Leaving Madras....

Leaving is always a wrench...
Leaving home..
And leaving Madras..
More so!

I have been anchored here for too long...
Family...
Friends...
The comfort of routine...
And the security it brings..
Creature comforts...
Even my spotlessly clean loo....
Hold me down..
Keep me rooted here...

In my college day....
As TamilNadu Express rolled in...
Slowing down near Basin Bridge or its environs...
I would head for a window seat and look out with affection...
At the red and yellow State Transport buses that plied the streets..
Gosh! didn't think I'd miss those!!!

Or gaze at Tamizh women...
Waiting patiently at the bus stops...
To catch the bus to office..
Clutching their shining ever-silver tiffin boxes to their bosoms!!!...
The sight of them brought a lump to my throat!!!!
That was back then...

Now...
I grapple with what the Internet calls travel anxiety!!!
And do battle with endless to-do lists...
Tidy up the home..
Put everything in its place..
Pay every conceivable bill..
Water..drainage...electricity..Corporation taxes..
All in place now!!!
Run out on endless sorties of shopping!!
Phew!!!!!

Calm down now! calm down now!!
I tell myself..
But as the day draws near...
And relatives come by to bid adieu...
My nerves are a knotted mess..

Could it be that
I do hate traveling??..
No..not in theory!!
I hate leaving home???...
That I do!!!...
But also...I guess..
The change that all this brings...
Takes my blood pressure up a few notches!!!

And then there's Time...
Or the lack of it..
The realization that I no longer have any control over my own time!!!
As others take charge....
Airlines, airports and their schedules are set to dominate my life..
In the near term at least!!!

And then...
I am one of the placid ones of the earth!!!
Happy to keep chewing the cud in my own stall..
In this corner of the world!!!
That I know is home!!!

So...
It is with mixed feelings that...
I get set to go away from Madras..
Which geography books in my school days called..
The Detroit of India..
To the real thing!!!...

Adios!!...
Or rather..
Au revoir!!!!
Until next time then!!!