Impermanence

In this world
Nothing we own is ours
We bid farewell to our beloved home yesterday
Electricity and water had been cut off
So we saw it in the dying natural light. Appropriate.
I didn't cry. I thought i would
I nearly did downstairs as I watched my old neighbours like their things in last and talked with them. Seems I wasn't the only sad one. 
They were one of the first to move in to the estate. We followed soon after.
I didn't cry coz the house didn't look the same without the furnishing,

But it was sad. There weren't many houses with our unique design, the adjoining balcony the study hall. The room with a window into the balcony. I moved in when I was 8 and moved out at 25. And then never quite moved out! Back there for 4 to 6 months per child! That's a more than a year more of actually living there.

My friends all knew my place. So many gatherings there. Birthdays. Study sessions. Deeepavali. Surprise parties for others.

Met the neighbours again as I was leaving.  Janice. My gosh she looks the splitting image of her mum when mum was younger! Was like watching an old movie in new techni colour! And Andrew. He was born here. Now a lanky young man doing his masters. His dog refuses to eat in the new house apparently!

We were truly neighbours. We went to one another's houses. Played downstairs - catching ball games, exploring drains. Cycle signals. Not so insular as we are now.