What is home to you?
For me it is a feeling. Of years of wandering around (of course I am not a nomad, even though I talk like one) I have felt home-like at very unrelated places. In reality or in my memory. Hence the feeling is rather difficult to describe.
Lately, triggered by a discussion with Upasna, I have been thinking about ‘this idea of home’ in my head more and more. More triggers followed last week.
I happened to watch Disney’s* Jungle Book with the 8 year old cousin, where she kept asking me some dialog because the accent was too fast for her. While explaining her stuff, I wondered how Mowgli had it different. He was raised in the Jungle and tried to belong to the elephants, bears, monkeys and vultures. He got really good at being a bear. But everyone wanted him to be more human. To un-belong. To get the jungle out of him. His looked a reverse journey from my perspective. Because I belonged so much at home while growing up that I did not know how to belong outside that comfort zone 😀 It did take time, but I learnt to claim my nooks and make myself at home, with people and surroundings.
I also watched aai doing her gardening. How she carefully changed the pots for some plants and how soil for some, making sure they felt accustomed. At home. Some people do that to you. They give you a home like feeling. Because of their warmth and care.
[Aai also has this habit of sitting with our shirts/tops and making sure the stitches for buttons are not loose, at night, every time we visit. Otherwise also. I find this very home-like.]
So you must have realized, I visited home last week. My parents stay there. Sounds strange writing it like this. Aai will be annoyed if I tell her how I phrased the sentence. But then I will tell her I have so many homes. Now. Some acquired. Some permanent in my thoughts. And some real spaces. Like the one I am typing in.
-nightflier
For me it is a feeling. Of years of wandering around (of course I am not a nomad, even though I talk like one) I have felt home-like at very unrelated places. In reality or in my memory. Hence the feeling is rather difficult to describe.
Lately, triggered by a discussion with Upasna, I have been thinking about ‘this idea of home’ in my head more and more. More triggers followed last week.
I happened to watch Disney’s* Jungle Book with the 8 year old cousin, where she kept asking me some dialog because the accent was too fast for her. While explaining her stuff, I wondered how Mowgli had it different. He was raised in the Jungle and tried to belong to the elephants, bears, monkeys and vultures. He got really good at being a bear. But everyone wanted him to be more human. To un-belong. To get the jungle out of him. His looked a reverse journey from my perspective. Because I belonged so much at home while growing up that I did not know how to belong outside that comfort zone 😀 It did take time, but I learnt to claim my nooks and make myself at home, with people and surroundings.
I also watched aai doing her gardening. How she carefully changed the pots for some plants and how soil for some, making sure they felt accustomed. At home. Some people do that to you. They give you a home like feeling. Because of their warmth and care.
[Aai also has this habit of sitting with our shirts/tops and making sure the stitches for buttons are not loose, at night, every time we visit. Otherwise also. I find this very home-like.]
So you must have realized, I visited home last week. My parents stay there. Sounds strange writing it like this. Aai will be annoyed if I tell her how I phrased the sentence. But then I will tell her I have so many homes. Now. Some acquired. Some permanent in my thoughts. And some real spaces. Like the one I am typing in.
-nightflier
* Disney’s Jungle book movies are pretty different than our very own hindi cartoons 🙂
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