44) Stranger in my Own World

The familiar lanes, shops by the side,
The school, the college which was once a pride,
A few seconds and then in a blur it's gone,
Yearning a second look I pass by the land where I was born.

All memories then begin playing in my mind,
Of that blissful life I seem to have left behind,
When my days ended in cozy secure nights,
When my weekends were sheer delights.

That grocery store's curly haired girl,
Who on my weekly visits would wave and flash her pearls,
Now has a unfamiliar look in her eyes,
My face no longer prompts that knowing smile.

Those lanes that I once expertly navigated alone and with friends,
Now have new shops, restaurants and brands sprung up at ends,
As for those once regularly frequented haunts,
Now there is no time to visit them at all.

The railway station's buzz and the trains are still same,
The buses I travelled by, and their routes remain unchanged,
But that once regular ordeal is now an experience of luxury,
Within a few minutes on a sole day I finish their journey.

I have grown up and flown out of my secure cozy nest,
Set up a whole new life and routine elsewhere,
But each time I return briefly I face the sadness of a little girl,
Who realises that she has become a stranger in her own world!

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