So long California...

I'm off to the East Coast! The details are lack luster at the moment. But all that matters right now is that I'm going back to where I want to be. As I pack up and prepare to leave, I have a few thoughts to share about my unexpectedly prolonged stay in California.

First things first. I feel extremely fortunate to have the kind of family I have. For the past few months I have been staying at my maternal uncle's house. My uncle is only a little over 10 years older than me and we are more friends than 'uncle and niece'. There was a time when I spent every summer with him and my grandparents in Thrissur, Kerala. My uncle would save up money all year and would buy me ice cream and other treats every single day I spent there. When I was too tired to walk back he would tirelessly carry me home because it was too short a distance to flag a rickshaw. All through my formative years he was an imperceptible guiding hand for me. He fed a lot of his ambition to me. He spent an unjustified amount of time researching and discussing my academic options with me. Even today, when I no longer need it, he takes it upon himself to ensure I have all the information I need to make the right decisions. And he does it in the most non-intrusive of ways. These months I spent at his place felt like my childhood all over again. I was cocooned, supported and constantly encouraged to follow my dreams and fight my battles. No questions asked. I sometimes feel undeserving of such support and I believe I can never do enough to repay him and my aunt.

On lighter fronts, there are other things that will make me look back at these months fondly. I've become much closer to one of my friends from Wharton, as we vacillated together between extremes of fun and angst. I might have forged a lifelong friendship there. I got a chance to hang out with my college friends. It was like undergrad days all over again, full of slapstick humor and fading memories revived. Even the cyber world became a dearer place during my stay here. It would have been a pity if I had not gotten the chance to meet and become friends with the bloggers I met here recently. In the past, I've always found the Bay Area boring. But it is that very boredom that made me a runner. I've upped my mileage from 0 to 5 miles a day in about 7 weeks. It is the first time in the last 5-6 years that I've found a fitness routine that I'm not itching to change. Thank you Bay Area roads for the liberating runs. Thank you Public Library for the blissful hours with your books. Thank you Simon & Garfunkel for all the psychedelia...

I always imagined this would just be an obligatory post. I'm rather glad it is not. Until later California...