Home sweet home.......

A lot of my friends had gone baack to India to visit their families during the past month and I couldnt go.....I am very jealous of those guys !!!!!!!! Its been 2 years since I last went home....I miss home, family, friends, College and of course MUMBAI!!!!!!!!!!! Not that I dont have friends here.....I have made some great friends here and I am very happy for that and for the fact that met a special person here in Akron:):) but being away from family always hurts!!!!!!!!

I have to go to the airport in the evening to pick-up Rajesh.....he went to my house in mumbai!!!!!!! I am jealous again......gggrrrrr....talking of the Cleveland Airport.....I have made tons of trips for the pick-ups and the drop offs but I still distinctly remember the day i landed in the US.....khyati, ashwin, priya and rujul were there at the airport to pick me and Manasee up....it was a strange feeling......but I was very excited and i had no regrets of leaving India atleast for the time being....I was away from home, parents and sister for the first time!!!!!!!! but the next time around......when I made my first trip to India and came back.....I remember Bhaddu, Milind and a couple of other friends waiting for me at the airport.....I was very excited to see them.....but I was very sad.....cant say depressed.....but i felt like I was missing something big in the life here......when I had gone home.....i had given my parents a surprise.....I went a day earlier than i was supposed....it was all preplanned and my friends came to the Sahar Airport to pick me up.......the look on my mom's face when she saw me was priceless!!!!!!!!!! my dad was sleepy but he was delighted too.......and sister jumped out of bed!!!!!!!!! that is indeed an unforgettable moment (Kodak Moment) and just shows how much they love me and miss me!!!!!!!!!!! My friends had made surprise welcom plans too....they came with a poster!!!!!!!!!!!!! it read "TM Assistant Plumber Vasinaka" (TM is the name by which my friends at home now me as), they even got me a garland!!!!!!!!!!!! It was very very embarrasing!!!!!!!!! but I loved it ...

My mom was initially very upset that I surprised them....as they had made all the arrangements to come to the airport the next day......but i guess seeing me comepensated for a lot things....hehehehhehe...mom and sister wanted to talk all night, they were that excited......but I had to force them to go to sleep so that mom can get up early and make break fast and take care of other things for dad in the morning and deepika had to go to work!!!!!!! then started the constant requests to eat. eat and eat!!!!!!!! where ever I went and whom ever i met would give me something to eat or drink.....i must have eaten a year's quota in a month!!!!!!!!!!!!

the rest of the trip was very eventful and filled with lots of fun and cherised memories.....met with all my childhood buddies.....Goti, Battery, Kotli, Saby, Wali, Boozie, Naga, Kummu, Daru, pappu and rest of the gang........they were very excited too to see me after a long time...we had a ball of a time!!!!!!!!! got together with all my cousins for Pongal at my Grand Parents place for the first time in 9 years!!!!!!!!!! that was some reunion we had!!!!!!!! it was filled with singing, dancing and catching up with uncles, aunts and grand parents......i can stilll remember everything on that trip like it had just happened yesterday!!!!!!!!!!

when it was time to leave Mumbai.......I started realising that all this was coming to an end and that i was returning to akron.....my mom, dad and sis were noticably sad!!!!! at the airport it was not like the first time.....i was all smiles tht time....but now I was very sad to leave all my beloved ones and friends back....the flight back was very quite and kind of depressing........the life in akron felt very boring compared to what I experienced there.....but as everyone says....time is the best healer.....in no time i was back to my normal life here in Akron and I was back with all the friends here.......little did I know that i was to meet the special person in my life that year!!!!!!!

cant wait to get back home!!!!!!!!!! hoping to go home in May.......cant wait!!!!!!!!!!!!