7 years have passed and I have moved back to my roots, Surat. Its charm has hung on me all this while when I was out in the wild. My family, friends, school and lahri nu khavanu filled my life then. I used to roam around on my 2-wheeler, talk on text messages and hunt for places with the help of the rickshaw walas. That time, Iscon mall was the center of attraction in the city and we would flock there at every possible chance.

My focus shifted when I moved to the maya nagri of India. I wanted to explore the city, fantasize the celebrities, shop from Colaba and savor those vada pavs and high-end restaurants. Mumbai grows on you like an item song. I sunk, ran, fell, grimed, got kicked out but kicked some ace. Hostel and rented apartments became my home of junk. I occasionally visited Surat for a weekend and it always felt so hard to leave. It is difficult to explain but every time I came back, the smoky air at the station felt like pixie’s dust.

After 4 years, I moved to the city of angels in America to pursue higher education. It felt great; everything was systematic, organized and easy to learn. There was no hassle of slow government procedures or lagging university documents. My focus was to learn as much possible about the American market. Two years there and the amount of sorry-s and thank you-s I uttered had reached an alarming number. There was personal space, physically, socially and on the roads. My life was hitched to my cell phone and laptop.

Now in Surat, I am pleasantly surprised to see how people operate. For starters, my parents are so busy on Whatsapp that it is important to nudge them to keep the phone away on the dinner table. Food is ordered by phone apps, mobile banking has taken over and people move around with Uber and/or OLA. Everybody is into online shopping! For clothes, shoes and even grocery. New cuisine restaurants have sprung across the city, but they haven’t put out my favorite lahris out of business, yet, which is good. I see girls around with make up and men with sophisticated wear, and I thought this place would be the same, casual and easy going but turns out, Surat has progressed after all.

I still see litter around and almost negligible traffic sense, but people have opened themselves to newer ideas, which is a start. There is a lot of talent around, a lot that can be done and a lot that can be inculcated. Right now, I am just settling in.

– Pooja Choksi