My Stairway to Realization!

Familiarity! They say it breeds contempt. I say it gives you a sense of security like nothin else can. Remember the times when you just had to pick up the phone n make a call to your best fren coz there's noone else who can understand you as well as she/ he does. You have the longest conversation, just makin small talk, not talkin bout anythin in particular and yet when you hang up you feel like you had the most soul satisfying conversation ever! That's the effect it has on you! Its like that old blanket you can snuggle right into, its thereupatic and makes you feel oh so awesome! :) I just experienced 2 such days of familiar splendour when I visited Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) in the recent past. It was the place where I spent all my formative years, went from being a primary school student to a gradute, went from being a kid wearin pigtails to a girl who knows her mind (or so I think). It turned out to be a surprisingly good trip! It brought back a truck-load of memories and was a lotta fun! As I drove by my school, takin a look at the walls that have gone from a pale shade of green to a really pale shade of peach, I could not help but wonder about how I grew up so quickly. How did all of us manage to do it? When did we outgrow our uniforms n cycles, oiled and neatly plaited hair and turn into these brand concious, body art obsessed, junkies who somehow manage to be just about neatly turned out for work! When did we go from the stage where our main objective in life was spendin time with our frens, to not findin time to pick up that phone and make a call to our best friend? I mean, even the term 'best' friend seems a li'l juvenile to me these days! I looked at all those kids walkin outta MY school's gate, being goofy and stoopid, not minding one bit that there was someone watchin and I could not help but wonder if I'd ever feel that carefree ever again in life! I also could not help but feel a tinge of jealousy. How I wish I could go back to the good old days! It was exactly at this point that I felt like I was turning myself into a fossil. I mean, I'm all of 23 and there I was reminiscing about the past!! I slapped myslef out of the stupor and took a better look at the things around! I saw BIG school bags, homework, tuitions, corporal punishment, punctured cycle tyres, grades, exams, BOARD exams and all that blah! So I sent up a prayer of thanks that I was done with all of that and carried on! Next stop was at a relative's place! You know how you were invisible all your life to those people who are supposedly related to u? I'm talkin bout those spectacle wearin, doctor maamas (uncles), U.S.A athais (aunties)..... ur great grand mother's cousin's nephews; the ones who treated you like a means to get them water n sweets and shooed you away the minute the job was done? Its amazing how they start recognizin u so well the day you turn 21 (if u're a female; probably 25 if u're a guy)! They all know this 'very very good well educated boy from a well to do family earns a 100 thousand dollars in the US every month very responsible oh so handsome lookin for a bride I think u will be perfect for him' (all this with no pauses for breath, mind u! the punctuations be damned!) and they want you to get married to him. The most incredible part here is that they look like they are so proud of themselves for having spoken about all of this! Incredibler (is that even a word??? hmmm!) part is, they ACTUALLY think u would appreciate their.. ummm... gesture!! I manage to get away from there and reach a bunch of old people sitting around talkin. That's when I noticed that they don't greet each other with a 'hello, how are u?' anymore. Its 'hello, what medication are you on these days?' Seriously! N its not a one off case! EVERYONE above the age of 70 does it! Its freakin HILARIOUS!! Try listenin to ur granmas n granpas d next time! So so funnee! A few more nutty relatives n a lotta yummy food marked the End of day 1! The next day I decide to just look around the city and shop a li'l bit. I drove thro the familiar roads of cbe and could see that the place had changed a little. I see a lot of new teenage hangouts, see how the college kids these days unabashedly indulge in PDA (it is HUGE in a place like cbe, trust me!), have better fashion sense than we ever did in our time! Again that sad twinge of not being one of them creeps up so I remind myself of the 1st day of every month wen I take home a reasonably decent pay cheque, unlike all of em and move on! Next up, I discover that cbe FINALLY got its long overdue first mall. Am glad the city has finally decided to shed its 'conservative' image and become a befitting place for its junta which had long outgrown its previously pretentious chastity! Am so glad I get to shop for stuff at reasonable prices without even bargainin for it (a la commercial street, et al)! I have the sambaar vada n filter coffee (it IS filter coffee, isn't it? how can it taste so good if it is not??!!) at annapoorna, shop for banana chips from A1, walk down D.B road and T.V. Swamy road and discover my own little peace of heaven! And jus like that, it was time to leave! I got into my KPN travels bus which would take me home to Bengaluru and was in the process of mentally bidding adieu to cbe that a realization struck! I was actually gonna miss that place! All my life, I have been someone whose usual response to the question 'Where are you from?' was: 'a little bit of everywhere!' Coz I never really felt like I "belonged" to any particular city! And I liked it that way. I was in no hurry to establish my "roots" anyway! But this trip of mine to good ole, familiar Coimbatore made me realize that this city was the one that came closest to bein my hometown! And to think that I never really related to it and always felt like an outsider when I lived here!! There's somethin about stayin for too long at a place that makes you attached to it! I don't think there is a word that describes it. Its just this feeling of knowing it so well! You can't help but fall in love with it! So, I've finally become 'rooted' and yes, I finally 'belong'! :) Like I said... Familiarity- its OH SO AWESOME!