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“No!! Daddy I am just tired of imagining all the places that I want to go, Now, I actually want to see them”, sounds just like a fourteen-year old’s nagging who wants to see the world and experience the wonder. Dad is a very busy man but he still found a way for me to go on my first ever summer vacation away from home with Vivek Uncle, a close relative of ours. “I don’t want to go Mom, I am really scared, I have never been anywhere till now” I said crying, but after some consoling it was time to meet Uncle at the bus station for a 16-hour ride to his hometown Mulki situated in Mangaluru, Karnataka. After a long bumpy ride, we finally reached their lovely home which housed a large family of around 20 people, everybody used to come and go out of the house anytime since the doors were always open. It was time for exploration and I was psyched or what!! I started off by running like crazy till I reached the nearby blue and shiny beach with white coloured sand and transparent tiny crabs, since it was 12 in the noon, I had the beach all to myself. I danced and played in the water like never before, it was the first time I had been away but the feeling was unimaginable. After the long day’s work, I came back home to a feast of 20 neer dosas that my aunt had prepared for me. It was a place that felt so magical, the calmness of the tall coconut trees and the bustling of the wind, whispering sweet nothings in my ears, I was ready to settle down here for my entire life unless after a week it was time to go to my next stop Hosabettu, that is my mother’s birthplace it comes 10 stations after Mulki. I was meeting my mother’s side of the family for the first time and they were very nice to me. Most of the people I met on the first day seem to share the same thought of me looking just like my mother. For lunch we had amma’s (grand mom) signature dish called etti gassi (prawns curry). Hmmm yum yum… Few days later it was time for “Thambila”, a ritual being performed every year during sunset, the whole Daivasthana (a small room with a shrine) was decorated with flowers and lights, a sacrifice of chickens blood is given as offering to the Daiva(minor dieties) and they pray to the spirits for the well-being of their family members. Agelu Padunu at the night of Thambila is the offering of the food to departed souls of the family. Afterwards a family dinner takes place around midnight. The next day I had the worst stomach ache, I was not able to get up from my bed until I realized I had my monthly periods or like some girls say chums, I asked for a glass of water and my uncle went to kitchen and bought a tiny copper glass and said to me “Hold it by the other end”, intending I don’t accidently touch his hand in the process. That was the moment when everything about this magical journey came tumbling down on me, my heart sank, I cried silently at night thinking when will I ever leave this place and return home where I am not seen as an untouchable during those excruciatingly painful 8 days of the month. I remembered how my mother used to treat me with so much love and care and used to make everything available for me. I do love my family members in my hometown they have tried their best to make me feel like home and showered me with lots of love, it’s just that they have never been out or seen a different perspective. Some days later I asked my mom “Where do you like it better Mumbai or Hosabettu” without any thought she said “Here honey”.