home coming--HOLY CROW

stottaram
appa
amma-land

after an indeterminiable bunch of hours in transit, a burst of energy deposited itself in me as i slung my luggage off the shuddering trolley onto a tottering cart, dove between bodies to careen my way out of the madurai airpot arrivals room and down the dusty crumbling cement ramp under the receiving archway into the arms of my daddy, papito mio

minutes later piled into the mission's pick-up truck, AC miraculously working for once, trying to navigate our way out of the city, dodge the crowds of people and buses and lorries and rikshaws and cycles and bikes and maruti vans and ambassador taxis and then, out in the 'rural' lands, the bullock carts and herds of goats and potholes and stray dogs and little shiny cars and still plenty of people and buses and lorries and bikes and taxis, some trying to overtake, some swerving aside preventing us from overtaking, some finally succumbing to our horn-beeping and letting us zoom around, facing certain (but certainly not) death for the few seconds we spend in the 'other' lane with a looming vehicle oncoming...no problem madam, no problem

my daddy's in the driver's seat, no problem, zoomzoom

take a break for a maaza (or two--the most refreshing mango drink en el mundo, now given in plastic bottles instead of glass, yaar, vat is happning!) and dosa-sambar-chutney, then continue the delightfully, thrillingly, only slightly tensing, bouncing, death-defying drive across the plains, then start the climb

up the ghat

till i can see clear down to tell that the dam is dry

till we come to the jagged rock faces telling me that the Christian grafitti is going strong

till i can sense the seasickness-worthy twists and turns in the pit of my stomach,
and rejoice at the familiar feeling
(and engage in my never-fail strategy of combating this--come visit, come up the ghat with me and i'll teach you how to beat it without having taking dramamine/avamine/vatewer, i've never taken that silly shtuff)

till i can say no more, no words coming to express my excitement, my disbelief at being here, recognizing this valley and that tree and this waterfall and that fruit stall and this checkpoint and that bridge and this path beginning and that jackfruit plantation and this gate and that village and this signage and that km marker and this hairpin bend and that cloud--no, ma, i'm not getting too overconfident in my recognizational skills, i mean--cloudland's peak? aama? seri, ma, shake my head from side to side in amazement, i've climbed it twice in my life and i'm just thinking of all those people who have come before, or the ones who traverse these very slopes with backbreaking loads every day, every day, you understand--blink back tears, blink back tears

how lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, good news

those are pretty big, perfectly placed footprints to follow.
especially for someone so clumsy as me.
but here at home--here's the perfect place to start anew, anew

kodaikanal
rumba nandri
thank you