Day 2: Baggage Claim

I was the last passenger to board the flight. Heaven knows how I made it to the airport. No, I'm not blaming the traffic; I couldn't underestimate Mumbai. But I didn't wish to go. They all asked me to stay back, to make this city my little paradise instead. But how would I grow if I didn't leave my comfy nest?

Twenty minutes for takeoff and I know, I'm seeing all of it for the last time. These slums and streets, similar faces and creepy walls, fried and diet food at the same place. The overcrowded beaches and empty cafés. But it was too late to change my decision. The fee was paid and my folks were getting used to my absence. I was worried about my dad but I didn't see him break down. He was my pillar and he wouldn't let me cry when I was bidding goodbye.

Looking outside the window at the beautiful green meadows, I feel India does look the prettiest of all. That's okay. I'll get used to a new country but it won't be the same without all the people whom I left behind. I'm not sure if they'll miss me or forget me but at the same time, new place and new people sound really exciting. I won't be answerable to someone for every hour of the day but I wouldn't even be warned about the good and not-so-good people.

I used to hate khichdi when mom cooked it every week but I wonder if I could make it by myself here. Will I even remember the right process without her guidance while I cooked? It's funny how all of a sudden, I will have to talk more to explain things than the silence my friends could interpret. It's already been six hours and I still keep thinking about what's happening back home.

You know how people say your entire life flashes before you when you're about to die? Well, the flashback happens quite often even before death. We were queueing in the aisle to finally get off a ten hour flight. It's sunny and beautiful but it isn't home. Waiting at the baggage claim, I was too lost to find my baggage and therefore took a while to recollect the turquoise ribbon I had put around my bags. 

Oh wait, I've to take a cab because nobody's coming to pick me up at the airport. I cannot drag along 46 kgs of baggage all the way. But the man who was sitting right next to me in the flight chose to help. I wouldn't have recognized him by the way he looked or dressed but only after he went on to welcome me in his Gujju accent did I realize that, I'm not going to be alone here and there's lot more to learn in this unknown land.