No matter how fast I whizz through anywhere else, when I get to my parents’ home in Kolhapur, I can take a long pause. Power cuts, poor customer service (this time in fixing internet problems), and an off-beat location have a way of making you connect with basics – fish in the pond, the frog waiting its turn patiently without budging, birds chirping, buffaloes bathing in the lake and grazing on the green, dragonflies buzzing busily, and us yelling out for Kelu, our mongrel who pick fights with dogs twice his size.

Kolhapur, especially our part of town, transforms itself in the rains, turning into one big green carpet, with the most amazing tiny flowers growing wildly in the grass and mushrooms taking advantage of the nutritious cow-dung to mutate into various shapes and sizes.

My uncle was visiting us, and we had fun going on not-so-long walks to capture the flora and fauna around us. Look: