It was eleven at night, and the world lay cloaked in darkness. The moon, shy yet persistent, played hide-and-seek with the clouds, casting fleeting silvery light over the landscape. Around me, the tall coconut trees swayed gently in the breeze, their silhouettes a rhythmic dance against the endless expanse of paddy fields that stretched beyond my makeshift bed. This was my world for the nighta fold-able cot, with me draped in a sleeping bag and enclosed by a mosquito net. For the first time in my life, I was sleeping out in the open, nothing but thin mesh separating me from the stars. In the spaces where clouds hadn’t staked their claim, the sky revealed its glittering secrets, a cosmic reminder of how small and fleeting we are. But I wasn’t here for the stars. I was here for the land. This village was my birthplace, though I hadn’t seen… Light over the landscape