At last! 

"Look at the endless land!" I said to Kiran who stood by my side. After ages sailing far and wide, aimlessly like the waves that roll and storms that form, drench and disappear, we were in sight of the only stretch of land that mattered to me. The hazy picture of the beach spanning endlessly on either side and all the way to the horizon welcomed us. 

"You can't say endless land. We usually say that about the ocean," Kiran said. "Why are you rolling your eyes?"

"Hmmm... That's because most that say so haven't ventured here to see what the other side looks like," I retorted. 

"What of an island? That doesn't give you the feeling of 'endless land'?"

"A pond or a lake doesn't either," I shrugged. Kiran shook his head and went away, knowing I was in one of those moods. 

As we drew closer, few uncouth looking structures came into view. Waves broke over some of them - like the one from which my father would toss me into the sea so I would learn how to swim. And then there were some that the sea left alone, like the one on which Tulasi and I would sit, fingers interlocked, the salty wind beating across our face and with only silence and the ocean's roar for company. And then there were the ones that were so weather-beaten one would wonder how they still stood like the one on which I stood, contemplating whether I should take my life or not and wondering if I could pull it off. I stood there for so long, someone noticed, came along and forced me to decide otherwise. 

They all remained as they did back then, only they had a thicker coat of brown, green and white than they did when I left - the craggy structures, the pier, the beach and all. The boat set off a series of waves as though it were signalling to land that I was coming. I wondered if Tulasi would know, if she would care to know and run and greet me.

As I looked on, I saw something glinting on one of those structures. Like the little glass bottle that I once filled with the shards of Tulasi's broken bangles and held up against a tiny flashlight. I recalled telling her that night how something that is broken can still be beautiful. I recalled enjoying her peering into the bottle curiously, wondering how a mere glass bottle and few broken glass bangles could come together and bind someone in a spell. 

There are times when you smile uncontrollably and can do nothing about it. There are times when you can see yourself smile even without a mirror. As we got closer, I realised I was going through one such phase. 

"You're beaming?" Kiran said.

"Yes. I am."

"At them, those?"

"Yes. What's wrong with that?"

"They're ruins. That's what is?" 

"Ruins? That's home," I said and turned to look homewards.