Stupendously Sublime

A little bit of sadness: My grandmother turned 100, the celebration was epic, here was a human who has seen the world literally transform in front of her. We lost her in August, uncharacteristically, gone peacefully in her sleep on a balmy august morning. I knew the day was coming, as all death comes - but knowing something is about to happen doesn't lessen its load when it happens. This was my last grandparent, an entire generation of my lineage has lived and gone. Ave to the centurion, you live on. I'm writing this one a little faster than i have been doing in the past couple of years, what I've realised is that I get distracted really easily, that's why one of my favourite lines from a movie is "Your focus needs more focus" (Jackie Chan to Jaden Smith in Karate Kid). This realisation dawned upon me when the missus (feels so strange to write this) sent me an Instagram reel. That was a real trip down a rabbit hole, i realised that i had been flicking videos...

14-Oct and touching down at IGI Airport was a bitter landing. Leaving Bangalore was one of the most heart rending decisions that I had to take. More on that some other time. Touching down, i brought with me the baggage of 4 and a half years and a few bedbugs. There was the usual "bhasad" of getting down and reaching home with the relief on my mother's face the only consolation. For her it was the return of the prodigal son, albeit without the repentance. But it was a false homecoming because Aayush Jain, that purveyor of outrageous ideas - speaker of mad things - overall slightly left of center, had made a huge plan in anticipation of Raghvi's wedding. A road trip of epic proportions and something that i had not yet undertaken. The trip pushed our boundaries till their breaking point, adverse climes, different dynamics but a sense of adventure overrode them all. Day 0 - 11:45 pm. I reached in significant discomfort of not having slept for close to 36 hours and ...