It’s been a while since we last talked—more than a month and a half now. It’s not that I didn’t have much to talk about. In fact, the last few weeks stand out distinctly from my otherwise mundane routine. And I’m grateful to all those people who made them memorable for me.

There were times when I thought I’d sit down and jot things down, but instead, I chose to let things unfold, saving the reflection for some fine day.

Though, today is not that day.

And I doubt that day will ever come now—partly because there’s just too much to write if I start, and partly because I’m not sure it would do any good to dwell on time that has passed and memories that have already been made. I think they’re almost right where they should be, and any attempt to reorganize them would only lead to further tangles.

Also, I’m back home now. I’ll miss Bangalore for everything it gave me, including its traffic and heavy rains. I doubt I’ll be visiting anytime soon, but I would like to go back someday—I’ve left my plants there. I’m glad I got to see a capsicum growing before I left them with a friend.

I won’t attach any images today. I’ll leave that for some other day—like everything else I’ve promised before. ;)

Back home, things seem to be moving both too slowly and too quickly at the same time. Sometimes it feels like it’s already been a week; other times, it feels like it’s only been a week.

I’ve started learning how to drive. I think I’m doing decently, and hopefully, I’ll soon be able to drive confidently.

Also, I’ve started reading again. This time, I’m planning to read fast. I’m a bit infamous for reading extremely slowly. I recently finished The Great Gatsby and have started a murder thriller. My mom has lately been complaining about our habit of buying too many books and not reading them fast enough. I’m planning to finish all the books before I leave—mine and my sister’s combined (and my brother’s too, though he’s not particularly possessive about his books right now, so my sister and I have unofficially claimed most of them).

Besides that, there’s a cat in our house. Well, not exactly in the house—she mostly roams around the veranda. Her frequent scuffles with other cats (and sometimes even dogs) say a lot about how possessive she is of our little space.

Initially, I was a bit skeptical about letting her get close to me—partly because of past unpleasant experiences with cats and partly because she was already getting enough love and attention from my mom and siblings (maybe even papa, though I’m not entirely convinced by his ways of expressing affection. The cat would agree, too). It felt like whatever I could offer would be insignificant and redundant. Yet, after a week here, I’ve started enjoying her company. I really like it when she silently comes and stands close to me. This is almost always followed by me squeaking and jumping aside, startled by her touch. But it feels good. A bit weird, but good.

I think I’ve grown a bit fond of her, though I’m still a little scared—especially when she’s not in the mood. I still can’t muster the courage to lift her up like the others do. And I’ll let it be that way, as I’ll be leaving soon, and I don’t want another reason to feel sentimental about home.

I want to build my muscle strength too—and defeat my siblings in arm wrestling.

That was out of the blue.

I’m planning to build my new website. After all, I need to start appearing a bit more serious now. I’ll keep all my old pages too and will, hopefully, post regularly—some random, useless stuff as usual. I prefer keeping the old footprints—they show the path from when I was naive to when I became just a little less naive. That transition deserves its space too. Anyways, I know none of them will appear perfect when I look back, and I’ll almost always cringe at the mention of them. 🙂

What else?

Oh, also—I’ve started learning how to cook. I made karela recently, exactly the way my mom makes it. It turned out well. Next time I cook, I think I’ll write something about it. I need to save these recipes properly. This might be that place.

I think that’s all for today.

I’ll be back here again soon!

Have a good day! 🌼