Of late I’ve really been thinking a lot about a couple of people in my life that were a critical part of my growing up years who when I look back now, feel like they are stuck in time. Those people live in the same flats they lived in 25+ years ago. The same neighbors, the same settings and the same life most of all, while I moved cities within India, came to a new country, moved states here, moved houses and had experiences galore - and yet, I feel the ache in my heart to back to those homes that I used to spend so much time at.

I often keep wondering about them - how does it feel to be at the same place, the same house for decades together? How does it feel to see someone who grew up in front of you and flew away, followed by their own kids who grew up and are now flying away too. Sometimes i feel like I abandoned them in my own pursuit of happiness. I wonder how would it be like if I too had settled down back in the same city, maybe had a house there and lived there for decades? I suppose i will never know, but I hope my kid aches to come back to my home.