Back on the road: Going back home!

It has been a couple of months since I went home - I couldn't make it home for Diwali. So, I decided to go home in November.

I was at Toit in Bangalore, and waiting for the IPA that I ordered at the bar. While I was having the beer, I got into a conversation with another beer connoisseur (okay! day drinkers! We both are.), who was sitting next to me at the bar. As we were discussing many things, including the recent demise of the superstar of Kannada cinema, eventually we started talking about the places where we were from. He said he was from Coorg, and He asked me where I'm from - I was not sure how to answer that question.

Where is my home? Where I'm from?

Well, that is the tricky part.

Is it one place or multiple places?

Is it something that never changes or something that is everchanging: your perception of home age as you age?

This reminds me of the conversation in The Alchemist between Santiago, the shepherd & Melchizedek, the king of Salem. When Santiago asks Melchizedek where he is from, Melchizedek responds that he is from many places. I get that now!

Back to the original questions, where I'm from & where is my home? To answer these questions, I need to define what I mean by home: If I've to go by the regular definition of home, that is the place where you're born and brought up, then it is Madurai.

After living in multiple cities for multiple years, the concept of home to me has become fluid. If the home is the place where I'm most comfortable, then it is, without any iota of doubt, Bangalore.

No way home: Madurai used to be the place I was most comfortable with, but Madurai has changed a lot in the last few years. I cannot associate with it anymore. It used to be a small town with less traffic, and lesser pollution - now, the availability of auto loans had increased the number of four-wheelers in the city, causing unnecessary traffic jams. It is not just the city that has changed, people had changed a lot too - Madurai is (was) known for hospitality and kindness. (This is one of the reasons why I like Mumbai - people are kind in Mumbai, unlike Chennai or Delhi. Still, I would not call Mumbai home!)

People in Madurai have become unfriendly, and selfish. I don't know what changed - maybe the pandemic had triggered it. Who knows? Only Meenakshi knows.

Madurai to Aurangabad!

So, I was roaming around the Meenakshi Temple on a Sunday evening to get the sunset shots of Meenakshi Temple. After circling around the temple square for 45-50 minutes, I started getting tired (I walked from my house to the temple, a distance of 2kms. Why? Transportation to the temple would have cost me easily hundred bucks. And, I’ve been broke since 5th November. Remember!).

There is a lassi shop owned by a Marwari guy, who in my opinion makes the best lassi in Madurai. I had two glasses of lassi there. While he was serving me the lassi, I asked him what was the additional ingredient that he added to the lassi in Hindi. He said it was rose water. Nice catalyst.

Out of nowhere, a couple appeared with an infant and asked me to help them reach Aurangabad in Hindi. I initially gave them hundred rupees, which they declined. They wanted train tickets to Aurangabad from the godforsaken (Why?!) Madurai. I didn’t have enough cash in hand at that time to hand over the money required to buy unreserved tickets. I was confused - not sure whether to trust them or not. Then, I suggested the folks come with me to the railway station so that I could buy them the tickets.

The railway station is 500m from the lassi shop. We reached the station, and I enquired at the counter regarding the trains to Mumbai. No unreserved tickets are available (only reserved passengers can travel via train).

Then, I booked tickets (via confirmtkts app) for them to Mumbai via Vivek Express (Tatkal) - two-second seater tickets. Glad that I’ve access to a credit card.

Now, their mobile was switched off. So, I had to get the printout - roamed around the station to get the printout and withdrew the remaining frivolous amount (frivolous to me. Not for them. Relativity) available in my account and handed it over to them so that they can manage their trip till Aurangabad.

PS: There are things that I used to like about Madurai. People used to be friendly and generous. All that is gone. And, replaced with ever unsettling dust and useless cars that jam the traffic (not sure why the car needs to be owned in a city with a 3km radius. You can literally walk from one corner to another on foot.)

PPS: I called the Aurangabad folks last week, and the dude told me he was a few hours away from his home town.