The Taste of Home

NaBloPoMo 2021

Where is home, I wonder again?

The walls I grew up in no longer remain

The world I left behind has been

Transformed, everything here I’ve never seen

The sky is less clear, the river more muddy

I jostle my brain as the landscape I study

High-rise buildings familiar landmarks hide

If they still exist- the urban sprawl has swallowed wide

Everything that with home my memories associate

Has gone, I look hard for something to which I can relate

*

Familiar faces are nowhere to be found

Twenty-five years have changed everything around

I don’t remember the jarring ringtones

That now emanate from myriad cellphones

Too many layers have given a patina new

To the old town I grew up in, the place I knew

I cannot say there is anything aesthetically pleasing

All available corners the new growth is squeezing..

*

Lost in my reverie I do not realize

When it starts raining, it was not wise

To travel without an umbrella on a day

That had 100% chance of rain anyway

(Growing up, the weather forecast was wildly inaccurate,

I’d subconsciously ignored weather prediction for this date)

Getting soaked, I darted for protection

In to the nearest tea shop- on inspection

The place did not quite my hygiene standards meet

But I was cold, wet and hungry, I needed to eat

So I ordered milky tea and jalebi drenched in syrup too sweet

The smells of cardamom and ginger were for my senses a treat

And the memories I had been trying hard to dig through

Came back to me, tea and sweets held the clue

To unlock golden days, transport me home at last

Tea served in earthenware was a cherished relic of the past

The sweets were prepared in the exact same way

As decades ago, my emotions they could sway

My eyes moistened, as memories I began to taste

My heart had returned home, my journey was not a waste..