The girls

I keep checking my left index finger to see if the ring is still there. Its not. Last time we were together, H, Nats and I bought these similar rings with pink stones at the center, and M got one this time. Mine is sitting safely on my dressing table. But every time I notice its absence-  of that metallic cool against my finger, I get this pang, my ring! my girls! And I have to calm myself, its alright, its there, they are all there. 

We spent two days together, all the time together. M sitting there with Ousu, like a Mallu Madonna, Nats who seems to grow prettier by the day and H, with all her lines. And I am hopping all around and about them, like a bunny on dope. My teeth on permanent display.

On the first day, M drove us all about Cochin and then later, Fort Cok. I sat beside her, oblivious to people's rash driving, unless brought to my notice by H's enthusiastically foul mouth. 

We ate. Ate as a testament to eating. For lunch we went to Alibaba restaurant near Avenue Regent, where we had the house special mutton fry, damn good. Then at Fort Cok, we stopped by at a packed, mosquito-ridden Kashis for Chocolate cake and Banana Cream pie and then did dinner at Seagull. More than the food, our table was awesome. It was on a dock-like thing, with the sea and the waves and the ships and the breeze all right there. And I wondered for the nth time, how much nicer Kerala is when you don't have to put up with all the being-Keralite crap, when you are an outsider, just visiting for the holidays. Oh, and in between all that Kunchacko Boban turned up and Nats went into one of her super-excited-and-feverishly-shaking-hands states.

We were pretty bust by next day, with mostly me dragging Nats and H from shop to shop. At one point, the two sat huddled under a fan, like sad, tired little puppies. We met M at the mall later, where, much to her insistence, we checked out this 6-D thing. Lets just say that she seemed happy and pleased at the end of it and so, so was I.

I've been kind of grumpy since returning. I know achaamma must be feeling a little glum since its almost time for me to head back. I wanna have some happy-time with them before I go, but I am also a little worked up about the flights and the conference paper that I have to submit by the 15th. And as always, there is the packing, which I absolutely loathe.