#AtoZChallenge : To Hubballi

Dear Hubballi,

I don’t remember the first time I saw you, but for 22 years of my life- that is the most part of my life I’ve lived here. When I was there, I didn’t seem to appreciate the things there but now that I am away I realize how much I miss you. It is true for everything in our lives isn’t it? We don’t realize the worth of something until we no longer have it?

My first memories of you are all from my house. Running around my house, mom giving me food, scribbling on the walls of my house when I first learned to hold a pencil, running on the roads while playing and the list goes. The sounds, the visuals sometimes still feel fresh in my mind. I can go on with the memories- of my first day at school and all the other days, the early morning walks to the church, the crowded and noisy Saturday markets, the peaceful silence of my backyard. I grew up there- from a little kid going to school to the engineer that I’ve become now- all of it happened there. 

Since you aren’t such a big city, a lot of times I used to complain. About roads that aren’t good, about not having many places of interest to visit, about the dust, about the pigs that run around on the roads like always and list goes on. But after living in a big city for almost a year now, I know what I miss. Every place has its own share of problems and you had yours too. But the joy in little things that you provided cannot be found elsewhere. I knew most of the people staying around my house and each one of them cared about me from the time I was a kid to now- when I walk by the street occasionally. A big city cannot give me that experience. 

Where we love is home,
Home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.
-Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.,

Work may have taken to a different place but you will always be the place where I grew up, the place that made me, me. It was hard to go away but I had to because of lack of opportunities. But remember, I will always miss you when I am away because I have so many memories in you. Hope to see you soon.

Love,

Reema

Note: Hubballi is a city in the northern part of Karnataka state, India. I wasn’t born there but I was brought up there. I completed my education there and this city holds special significance in my life. 

I'm taking up the #AtoZChallenge and my theme is "A letter for a letter". So make sure you read all the letters from A to Z.