The short weekend of 21 Days : Part 1

It usually takes a day for me to switch back to my routine life, each time we go on a vacation. Its not about unpacking. Its about mentally getting back from the people and places I left behind. This time, it took me a week to get my mind out of India. Maybe it was because of meeting close to a hundred friends and relatives and switching back to a life of relative loneliness, with just my helper and my four walls during the day, when my family is away.

               This time too, we started in mid-December and flew first to Delhi. Surprises abounded in every nook and cranny at the ever-resplendent Changi Airport.

This breathtaking Minnie greeted us at Changi airport

The children could not wait to meet their cousins whom they grew up with, when we lived in Delhi two years ago. The gifts and the usual chocolates bought from Singapore were brought out. The suitcases now had space to be filled with the purchases made in India.
          Apart from the usual games, a favourite pastime for the kids was shelling fresh peas and plucking spinach from the kitchen garden. (Took time to explain to the little one that we are not exactly farmers).
 

A fresh harvest of spinach from our kitchen garden

Got chided by friends for keeping the visit too short. “Short but sweet” I added. My sister-in-law left her office early just to have us over for dinner, while bro-in-law dished out his signature kaali-dal, cooking being his favourite pastime. Relived our lives as neighbours in the society, with starters, soup, the main course with hot puris and rasagollas for dessert.

The days flew by, with visits to the mall, binging on all the local delights we so long missed. Hubby bought a business suit for himself at Park Avenue, shirts at Shoppers Stop, my old favourite at the Great India Place.
Even got to attend a nephew’s wedding. So had an excuse to shop for clothes for the wedding at the rather expensive but exclusive Meena Bazaar. The winter cold was driven away by the warmth of the family reunion.

Late-night dinner at the wedding

Finally after six short days, I bid a loving farewell to my old society friends who, in-spite of their kids’ exams, had me over for tea with warm muffins and pakoras. Warmed my heart, for sure. We added a carton to the already considerable luggage, now heavier with return-gifts from family and friends, and the purchases so hurriedly made, and left to take the flight to the next destination, magnificent Mysore, my old hometown.

That was about the Delhi chapter this time.  Do wait for Part 2, for the Country Roads that took me to my childhood home!