Another day, another post

Sleepless in Chennai, that's my problem at the moment. It's 5am, and I've been awake since 2.30am! It's the damn mosquitoes... where I live, they're the size of midget sparrows - not particularly big for a sparrow, I suppose, but believe me, ENORMOUS for a mosquito! The problem is that I'm a mosquito magnet. If I'm in a room and there's a mosquito... hang on, what am I talking about - A mosquito? There's never just ONE mosquito. They move about in squadrons!

Ok, here goes again... if I'm in a room which harbours mosquitoes, everybody else can rest assured that the vicious little bloodsuckers will invariably - and immediately - attach themselves to me. I've probably donated enough blood to them to keep a good-sized blood bank busy... as it is, I'm probably a legend to generation after generation of mosquitoes that have fed on me and raised large, thriving families.

However, problematic though the mosquitoes are, they're not REALLY the reason I'm awake at this ungodly hour of the morning. The reason is that the countdown to my departure has reached D-day minus one already... tomorrow night, I go back to Shrewsbury, England. Where did the time go? I've been in Chennai nearly three weeks, and I havent come close to doing all the things I wanted to do. Yes, the essential tasks have been completed but those werent really the priority.

I wanted to spend more time with my family - but it turned out that we all had things to do, places to go and people to meet... usually in different places at different times! Not to mention, with different people.

I wanted to spend more time with my friends... but then - not very surprisingly - their life doesnt come to a stop just because I'm here for a brief while. (It OUGHT to, but it doesnt! Something I must take up with their various employers. They really should learn to have more consideration!)

I wanted to visit more restaurants in Chennai - the newer ones, in particular. But I ended up going out only twice so far... and both times to old familiar places with old, familiar faces. Which, on consideration, wasnt such a bad thing really. What irks me is that I got to eat samosas only three times. That's once a week. So much food, so many places, so little time!

On the positive side, though... I managed to meet all my relatives at some point. A favourite cousin of mine stopped by for half a day, en route from Banda Aceh to his Navy posting elsewhere in the country. That was a very pleasant surprise. Played a LOT of carromboard - and surprisingly, considering the lack of practice, I was pretty darned good if I say so myself! :o) Managed to corral most of my friends (a couple of them escaped, but that's par for this course) and spent a couple of hilarious, fun evenings with them. One more is on the cards, with some luck. Also met a couple of new friends and spoke to one more on the phone. Princess Pavithra turned out to be as entertaining and interesting on the phone as she is in her blog, and I hope to be able to tell her so in person the next time!

Parting is such sweet sorrow, as somebody once said (No, it wasnt me. Honest!). I'm torn between wanting to go back to Shrewsbury, back to my other life and other multiple persona as wife and homemaker and student, and wanting to stay on in Chennai and be with friends and family for some more time. But no matter how much I extend my stay, it will never be enough. I have to tear myself away at some point and return to the UK because of the choices I made in life... and although I dont regret the choice, I DO regret the fact that there had to be a choice in the first place. Confusing, possibly even deep, but true, all the same. I havent left Chennai yet, but I miss it already.