Do you know what’s pure, untarnished bliss? When a throng of people volunteer to watch over your hyped-up one year old while you catch up on some beauty sleep. Now that’s home!

How I’ve missed this little island of mine and it’s sheer beauty! It’s almost two weeks since I came home and every passing hour gently admonishes me that I’m an all-in-all tropical girl.

What else can you feel other than content when home is where-

#. Every evening is spent over juicy gossips with aunts and cousins.

#. You’re hunted down with vengeance by mosquitoes.

#. Home is where you have ‘roast paan, pol sambol and bull’s eye’ for breakfast.

#. Where you slurp on king coconuts plucked from the trees in your garden.

#. Where a week never passes by without a power failure.

#. Home is where your son can’t make up his mind what he wants to explore.

#. Where your throat goes sore after going overboard with your mangosteens and rambutans.

#. Where the tinkling bell of the ‘paan’ tuk-tuk acts as your alarm clock.

#. It’s where you have home made crackers to munch on while you cry over a novel.

#. Where you have the luxury of taking an hour to bathe.

#. Home is where there are stories in every cranny and a ready smile on every face.

Home is all this and more for, isn’t it the place where the heart is?