Sweet Home Kentucky !

It was a 9 hour drive from Lexington to Baltimore. I waved goodbye to Vijay, Anand and Vasu and was on my way. I was all by myself and had all the privacy I ever wanted. It was an hour into my journey and that's when it hit me...

The next time I come back to Lexington, I will be a guest. I will have to knock before I enter D224 or A306.

There will be no HOME to come back to, after all the good food and pampering in Baltimore.

Vijay will not call me on a random wednesday afternoon and say "Dinesh, naan padikka poren, adhukku munnadi edhavadhu oru matter sollu"

I turned the music on, and I could not stop myself from rolling back to fall '02 (when I came into KY) and taking a trip down memory lane. My first visit to take a look at the university, my first room mates, my frequent akron visits, shooting basketball alone in the cooperstown courts hoping I could get to meet someone, first show with alaap, starting LTCA with Ramya, our first show, the visa debacle, my return after a woeful 6 months, thaen mazhai, the cricket matches, mokkai sessions at D 224, LTCA hand off, job search struggles, and the list goes on. It slowly dawned on me that I was going to lose everything I was a part of, in 1 day and before the end of the day, I would have "Once Lived" in KY. The music did its part in poking where it hurt, with lyrics that I would have paid little attention to, until today.

"Vaasapadi kadakkiyile varalaye pechchu, pallappatti thaandiputta paadhi uyir pochu"

"Poraale Ponnuthaayi, Pogira pokkila manasa vittu"

"Uravin perumai pirivil kandu uyiril paathi kuraindhen"

I found a rest area shortly thereafter, and took a 5 minute water break before heading back.