Homecoming.

I returned to India after moving to the US ten years ago. I went towards the end of November and came back to the US mid-February. My parents joined me in India mid-January. Seeing our family after ten years was unbelievable. I mean, there were three new cousins I'd never met until now. Crazy! One of my favorite people in the world, my cousin, was eight when I left, and now she's eighteen, obviously. But it's still such a shock. When our entire family was together, we sang, we danced, we laughed, and we cried. We traveled by bus for 14 hours at a time. We traveled by car and took 10-hour trips. And we traveled in rickshaws. It was glorious. Here are some photographs I took to document our trip.

This is my aunt; my dad's sister. She owns a catering business and works ridiculously hard. And it is definitely paying off! She's amazing at what she does!

Every Sunday morning at 5am, she and her husband go to the local fresh vegetable market. One day, I went with them to experience it. The light, obviously, wasn't great but these are some photographs I was able to taken before they told me I wasn't allowed to. 

This is my paternal grandmother. She. is. awesome. who I am happy to say has kicked some serious cancer-ass. She is one of the strongest people I know. It was heartbreaking to see how much she misses my dad. Absolutely heartbreaking.

After visiting them,  I went to visit my mom's sister, her husband, my other grandmother, and two of my cousins! On the left is my maternal grandmother and I've already introduced my paternal grandmother.

 

This is my youngest cousin, Rushad. His name, most appropriately, means 'a happy soul'. He is  16 months old and loves food. Definitely related to me. Isn't he adorable?

And my aunt does make him wear a bonnet. I think it's adorable. And the cheeks? Well, they just hang.

Then we traveled to see my dad's brother and his family which included two more of my cousins. 

This is my second youngest cousin, Aaditya. He is two, loves grapes ( pronounced ''gwapes''), and airplanes. He is the sweetest.

 

Then we visited our extended family and our farm. 

Aaditya wanted to drive and/or ride every motorized vehicle on the farm. The tractor was his favorite though. 

This is our farm. The little plants are baby sugarcane. 

The obligatory cow photograph. Of course.

This is my second oldest cousin, Uday. He is the obedient kid I've ever met. And loves hugging goats. 

It's hard to describe the feeling of family in words. Seeing how much my parents left behind to give me this life made me appreciate them even more, if that's possible. My parents are the bravest and kindest people I know, and they definitely come from a family full of people just like them. 

I ADORE MY FAMILY!