Love the way mum makes parval - Full of spices where you can taste everything but the poor parval itself and I always complain "Maaa, please don't murder the parval - let it retain its individuality" and she would keep some aside for me, before she adds all the masalas.

What would I do to have a bite of that parval right now, and the feeling of home. The dining table, with dad and mum and occasionally Hash (in the unlikely event we would be home at the same time) , the telly on sometimes, discussing and arguing on stupid things, the fan moving, the predictability of things, the concept of family.

My parents moved house 4 or 5 times in the last 15-odd years - I used to go for a week or month to visit them from university or on a vacation from work. The first day or 2 I would visit a new house it would seem odd, new place, furniture at different places, different sizes of rooms, different proximity from the nearest restaurant and bars, but only the first 2 days - after that it would feel like home. That's the magic factor which family brings, the predictability, the trust, the faith, the feeling of security, the concept of a home.

I miss that and I am disappointed in myself that I haven't been able to re-create that yet