brave and i go ahead to board the train, settle down in my berth and stare out of the window....."hey!who switched off the lights!....damn!the windows are tinted!...December 21st 2007
i turn 21 and i feel all grown up and big overnight....i get down from the train and look around for my pap and mum....pap comes striding, asks me to stay where i am, so that he can go off looking for mum who got overly worried and wandered off in the opposite direction looking for me.....mum comes gasping, unable to contain her excitement like as if it's been years since we've met, when it's been only a month-long separation....she kisses me on my cheeks and forehead and calls me sweet names(the kind you call newborns)...... sigh!i'm not a grown up afterall...night: we cut the cake after having come back from church....we take only a snap or two (since nobody is willing to face the camera)....
December 25th 2007
by now mum has managed to fatten me and big bro with good food...it's cold in bangalore and i am forever snuggling in my big warm blanket (when pap is not around, ofcourse...."why does she sleep all day?"he often asks).....i and big bro go to see "om shanti om"...while both of us say, "wooow!now that was funny...haha!good one......" at all the right moments....we also shed silent tears at the emotional parts, ashamed to say that we're actually feeling for this om prakash.....December 26th 2007 to 27th 2007
we (pap, mum and i) fly off to bombay for a cousin bro's engagement....during our wait in the air port mum and pap deliberately and casually ignore the foreigners who are all set for vacationing in goa...i regret not having a friend with me to pass comments and openly goggle at the romancing couples...the engagement is a small one and all the keralites there seem to be having a hard time trying to look cool...the combination of styles and fashion statements makes my head hurt....but i smile to myself and say that this is an engagement i'll never forget...December 27th 2007
we are on our way back to kerala to spend just one hour at my big sis's place...it's late in the night when we reach there...but her in-laws greet us warmly and show us the new born baby my sis's sis-in-law have given birth to...i tickle the feet to show that babys' curl their toes as a reflex...when that doesn't work, i say,"hmmm, just wait and see, it'll curl its fingers around my little finger if i touch its eeny weeny palm with my little finger"....and when that doesn't work, i say, "i think this babe's from mars".......so much for the child psychology i've learnt....December 28th 2007
we are aboard on the train to vellankani...on our way to the holy place of pilgrimage to the church of "our lady of vellankani"...it's my 3rd trip there this year and i tiredly reflect on if i'll be able to go for the remaining 13 trips, my mum promised God that i'd go for......since it's a chance for me to see a bit of the outside world, i don't complain...January 1st 2008 onwards
i come back to college and i very well know that i've got to face the internal exams in a few days....yuck! life's boring all over again and i sit in front of all those notes without even bothering to read a word....and then comes a brain wave.........why don't i go to bangalore again!......just a small visit....just for 10 days or so......January 9th 2008 (on the day of my last internal exam)
i plan with big bro on another visit to bangalore, although i know that it'll be nearly impossible to do so....but miraculously my pap and mum agrees....
January 11th 2008
i'm excited and i can hardly believe my luck...i grin like a fool at everybody and can't contain the excitement any longer....what's more, is that lady luck smiles on me and i get to meet up with my old friends, go for another movie, and get a taste of a little more freedom.....
(to be continued)
