Some places never change

After going through a particularly nightmarish semester in college it was time for the holidays. Phew! I desperately wanted that break. But then a month into the holidays I started feeling that the time at the college was better off . I was feeling absolutely wasted because I couldnt do anything that I had planned for the holidays. The boredom was killing me slowly.

On a particularly boring day I went to have a coffee with my uncle. As we walked around the streets of the city I suddenly felt something was odd. I kept wondering as we sauntered along on the street. Then it struck me. What was strange was that the place had not changed much at all in the ten years I was away. Everything looked exactly the same as it did years back. It was almost as if I could point to a pothole on the road and say it was there all along. Apart from a huge departmental store that had come up absolutely nothing had changed. The same old houses and the same old people.

As if to reinforce this very fact I noticed one of my grandfather's friends riding the same vehicle that I had seen him ride as a child. The TVS 50 moped - it was just unmistakable and surprisingly the person looked like he had stopped getting old a decade ago. The familiar strands of grey hair on his temples still exactly the same. And the yellow cloth bag that he always used to carry along was still there.

Then we came across this tender coconut shop I vaguely remembered. But then when I saw the vendor it all came back so clearly. God!The guy was still selling coconuts and he looked same too.The same old makeshift hut made out of coconut tree leaves. The same old lump of fresh coconuts on one side and the junk on the other side with houseflies all over it. And we moved along. I could see so many familiar faces and almost every building on the sides of the road was there then, too. I started feeling weird.

Then we reached one of the popular restaurants in the city. We were greeted by the manager of the place. Guess what, he was there a decade back as well. We sat down at the usual table for a coffee. I wondered why the place hadn't changed at all. Had the people not aged? Had time frozen in this part of the world? My lips parted into one of those smiles people give when they feel as if they know everything about the place they are in.

Some places always remain the same. And thats one of the reasons it feels so comfortable to be there. With the same old resourceful friends all over the place and all the relatives it sure is a place where one can live a peaceful life.

It was then that my uncle almost shook me to say it was time for us to return. Damn! Back to the monotonous schedule.Back to the boring holidays. Back to waiting for the college to reopen.