Welcome Home - Fiction
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| image by ChatGPT |
From her favourite spot on her balcony, Ramani looked outside. The landscape before her was as beautiful as it had been a year ago. She immediately felt a sense of belonging as she looked at the expanse of coconut trees, perfectly set against the line of the sea in the distance. Buying this house all those years ago had been worth it, even if she hadn't been able to enjoy it properly until now. She had worked as a nurse in the Gulf countries for all these years, and now, finally, she was truly back home. 'Welcome Home' were the words she had found herself repeating ever since she had landed at Mumbai airport.
As she heard the maid she had hired mumble something in the distance, Ramani found her mind drifting to the past. The greenery outside brought to mind the dry, arid lands she remembered. Now that she was far away from that life and its heat, she looked back on those years of work with a sweet sense of nostalgia. She hardly remembered how she had grumbled about nearly everything during her time there. Her mind took her through scenes of the hospital, her colleagues, the shops and her small room in Muscat. It was so easy to picture the room in an instant. Her thoughts lingered on the bed and, right next to it, the air conditioner. She mused about how much she missed the air conditioner that had kept her cool. She remembered that she hadn't had one installed in her home yet, even as she felt sweat trickling down the bridge of her nose and her back while she sat still. Mumbai in the October heat was something she hadn't experienced in a long time.
She had a long list of things she needed to get organised. The house would need a thorough cleaning and, eventually, some repairs, as she had only come home for a month every year during her annual leave. Her brother lived in another city, and they weren't really close enough for Ramani to ask or expect him to come and check on her flat once in a while. She had had to rely on a school friend who lived 30 minutes away for such things. Until now, she hadn't really invested in any furniture or decorations. All that would need to change too. Finally, Ramani was settled in one place, and this would be her forever home. She scribbled on the notepad in front of her, adding another wish to her shopping list. She wanted a small shelf for her books. She also needed a little cabinet with glass doors to proudly display the little trinkets she had bought on her vacations over the years. Next to them, she wanted to place some of the porcelain bowls she had collected. They were wrapped in bubble wrap and paper and carefully put away in her bedroom.
The maid brought her some tea. Ramani took a long, deep sip, her eyes closed. When she opened them, she noticed a flyer that the maid had placed on the table in front of her. New buildings would soon be coming up right in front of her own building. She looked at the flyer and then back at the view. Deeply agitated, she desperately searched for the phone number of the lady she had met in the lobby a couple of days ago. Perhaps she would know something about this catastrophic news. The sweat had started making its way down her back, and Ramani felt a chill run through her as a sense of foreboding took hold.
'Welcome Home,' she uttered under her breath.
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