God's own country

God's own country - kerela.
that's where i was for about 45 days, towards the end of this last year, and maybe thats why, when i got up today, on the 1st of jan 2006, i missed that place really badly.
i can still close my eyes and feel the chill of the place, the damnpness in the air, the faint smell of coconuts and something else that i've never smelled before...
sometimes, even though i may physically be present in bombay, my mind is still in trivandrum, at ILP, TCS-TVM.
the memory of the day i was leaving, is still fresh in my mind, as if it were only yesterday.
it was the middle of the night, literally, and i think everyone i knew was there to see me off. lots of hugs and last words were exchanged, lots of tears (mine) were controlled, and then i was off.
saying a very sad good bye to the place which i really didnt want to come to in the first place. sayin an even sadder good bye to friends with whom i'd spent each and every day for the last 45 odd days. morning to night.

i fell in love there.
with the place, the people i met, the fun i had..with everyting. and the funniest part is that i never wanted to go there in the first place. i had cribbed so much in the initial 2 weeks there..untill i settled into the routine, and made lots and lots of wonderful friends.
the day, or rather night i left trivandrum, was the last time i saw most of these people. i know, for a fact that i'm never going to see all of them again. some of them maybe, but definately not all...

when i came back to bombay, everyone wanted to know how was trainig?
i used all adjectives posible: fun, amazing fun, too much fun, loved it, good, better than good, the best...
but still i could never ever convey to them exactly what it was, and what it meant to me. as swara said, "babe..i think we left a part of ourselves there..."
feels like i left my heart there...

so as i say good bye to 2005, i also say good bye to ILP...
which was not only the best thing that happened to me in 2005, but maybe one of those best things that happen to people, only once in a life time.

nagme hain, shikve hain...
kisse hain, baatein hain...
baatein bhool jati hai..
yaadein yaad aati hain...

untill next time...