Fish and bones
and black tar roads,
familiar faces and
memories set in stones.
A distinct fragrance,
of palm trees tall,
swings and playground
- my world was small.
Sea and sand,
they beckoned me -
a wide-eyed speck
in a sky rise city.
Loss and religion,
riots and blasts,
the boy next door
- etched the adolescent heart.
The search for a hero
brought me close to her
a peaceful home
to the heavens above.
Writer, dancer,
actor, doctor -
She set me free
- to make my future.
And there I stood
a heart and a sole,
to begin my quest
for a new home.
To make friends
and write stories new,
to travel places
- in search of you.
P.S. I have grown up (in fact still growing up) in many different places. And I have always wondered if each of these places have contributed in tweaking my personality in its own way. Would I be a different person if the order of these places in my life changed? Would I be different if instead of Mumbai, I had landed in Chennai? If instead of UK, I had chosen to go to the US? What would I be doing today? Would I be writing this article at all? Would I still be in search of a home? Would I still meet you?