My 4 walls in many homes

Jayalalithaa's one-rupee idlis now in Delhi

The food stall has been opened at the Tamil Nadu Bhavan as part of Pongal celebrations 

and will serve South Indian food - idlis at Re one and lemon-rice and sambhar-rice at Rs. 5 

- till January 14.

For a person, who has lived in many different cities and has attended many different schools has had many different homes. For me, the number is two and a half.

Growing up In Delhi, With all the relatives- my first home. The most loved home. With fun-filled weekends at India Gate.The school where I had so many friends in teachers and class-mates and non class-mates and the choir group (yeah, I used to sing!) and the dramatics club (I was either the lead or the narrator) and the picnics- the last one at the Appu Ghar and the Garden of Five Senses. Movies at the Liberty. The Auto-Expo: little me in little leather jackets and leather skirts (LOL but true), with my cousins checking out the chic new cars, where I saw the first-ever human being with green eyes and wearing braces! 

Any news where Delhi comes up, I read/watch the whole of it. January 13 always means Lohri and popcorns and winter sweets (gud and moongfali ki patti, my favorite) around bonfire with LOUD music (LOUD is a must).

Middle school onwards, I have to call Ahmedabad my home. After years of being popular in school, it was crazy to be the new gal in school. Well, fortunately for me, there were four more new gals and we all naturally became best buddies. Still, the politics and hate-games were hard to endure. For instance,no one would name me for the upcoming Creative Writing contest because the school already had a Miss Her Pen Is Magic. But, mom-dad always know how to cheer their little Bollywood buff: Drive-In Cinema. Plus, this city has lakes! Plural. The food is sweet, but I have grown to like it. Although I have been into books since always, it is here that I first stumbled across the Crosswords . And till now shopping meant Karol Bagh, but Ahmedabad has so many malls. All around my house. 

No, this is the most loved home. Teenage and consumerism have kicked in! January 14 is when everyone, all the neighbours and the neighbouring societies are up on the terrace, flying kites and eating chikki (which, by the way, is gud and moongfali ki patti).

My half home is my college. My hostel. Where I have seen 3 batches of seniors. 3 batches of juniors. Plus 1 killer batch- mine. Here, we have a Lake-view and a bridge-over-the-river view and the quintessential Galla view-where I drink tea and munch on Vada Pav or an occasional locho. People smoke. I don't care, only try to avoid inhaling it. We have a Narmad Library- for the likes of me. The place has malls and McDonalds' and Subway and KFC and the latest, the Barbeque Nation. I don't care, we eat in our Hostel Mess- it's really good. No sarcasm. 

January 13 means bunking the classes and heading home. January 14 means kite fights. January 15 means boarding trains back to college.

That's all. Happy Lohri. Happy Uttarayan. To my Andhra friends, Happy Sakranti. To the scientists, Happy Solar Transition. Spring is coming (which means nothing here, but in Delhi, the pretty flowers bloom. I suddenly want to visit the Mughal Gardens.)