Who should be more thankful???

Malvan:

It’s been sometime since I have done nothing and not felt guilty. It all seemed worth the 12 hours travel. Just seeing the sea swish into the sand…Just to sit in the peaceful little temples…Just to show around my friends…just to feel proud as they admire your village.

It’s like coming home. It’s like coming home to my roots. It’s like coming home to my great-grandmother; it’s like coming home to my grandparent’s childhood. It’s like many things. It’s like me…

The first time I came to Malvan, I was this 11 year old talkative girl who wanted to be at the beach 24/7. When I wasn’t splashing in the water, I wanted to draw water from the wlls, even if it meant pulling up a ‘kalshi’ double my weight. Malvan… I just love the place. Every place has a story to tell… about my great-grandparents, grandparents, dad and even my uncles. Every place I go to, I wish for a time machine to see my grand father studying, to see my grandmother playing with her friends and to see my great grandmother teach her illiterate self how to read and write just to teach my grandfather to make sure he has a great future. Having heard so many stories from Manuai and Papa, I have enough anecdotes associated with every place in Malvan. Even when I take the boat to Sindhudurga, I remember how their boat toppled 13 years ago and how my grandmother saw the super clean sea floor. Every place I go to has me smiling randomly… if someone were to see me; they would surely think I am mad.

I realized that though I have no personal memories with this place, I have a legacy of memories that I get from my family. I never realized that earlier and kept wondering why I am so drawn to Malvan. But then this time I came to Malvan for the first time with my friends and not with family as usual. And while I showed them around, I realized that everything is so personal for me and every thing is so full of random memories.

These two friends of mine, Ashwini and Lathia, keep saying thank you because I got them here… but how do I say thanks to them… because they made me realize so much and see things about malvan so differently. They made this trip so different from the usual malvan trips that I have. Because of them for the first time, I was the one telling stories about malvan rather than being the one who was told stories…