my sabbatical

i took a 3 month sabbatical this summer and went home to visit family.

Boredom hit...within the first week! how bad is that?

what did i do... to fill in those empty hours... that ended up whizzing past...

the kids and i spent many an hour.... at the play area. swinging on the swings...higher n higher....listening to 'jai ho' ...over n over again.
mud cakes... sand castles... made 'em plenty plenty!

i even balanced on the see-saw with rynu... used my foot most times.
took up walking... in the evenings... n got toned some... all the while listening to songs on my player.

by the end of summer ... had made friends with some 25 kids in all. knew their names... grades they were in and heck! even the names of their teachers at school!

had to step in a coupla times... to break up silly squabbles... only to watch the kids go back to playing together in minutes...as if nothing happened...
oh! the sweetness of childhood.
we grown-ups hold on to so much mental garbage... don't we?

played dodge ball with some of the older kids... much to the surprise of the mommies... who hung out together... and of which i felt no 'part of'

made a nice pal...in rana... who was also vacationing in CBE with her kids. we struck it good... from the word get go. sweet parents ..so warm n welcoming. lovely kids...hers, so very polite and well behaved. was impressed instantly!
her doors were always open... for a cuppa coffee... n inane banter. loved that!

whole afternoons... spent blowing giant soap bubbles with rave, gayba n aman... while rynu n all the stay at home mommies napped.

sourced n read books... many Asian authors... Bhagath, Sidwa, Hosseini, even Bombeck... first time exploring their publishing's... enjoyed them all. Tnx to the friendly neighborhood family with the huge collection.

hit the movie hall pretty often... New York, Kambakt Ishq,Love Aaj kal n finally Kaminey. enjoyed the movies n the company more so.

shopped shopped n shopped some more. hunting for pretty terracotta wind chimes and silly jute seat chairs... which i lugged back home.

i missed being mobile... hated asking dad for a ride. loved the auto rides with rynu... who shrieked in delight at every bump. nothing like seeing the world from a kids point of view.

called, caught up with old pals... picked it up right from where we left off. met their kiddies... n bonded some.

spent three lovely days at BLR with pals from school n from my first job... made an a$$ of myself on day 3... tnk you pree n sree for being there for me. i so lost it that nite... didn't i? :(

burnt thru talk time... catching up with dear dear pals from my past over my mobile... chatting late into the night with my fave of 'em all.
enroute....replacing airtel with at&t on my phone... wrenched my heart out.
wiping out all the sweet tweets... i had stored.
Gosh! i do get attached to things... don't i?

hurts .. bad.. to leave home.

this line lingers in my head...even now

'kabhi thuje milke...lauta mera dil yeh... khaali khaali haat....