Where did I sleep last night

For a few days, the answer to that question was a different one every other morning. First it was my adopted homes in Mumbai, the company guesthouse in Churchgate with occasional visits to my cousin's flat, and my hotshot banker senior's palacial house opposite Chowpatty beach on weekends; then TMTC's desi five-star rooms in Pune; and finally, as an ode to times gone by, at college campus and a newly cheerful friend's very cute penthouse. My restlessness has found a partner in crime - a mind that is learning to create opportunities to experience novelty and revel in movement. Acknowledge my sensitivities without being overwhelmed by my emotion. Oh, it really doesn't matter what I carry with me so long as a I have a sky.

In the midst of lazing around at home after having a rainy and then Hyderabad, I gett to thinking about how much smiling has to do with being comfortable in your own skin and with the people around you. A chat with an old friend reminded me of how little significance I attach to ideas my life used to revolve around once upon a time. And surprise surprise, it doesn't bother me in the least. I'd never imagined that I'd want to bail out of a conversation that was centered on depth of thought and memories and such. My expression was a study of the constipated effort to not look hugely entertained. Yes, some things have changed. I'm happy to say that finally, what other people read into change does not matter two hoots to me. I have changed. Some people haven't. I like the first, I avoid the second because I don't understand how someone could remain the same, say the same things, expect the same things from the people he knows... how can a person not see the world in a slightly different shade every new season? How can he not seek growth?

I will be grateful to Bombay for a long time to come for having helped me discover a long-missed sense of freedom, of lightness. I will be grateful to those who helped me see that the more some things change, the more some other stay the same; and that I have a comforting measure of control over them. Some find it strange and rather amusing, my revelling in the knowledge that the traits I've developed over the past one year will help me navigate my way through life more smoothly and cheerfully than I'd ever thought I could. It is new to me too, this awareness about simplicity, uncluttered by complex thought. It lights up a smile on my face that is not contingent upon how my hour is linked to the rest of my life.

'She could not but shine back at the light - it was her day, her right'