What homecoming means to me (and how I did it all)!

Everyone loves coming back home. The mere idea of the big Fs- Family, Food and Friends, will teleport you to your best memories, great times and the very near future. You mentally prepare yourself to ask, demand, visit, eat, meet and do so many things, desperately trying to crunch everything into your schedule. After a while it becomes a drill and you prioritize about who you inform about your vacation and who you meet and how you spend your time strategically.

No, this is not a How To guide on planning a trip home. Pfft! Coz that'll be stupid! Any who, so I tried to do a lot of things this Christmas/ New Years vacation and it seemed like I did it all(well almost), which urged me to write this post. Idk why, maybe coz it has never happened before. I would always miss out of things, occasions and people. So here's the checklist I subconsciously had. Why subconsciously? Coz at times you don't expect things to happen. Hell, you don't even know yourself that you've been missing it. Funny, isn't it?

They just happen. And when they do, they bring back memories, the feeling, the way you felt when the sun kissed your face (that's tanning BTW) and how you've missed just endlessly bantering in your mother tongue. Ah, the joy I tell you!

So, now you get the point. So here's my checklist, and only when these things get crossed off, I feel I've had a vacation in the true sense. Happens really rarely though. Its after I redid these things, I actually realized what I've missed and how much. And most of the times its not the big things, but the simplest joys of life that you don't do anymore coz you are stuck with this routine that mainly involves room and office and eventually juggles between them.

So here's a list of things I did that turned this vacay into the best one in the last two years. 

• Riding under those blissful stretches of trees in Panjim city which create this beautiful mesh of sunlight and shade. Just the pleasure of passing through it made me so nostalgic and warm. Who would have guessed I would miss them so much. 
• Getting into a crazy argument- This one's a classic. It was the most craziest one and obviously the silliest. Things were said, the blame game went on only to end up in what I would call the best night ever!
• Breaking into tears over the silly argument- like, duh! Me= Dysfunctional tear gland + surge of hormones. Ergo, total embarrassment
• Missing something- Naturally, i missed a few things too. Homemade/ self-made omelette
• Belting some kickass fish curry made by Dad- Prawns, Crabs- Yum!
• An additional surprise- My first tattoo at 22! Can you believe that? :O Me neither!
• Danced my little tushi off! Oh yeah!
• Beat my average and met a lot of people to catch up. And it felt good!
• And obviously, missed some important few who I really wanted to see! You can't have it all.
• Was lovingly hit by the famous- "OMG! You've put on weight", " So have you thought of losing some of that weight? ". One of dad's friend, who I barely know even did the " You've put on na" gesture!. You know that gesture. The one where you bend your elbows like you are about to do the chicken dance but just do the action upwards gesturing you bloating up and strategically team it up with a embarrassed shrug face. I hope I'm giving you the right picture! Oh how I love the holidays!
• Spent money like crazzyyyy! *Imagine me going around the town throwing Confetti and coming back! Hmpf! * It's like hocus pocus, I'm brokus! -_-
• Car karaoked to some epiiiic music! My folks and I drove to our hometown on the last day. And this great mix of some classic Bollywood songs made by my brother was at our disposal. Some Mahive here and some disco there. Those soul soothing blues snapped me back to the days when the lyrics actually made sense! Swades, Kal Ho Na Ho, Hum Tum, Rock On, Metro, Veer Zaara and so on!
• The very rare Mom's favourite Pilgrimage tour. Check √ I'm so glad I packed that kurta.
• The usuals- Rasomlette, Chaat, street junk, homemade Chicken-dosa, homemade sweet- Puranpoli, beaches, casual dinners, long rides (I kinda overloaded on this one, this time)
• Did some miniscule community work at my native place! Giving water to the lovely  thirsty audience. No, not the fill all those cups up and serve on the tray kinda thing! It was more like, roaming with a tumbler and one glass and asking people if they wanted some.

I might keep updating this, but till then you know how crazy I am! :D