Understanding 'Home'

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So, a student again. After a brief stint of corporate life and enjoying the niceties it had to offer, I am back to living on a relatively small budget every month. Things seem a little simpler when all the superfluous is taken away for sure. All I need are three meals a day and the occasional ice cream or conversation with someone to keep up the spirit.


For a while now, I've come across people saying there is a difference between a house and a home. A home is something you make out of a house etc., Well, this is just after about two weeks of life at a hostel which I never thought would become my idea of a 'home'. After scratching my head quite a bit, I asked myself, 'What is home?'. 


One, it's a place where you have your loved ones surrounding you. The next and more important feeling is that of familiarity. The sense that you just know where the phone charger is even at 1 in the night and you're drowsy after a long day. The intuition that tells you to reach out to the refrigerator after a movie marathon. Not to mention, a place you can do pretty much what you want, ranging from shouting away your favourite songs up to walking around in boxers. So the question is, does any place you do this occupy the concept of 'home' in your mind? Can a hotel room be your home while you're on a long vacation or after long working hours at a client's location? Can the repeated 'go to' place at the end of the day occupy the place of home in your mind?


After completing classes for the whole day, my mind  turns to my room no. 105 in boys hostel, block 2 and takes precedence over thinking about my room back in Bangalore which I have designed to my liking with the right amount of super hero action figures and perfectly arranged cars and bikes which I wish I can buy some time in the future. So, now, does room no. 105 become my home? To get a better understanding of all this, I made a trip home just to see if I was missing out on my family,  friends, my ever so inviting bed, my guitar, my bike and my overall sense of familiarity. The funny thing is, now that I'm here, it seems way too laid back and there is this feeling that I'm wasting my time unnecessarily watching YouTube videos that can wait or are beyond my scope of requirement. I'm engaging in activities that hardly add any value at the end of the day. Overall, there is no sense of excitement to the extent that I miss being a student again. A good friend of mine told me that I'm adaptable and will not miss my home for a good chunk of time. Has this got to do with living in the moment and accepting situations as they come?



To answer this and many more questions is the reason for undertaking a journey at NALSAR. As life goes on at a pace I can hardly keep up, I seem to have found a new home.


In my pursuit to ensure this is not an impulsive evaluation of the situation, I'll revisit this post as and when I learn more. Afterall, what are we if we stop learning and introspecting?

 

Comments

Nagendra S said…
The introspection has started :) Want to read more!
August 19, 2014 at 12:00 AM
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