She heaved and puffed as she pushed the heavy trolley piled with her bags. She has come to stay with her parents after a long time.The prospect of being under their roof again after years of independent living paralysed her internally though her face gave none of that away. The cool composure she exhibited betrayed the inner turmoil she was going through. She greeted her parents with the appropiate amount of enthusiam and replied politely to their enquires about how the flight was....if she ate anything. Her mother offered her one of the sandwitches she had made for her. She refused saying she was not hungry. She doozed off and was woken up by a gentle nudge from her Dad.
As she stepped into the house she witnessed many changes that took place during her absence. The curtains of the living room changed, the furniture were placed differently now. As she stepped into her room memories of her childhood flooded in. But the room felt alien. None of the stuff that went up the cupboard belonged to her. The closets were not empty as they were when she left them but were filled with clothes she did not recognise as her own. The room resembled more like their old store room now. Sighing she went in and placed her bags on the floor. After a small supper that night she retired to her room and went to sleep.
Days passed and she got used to the monotony of life. No friends, no hangouts in the evenings, no parties,no Neel. But she did not complain. She had chosen this life for herself and she no longer had the priviledge of thinking what her life would have been otherwise.Neel could not marry her, his family would never allow it and she could no longer live in an arrangement where she could not have her happy ending. But they knew from the very start that they could never get married and lead a life together. Maybe she was trying to deceive fate, maybe she was trying to deceive herself that she might have a happy ending someday. But reality did crash in and when it did it shattered all her illusions. She knew she had to walk out of it before it was too late, before she lost everything to him.
Sitting on the front porch with a cup of herbal tea in her hand, she sipped in the hot liquid lingering on her lips. She inhaled the fresh air listening to the distant chirping of the birds. She felt like a volcano ready to erupt and bring discord to her serene surrounding.She felt as if she was in war with herself. But in plain sight she looked as calm as the sea infront of her. More days passed and all she did was stay at home and watch soap operas in the television till her eyes got tired and she doozed off on the couch.For sometime now she has been feeling that she did not belong to this place anymore.She did not feel at home in her home anymore.She craved to be in a place where she belonged. She yearned to be at home.....
It was a Sunday afternoon when she decided to go for a walk on the beach. Her parents were off to their vacation in Rome which she had refused to join saying she needed to work on something. She used to be on the beach every Sunday since she was four. But its been years since she took a walk on that sandy ground. Now as she stepped into the granular sand infront of her she felt like going for a swim. Maybe a dip in the sea would take it all away....her pain...her agony. Maybe she would finally feel at home. She has always belonged to the sea...it was a place she always belonged.
An hour later there were news flashes all over the world mourning the ravage caused by Tsunami. Her parents turned on the television to watch in horror that the place they called home no longer existed. That it is wiped off the face of earth.
