Home for the Holidays

The trees in New England have lost their leaves, the skies are dull metal and I am home again.  Strangely I find these grey scenes comforting and familiar.  Home with my family for Christmas, we’ll eat and celebrate with friends, spend some time preparing for the long journey away, then just before New Years’ wife Kim and daughters Alex and Morgan will return with me back to Pune.

For the moment though, let me muse upon the aspects of home that strike me most, after having been gone for three months or so:

Weather.  In India I have not seen a drop of rain for months, since even before my last visit end of September.  Here the skies seem profligate in their threats and acts of precipitation.

Faces.  I think unless you are away from home a long time you wouldn’t know this feeling, but I think it happens to everyone: You miss the faces of home.  I’m always happy to see the faces of my Indian friends, and in India watching faces of passerby always offers something new.  But when you see a hometown face after a long time away it’s a good feeling.  Its especially strange when you think, in my hometown at least, the faces I’m used to are white, black, brown and yellow, Western and Eastern, Northern and Southern.

Food: As much as I love Indian food – which is a lot – I‘m looking forward to some Western holiday dishes, such as Baked Oysters, Consommé,  Roast Rib of Beef with Sauce Béarnaise, and for dessert, the pumpkin pie (or close equivalent) I missed for Thanksgiving.

Enough musing for now.  On our front door is an 8-bit Christmas Wreath:

The holidays are nearly here – time to start planning some celebration.  To my friends, both East and West, be well.