OK, so it feels good to be back in one’s own environs, especially loo. Whatever you say about the Land of the Free, you will always remain a brown skin there. I rather be top dog in my land than anything else anywhere else, what say?

But let’s leave such heavy stuff for the commentators and get down to what comes naturally to one. Which is to be flippant and fancy-free!

Like, I realise on my return that little has changed. In the newspaper headlines, all that has changed are the names of the dramatis personae, the events remain the same. Rape, murder, grand theft, political skullduggery… Nothing is new. And on Page 3 I find that even the names have not changed, the same old tired faces continue their masquerade and we the people have no choice but to read about their shenanigans before the cameras. Sigh. It was not like this in the heights I scaled this last few weeks…

Anyway, the one good thing since the return was that I can now count myself as one of the early tasters of this season’s Alphons mangoes. It costs a bomb this early, the prices should fall by mid-April, but we reasoned that it was a treat that we shouldn’t deny ourselves. The mangoes are all that they are reputed to be, and although my personal preference is for the variety from Telugu-land, this was one time I decided to bury my bias and bury my teeth instead into the succulent king of mangoes.

Yummmm.. I can still feel the fruit on my tongue, and with a long weekend coming up it’s a warm thought that there’s still a box of Alphons left at home.