I am what I am

"Brindha, Brindha come here!" "Brindha...." "Coming Ramesh... hold on" "Tell me, is the world falling apart? Why are you going Brindha this Brindha that?" 

Ramesh looked at his wife. "Brindha, why have you packed all of this? I am not taking junk to our new home.... Our new home will be not be filled with stuff and it will be as beautiful as it can possibly be." "Ramesh, dont get started on your love for the new home... These are all your stuff from your school days. You decide whether you want to bring them along or not..."

A common scene in a Tamilian family when they move to a new 'rented' home. The scene gets better if they are finally moving to their 'own' home. Most middle class Tamilian families do not have the ancestral homes, so typically, you find everything they own - from medals won during thier school days to their office BlackBerrys - staying with them in their homes!

Ramesh was suprised on hearing Brindha's statement. "These are mine?" he asked. "Yes!" came the reply from wherever she was packing the rest of the household items. Mr and Mrs Ramesh had recently purchased an apartment in a upcoming residential area in Chennai. Eventhough the house was not big, Ramesh was bent on making it look clean and having only the bare essentials stay in the house. As he sat down to check the carton box, he saw a few of his old T shirts from the school sports team. He used to play basketball for the school team. His medals and few old photographs.... "Photographs.. Yes, let me see them" "Oh these are my sixth standard pictures and I am here and the guy next to me should be Satish... Wonder what happened to him. He used to be my best friend. Ever since we parted ways in college, its been tough staying in touch with him.. I have to see if I still have the gift he gave me in 7th standard..." Ramesh went through the contents of the box one after the other and finally found what he was searching for - an old cricket ball. Satish had saved for quite a few months to gift Ramesh this. Ramesh wanted to be a pace bowler and they had their own team - Raja, Ram, all were a part of this team. Ramesh sat there looking at everything he had pulled out from the box. His memories and his past. He realised these memories were an integral part of him and his life. Brindha walked into the room, " Oh Ramesh, what have you done? Why have you pulled everything out of the box? Anyway, lets just leave them there, if they are  junk, lets not waste time in packing them and carrying them. Lets dump them here." Ramesh softly told, "These are not garbage Brindha. These are what have made me what I am today. They have and will always define me. They cannot be left behind." Ramesh was emotional with memories of his long lost friends - people who he had hurt, let down, to who he owed an apology and those he had held up high, those that he stood by - all of them were missed. Brindha gave him a hug and said, "I know these are far more precious than the house Ramesh. Thats why I had packed them all up for you. Your past is as important to me as it is to you. Lets us pack these up again and treasure these and the moments to come in our new home."