Homecoming

Aliya Fathima Sheriff

19/UELA/046

She had left home for college. Years later, she returned to familiarly strange lands.

The ‘Tejas Express’ came to a screeching halt at platform 2 of the Madurai Junction. Arya was ready at the doors of the compartment with her backpack on and her suitcase held tight. The warm air hit her face as she held onto the old iron rod at the door. She jumped out of the train. Coolies with red shirts and blue dhotis rushed in.

“Madam, Coolie? Coolie?”

Escaping from the echo of passengers, she waited by the tea shop. Her father should have been there, waiting for her. She called him fervently. No answer. It was 12:30pm already.

She patiently waited by the gate observing how her town had evolved. It looks cleaner. A buggy with the elderly man passed by. There was no one urinating anywhere in sight. The rush of the station was missing. Maybe it isn’t rush hour.

1:00pm. No answer when she called her father again. Sigh.

She decided to take an auto home. Despite the auto drivers pouncing to give her a ride, she chose to take an Uber. Had she changed too?

Outside the station, as she waited for her ride, she felt the familiar stir of Madurai. Prickly heat made her T-shirt sweaty but the warmth got her smiling. The main road was bustling with vehicles. Government buses passed by leaving a trail of black smoke behind. The buses looked new. Red.

She was awakened from her trance by Katy Perry’s Firework.

“Where are you, madam?”

“I’m outside the station.”

“I’m also here only.”

“Aaaaahhhhh saw you. Saw you.”

Was this the customary Uber protocol? Who knew?

She got into her auto, zooming through the street, skipping traffic signals at a speed only a Madurai auto driver could achieve. Vishal de Mal, the only shopping mall in the city was adorned in Christmas decoration. The façade entertained children with miniature Ferris wheels and remote-controlled car rides. Arya studied all this as the auto driver navigated his way through the traffic outside the mall.

She passed through Pandian Hotel, as always it had a hoarding of some rather too tempting offer. She passed through the roads she was so used to, now as a stranger. Almost preparing for a pothole ahead, she held onto her seat, but to her surprise, there was no hole. The road was of smooth concrete.

She passed through Nilgiris supermarket that now became an outlet for Reliance Trends. The tender coconut stall outside it was still there. Thank god. Right opposite, was the famous ‘Ramana Café’, where she would come with her Abbu as a kid to have idly and coffee. It was widely acknowledged that the place was not hygienic, they definitely did not wash their utensils. Probably that’s what made the food taste so good. Ramana café survived the test of time. Did I?

As she came closer to her apartment building she felt a weird sense of nostalgia and fear grip her. Out of habit, she said “அந்த வெள்ளை building anna. போதும்” (That white building, brother. Enough)

She noticed how no one really spoke Tamil here anymore, only Tanglish. She smirked at her realisation.

She entered through the white gates. The watchmen were new. The building had become old. It looked like a white shoebox, and only the inhabitants knew how huge the premise actually was. She opted to go through the garden, which was still as vibrant as before. Pushpa aunty is probably still taking care of them.

She passed through the blocks, Indu, Nethra, Sahana, one by one. Why do they name the blocks after women? She suddenly stopped. Her high school crush lived there.

She smiled out of embarrassment. Embarrassed about her childhood silliness and hoping deep inside that he doesn’t magically show up. She used to play cricket there with him. Smiling, she recalled memories, even painful ones like the time the cricket ball hit her eye and broke her spectacles.

She simply stood outside Sahana block for a while. Once she collected herself she went towards her block, Sindhu, her home. Her apartment was the first on the right after a few steps. The plants in the balcony had vanished.

The white gate now had paint chipping off. She automatically went to open the gate but then stopped.

Should I ring the bell?