Saturday, October 14, 2017

The Homecoming

Shweta was so excited as she waited eagerly for her son Megh to come home for good after 4 years of engineering life in a college in Tamil Nadu. He had came home regularly during vacations the first three years. But in the fourth year, he had opted for internship in Bangalore! The parents had traveled to meet him and spend some time with him. But work and the younger daughter Varsha being in the 12th put severe constraints on the time. It always made Shweta feel guilty that she could not be there and had to let her son suffer bad food.


Her husband Vipul was going to pick Megh up from the station. She returned from work earlier and quickly prepared the dishes he loved. Varsha decorated Megh's room to welcome him. All their fights and rivarly seemed to have been forgotten for the moment as she gave finishing touches to the room and assessed it with a critical eye. Shweta peeped in and was pleased, but missed the glint in Varsha's eyes.

The doorbell rang. Varsha overtook Shweta and opened the door, putting her arms around Megh. He also dumped the suitcase on the floor and put his arms around her. Shweta followed and with tears in her eyes, kissed her son's forehead.

He dumped the suitcase in the middle of the hall, threw his slippers aside and the family chatted, catching up on the year and his plans for the future, about his neighbours and friends... It could have gone on... He entered his room and looked around. Shweta gestured to Vipul that it was all Varsha's handiwork and gave a proud smile. So when Megh pounced on Varsha, who escaped his wrath with a laugh and hid behind her father, their mother was perplexed. "You know I hate Beiber!" he screamed as he ripped the posters with hearts all over it.

Vipul laughingly held his son back to prevent murder and Shweta shook her head as she entered the kitchen to lay the table. The house had seemed so quiet without the two fighting!

She needn't have worried. Varsha, who had clearly missed Megh when he was away, had much to complain about now that he was back. "You let him sleep late!" she exclaimed when she herself rushed to school. "Put your things away!" when Vipul told her in the evenings, she pointed out to the mess left behind by Megh. "Who does his?" she demanded.

"I am getting late to work, Megh. Can you please help me around?" Shweta herself got to a point where she could take his prolonged vacationing no longer. "Why don't you go to bed on time? Keeping up late is not good for your health," she voiced her concern. "Megh, I had requested just one thing from you and you can't do that?" she sometimes asked disappointed when he seemed to have forgotten any task she asked him to complete

"What are you going to do next, young man?" Vipul asked, concerned about Megh's apparent lack of interest in taking up any of the offers that came his way.

"I am to take up the Bangalore offer, dad!" Megh said firmly.

He had missed home when he was away. But now, he missed his independence. Homecoming was best when it was short and sweet. 

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