July.

Highly potent. Excruciatingly sweet and sour. With many smiles and a few tears….. Nostalgia.

July started out as a great month! A month which broke the monotony. (Which, if you did not know, was getting up, eating, computer, music, eating, computer, tv, eating, computer, sleep….repeat!) I flew to Doha, Qatar. A small place, with a population that’s 1/4th that of Chennai but MUCH more rich than India can even dream of, as of now!

Doha!

Dad worked there, and so thought I’d spend some time. Being a small place, I really wasn’t expecting much to see. And I was not entirely right! Armed with a sturdy and luxurious Land Rover LR2 and the thrill of new land, we explored. There were the posh malls. The many fast food outlets. The beach side. The sand dunes. The Asian Games area and the Aspire Tower. And yes, my dad’s office! In less than 10 days, I had consumed a year’s supply of chicken. 😀

Hands up!

On the 11th, I bid adieu to Doha and set foot on Abu Dhabi. AUH. It had been 3 long years since I last came here. The familiarity was heart-warming. Abu Dhabi was and will be the only foreign land that will always be home to me.
As I caught a cab and was travelling to the city from the airport, scenes from my past flashed before me. Days when I was 3 running in parks, with a big smile, even after falling down a million times. When I was 6 and made my first best friend. Times when we hated the teachers and had water fights in school. Being the most talkative and naughty kid throughout. The addiction to cartoons on CN and Pokemon. The annual days in school. The parties at my place and the food we all hogged together. The great Sherwood Academy and the 10th board. And the farewell party we had, 28/03/2008. Everything, a quick slide show in my mind.

My 4 days spent there were one of the best in recent times! I stayed, quite comfortably, at my relative’s place and I’m grateful to them for that!
You know, some people think that if friends stop talking for some long period of time, the friendship fades off. Well folks, that, is so not true. When I went back, after 3 years, it was like I never left the place. The same old jovial awesomness was still intact, and I was quite literally 4 years younger!

AUH!

What we did was not really earth-shattering or anything really. We just hung out. Talked. Laughed. And laughed some more. Well yeah, I do pretty much the same in Chennai too. But here, it just seemed different. A tinge of nostalgia and ecstasy in everything I did. And it felt great. Those 4 days went by too fast. And before I knew it, the pictures were taken and the goodbyes were said.

Letting go. Enveloped in a tantalizing and intimidating mist of bygone times. Late evening, around 7pm or so on the 15th of July, I bid farewell to my birth-land. The land, where I frolicked for 15 long awesome years. The land where I made my first best friends. And it wasn’t easy. At all. You see, I’m this guy who cherishes good friends. A lot. Many of you who know me well, know this already. Many people here in Chennai, bid teary goodbyes et al. for a time span of around  2 months or so. Now tell me, how it will feel, to leave behind 15 years worth of memories, leave behind everyone, and go; not knowing when you’ll return or when you’ll see those people or those sights ever again in your life…! A whole lot worse than the 2 months one, that’s for sure!

As I boarded into the flight back to Chennai, yet again, I realized…. Wherever we are and whatever we do, in the end, it IS the People who you spend your time with that defines who we are and how much we enjoy ourselves.

Missing all of ya!
Peace out \/