New York - Bombay - Bombay - New York

I had it planned since January. After almost 9 months in US, I had to visit India to see my brother and my mom (she was getting increasingly restless) and others. I booked my tickets, got gifts for everyone, loads of chocolates and was counting everyday and hour to 11th Feb 2011 evening - the day I was to fly.

11th Feb, 2011 - We had a build of our app to be delivered that day before I could leave office. My offshore team was working hard too and like any day we have to provide a build, this was hectic too. I had barely slept the night before due to all the coding that was to be done. I just had a slice of pizza for lunch at my desk. It was 4pm and I was yet to start creating builds. The source control system grew slower and I was unable to get the latest code checked in by offshore. When it finally updated the code, some files got corrupted. Panic. I put in the older version of the files and got it to work, created the builds and was set to run out of office by 5pm. Susan and Kim hugged me, Gary came to say goodbye and I bade goodbye to everyone and set out for JFK airport. My colleague Manoj dropped me.

Flight to India - It was Etihad airways flight at 2130 hrs from JFK. A 14 hour flight to Abu Dhabi followed by a transit to Jet Airways flight to Bombay. A funny thing happened. I was talking to my friends on the phone at the airport near the gate and looking around casually and noticed some guy looking at me, but I let it pass. The guy coincidentally had a seat next to mine in the flight. Once we settled in the plane, he turned to me and said, "I am sorry, I was staring at you on the airport because I thought you were interesting". I just gave him an incredulous look and exclaimed "Huh!". He wanted to not make me feel weird and so carried on small talk. I talked too as he seemed ok (his sense of humor was bad though) and I bid him goodbye at Abu Dhabi. Waiting for the Bombay flight was boring and tiring. Thankfully Jet airways had great food and great service. I landed in Bombay on 13th feb, 2011 at 4.30 in the morning. Walking out of the terminal, I saw my brother and mom and my uncle waiting to take me home :)

Home - I forgot all my tiredness on reaching home. I unpacked everyone'e gifts and chocolates, met my grandparents who live on the floor below mine and examined how messy my house had become. The walls have developed cracks. The color is no longer fresh. The furniture is minimal. But I love every bit of it and always will. I ate lunch and then crashed to bed. I had barely 2 weeks and I had decided on spending all my time with my family. I ate all my favorite Bombay food - vada pav, samosa, mysore masala dosa from near my college, masala idli and my mom-made sandwiches, dal dhokli, sheera and many more. In return, I cooked rasam, tomato rice, spinach dal and stuff that I learnt cooking in US. Evenings I spent going out with my mom for walks locally. Its fun when even the local vegetable vendors know you are foreign returned. I enjoyed all the attention I got ;)

I visit my grandparents every night since they stay in the same building. My grandfather has always been most fond of me. I also met my guruji and sought his blessings. He has always blessed me and guided me in the most important decisions of my life so far. My brother was enjoying all the attention he now got at his college thanks to iPhone 3Gs that I got him. My brother is my bestest friend. He is also my "4 am" friend. He is the one I enjoy with the most and I absolutely adore him. I barely shopped for any thing. I occasionally checked office emails. But mostly I relaxed my heart out.

I met my dear friend Niru during the weekend. Our usual meeting place has been the McDonalds in Thane. However, it was partly under construction because of which we went to CCD. Niru is possibly the most fun, lively guy and someone who I have always seen smiling. We all loved pulling his leg in Infy. Our group from Infy is largely scattered now, but I am glad I could meet him. It was fun gossiping and talking to him after all this time. It was equally wonderful talking to my dearest old friends - Ashish, Anuj, Pramila, Pranav and Gauri. Missed out on meeting Pawan. He woke me up from my slumber to tell me that he hasn't slept and cancelled our plan.

There are things which I dislike facing when I am there - in India at home, things that I find solace escaping from. I am awkward about them, I don't know how to handle them and hence I run from them. Sometimes the best thing one can do is to do nothing. I hope my doing nothing is the best thing here.

26th Feb, 2011 - The two weeks went by. My flight was on 26th early morning 4.30 am. We set out from our home at 10pm on 25th. Went to my mom's sister's place in Borivli. I met up with my cousins (the only cousins I am close to) and after a couple of hours, we started for the airport. The hardest part about leaving was the sadness on my mom's face. I felt helpless. We saw Arbaz Khan at the airport. Doesn't matter though. I said goodbye to my mom, brother, uncle, aunt and cousins. It was again Etihad flight - Bombay to Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi to New York. I didn't get much sleep. Ended up watching 4.5 movies - Going the distance, Morning Glory, Unstoppable, Life as we know it and The Social Network(again). By the time I reached New York I got sick of airports and travel. Manoj came to pick me up and I was back in Hicksville, NY.

Nothing had changed - neither in Bombay, nor in New York. I love both these places. Bombay will be my first home. It is where my heart is. And right now it is getting its oxygen out of New York.