The Journey

Pavithra had never liked going to Kaikurissi. Her parents were from this place and although they had settled in Chennai, the invariable once-in-a-year vacation trip when the school closes down was the most excruciating time for her. She would, unlike other girls her age, wait for the vacation to get over so that she could escape from the orthodoxy of her parents village to the modernity of the Chennai city. She was never able to understand that this trip was one of the very few rejuvenating factors for her parents, to meet with their elders and recreate a sense of belonging to a big family, which they never get to do in their busy and rushed life in the metro. Her sister was just the opposite. She got to study her matriculation in the town nearest to kaikurissi and got to stay with their grandparents and would always want to go back to the village, whenever she visited Chennai. They were sisters separated by a couple of years, but their values had stark difference.
Years went past and now Pavithra was working in an MNC in the US and her parents were retired. The Kaikurissi trips had ceased when her father got retired and when Pavithra started earning. Each year in April, for Vishu, Pavithra’s mom would bring up the matter of a trip home, after gauging that Pavithra’s mood was at its best. Her father would not say anything; he would just wait in anticipation for a positive response from her side, with a melancholic gleam in his eye. She would dismiss the idea even before her mom could complete the sentence and would rudely get up and leave the table. This went on for 6 years, until a year, the trip had to be made and she didn’t have a choice.
She could not believe the childishness with which her parents went about preparing for the trip and kept telling them that they would return in 2 days, hearing which their enthusiasm would wane, but not for long.
And then the day came and they were in the flight and Pavithra prepared herself mentally to go back to the place she once used to hate.
The green fields before the house, through which they had to walk, the arched entrance to the house, the garden on both sides with the mango trees and the chrysanthemum flowers, the large pond in the backyard, the old motorcycle of her uncle, the sights rushed back memories which she had tried to stifle in her last 6 years.
Then it happened.
Her grandmother came out and called out to her dad and mom and they just stood there. With tears in their eyes, with happiness, unable to move. She saw the tear falling and she sensed that moment and felt it to be an eternity. Her sister coming out of the house and embracing dad and mom. It was as if they didn’t even recognize her presence. Then she realized how strong her hatred of the place had been and how the others had loved the place. She realized that home is not where you can revel in the modernities of life, but it is where your loved ones are. She realized that its not the material comforts, but the simplicities of life which makes a difference.
And on that day, Pavithra came home for ever.