Home sweet home

Waking up in Dheeraj's room, to which I had been assigned, was one of the most pleasant experiences I had in the summer of 1996. Taking the trip up 101 to bucolic Sonoma county, I had arrived at my aunt and uncles' beautiful home. This was my first summer in the silicon valley at the end of my very first year away from parents in India. For an year, I tried my best being an active resident of  a 'five ihstar' community in Fremont, mingling with Indian couples, playing volleyball with the oracle gang and taking trips to Half moon bay every odd weekend. Sometimes, I swam in the mini pool, a 1000 laps an hour. Sometimes, I took a yoga class, and some other times, I hit the bookstore, starbucks in hand. Sometimes, I went to the indie movie theatre, ingurgitating 'cinema of class', sometimes, I called upon friends and some other times, I tapped my keyboard in vain, hoping to find a soulmate. I needed to cosy in as one did with family. I was not too uncomfortable here - it did not feel like a foreign land - but the only substitute for family is another family, possibly your own. So, when masi showed me into Dheeraj's room, with it's untouched clean white linen, I felt like I had returned to my bearings. I threw my backpack onto the spongy mattress; it was quiet enough that I could hear it bounce, and retired early that night, feigning exhaustion, and pretended to sleep off in my Indian night clothes. Half awake, I thanked my aunt for giving me a private room under their roof. The next day was like any other; my uncle and I hit the gym and played some tennis, did rounds of the wine county, all the while listening to Masaji's interesting stories about his Italian collaborator, his credit union presidency and so on.


Now that I have returned home to Mumbai, after about 10 years working in the industry, I recognize that weekend as a revelation. My mom here has dedicated two rooms to me and my brother. They have bought a large apartment in a quiet, though upcoming, suburb of Mumbai, considering our possible future requirements. Me and my younger brother might want to move back, consummating our techie/banking exploits in foreign lands, to settle down back in a joint family. A large bedroom is for me and a study cum bedroom is my brothers. On the walls are preserved our old pictures, and in the closets, I can find some sturdy old jackets, in the drawers, I see my old notepads and CD's. How good it is to have a place you can call home. For this, I feel blessed. But it does not end at that. My mom promised me about 3 lakhs or 6000 USD startup expenses for my marriage, almost double that amount in gold ornaments to be given to the bride, and  she also has a list of prospective women lined up to accept that golden deal. Ditto for bro. Isnt that mindblowing ?