India, April 23 -- By Rathina Sankari When will you reach Madurai,

?" asked my cousin, Kavipriya, from Chennai. "I shall plan to arrive the same day," she added over the phone. This trip was special because I was visiting my hometown after four long years. I was born in the temple town of Madurai but brought up in Maharashtra's cultural capital, Pune. Despite the distance between the two cities, I spent my summers and mid-semester breaks in the southern city during my growing years. Memories of playing on its streets with cousins and friends, and ancient board games of

and

(snakes and ladders), are still etched in my mind. When I arrived with my teenage son, pre-teen daughter, and sexagenarian mother at my maternal aunt's home in Madur...