8 years ago I left Kolkata, with a heartbreak that will probably take this entire lifetime to heal, with a zeal to comeback as soon as I can which has never happened, with Maa to make sure I settle just fine before she heads home.
Cannot really say the years have been super bad, the nights have been high, the days have been sunny, Bangalore dramatic sky dance has filled my heart, the Spring Cherry blossoms have adorned my phone gallery. The feeling of growing up, taking at least 6 flights to Kolkata a year, looking forward to and getting anxious before every Durga Pujo leaves; have not been as bad I had made it sound but the perpetual homesickness has never really left me. Come marriage, the homesickness have only become worse now with Bangalore home also slowly taking up a huge space in my heart and now, ‘choosing’ people AT places, it is always a tear and tear show every month, every flight. That is story for some other day but I always had the peace of the sister holding the home ground strong, albeit with her set of mood swings and GenZ complications, but, with a knowledge that she is there, while I chill and whine.
Today Kutu leaves for Chennai, and the somewhere, soon, or maybe not. Leaves home nonetheless and for good. I feel the same lost and sad and worried. The mother is again going to make sure that K settles just fine before she heads home, only this time, she will head home with a limp, extra medications and to an emptier Kolkata house.
