Last words

I'm home. Arrived this morning. So much I didn't get to write about - eg last weekend's trip to Periyar National Park. The last days, the goodbyes, the leave taking etc.
I'm at that point that many travelers experience when they come home - not wanting to let go of the experience, tightly clinging to the journey with a fear of losing it if I loosen my grip, not knowing how to integrate it with being home, not wanting to be home (but also looking forward to some things, especially reconnecting with loved ones) I loved the whole event so much. I loved the learning and the living and the connecting and the loving that I did. I liked who I was while I was away, and I'm nervous about whether I'll get to access that person now that I'm home. We'll see. I know I will be back to Aranmula and VKV (God willing) in December, for yet another different experience (not the same)
As I expected, my beautiful new mridangam was taken from me at customs and will be sent to Melbourne to be gamma-rayed, so I don't know what condition it will be in when I get it back. I tried to argue - Subhashji told me that his student from Melbourne had no problem when he brought his mridangam home. But like last time with the tablas that I brought home, my mridangam and I were parted. I won't see it for 4 - 6 weeks. In the meantime, the one I have at home is in a very bad state and sounds like the kind of drum kindergarten children make when they attach a balloon to an icecream container. My tablas are not in good shape either, but I hope some work on them will fix them.
Anyway, all will be well.
I had been offered to be met at the airport but chose to arrive in my own space and get a taxi home. The cab driver was a Punjabi sikh and he had Bangara music playing in the car, so that was a fun arrival.
For the first time in all my traveling, I come home to my own house. That's definitely a good thing (though should I sell it and quit my job and go back to India? Just joking)

And so, the last words of this blog are not profound - I don't have the energy to make a profound synthesis of what it's all meant. Talk to me about it when you see/communicate with me.

Tabla Tony