Day 1 Breakfast:
Menu: Idli sambar, coconut chutney; upma; chai; chickoo
I take my first bite of a chickoo since 2003 and I’m home. It’s summer and I’ve raced my cousin up a tree in my Naynamma’s yard. All the way back to 1984. The memories like the taste are crystal clear. I slurp it down in a hurry gripping it all. Mom’s Saturday morning upma, Atha’s Idli and coconut chutney. It here just a bite away.
So I eat fast, then slow, then fast again. Unable to moderate myself, I eat it all, knowing I’ll never have it back in the States. I savor each bite of nostalgia, the sweet layers mixing on my tongue; eyes blurring.
Day 1, but it feels like I never left.
