"HOME".. What does home mean? I started thinking of this when a friend shared a blog with me- "A life with a view". It spoke about how internet could be a great home and it got me thinking. What did home mean to me? Where was my home?
As a kid, I believed home was the place, the building where my family stayed. The address I memorized to write on my school diary.
In no time, home started being associated with the place I spent most of my TIME at. My school became another home and friends and teachers became a family.
When we went on vacations, I longed to return to my bed and my toilet pot! Home was no longer just about address or time. It was about smaller things that felt familiar.
As I finished school and left home for Higher studies, I missed Home for the food and the comfort of my family. I missed it for the pampering and the care I got. So, Home was never about the address or the place of the things in it. It was about the people. The love and the care.
I made friends and got used to the mess food. I added new perspectives and filters to my world view. I shared my ups and downs with my roommates and they soon felt like home. A new one.
When I fell in love, I found all this in that one person. I associated home with the feeling of belonging and partnership.
Now when I look back, I see so many homes that I left behind. Some changed too much for me and for others, I outgrew and changed too much for them. Some people are now confined into small screens and others are busy finding new homes for themselves. So, where is my home now?
All these places, people and feelings I called home were external, perishable and sure to change.. So then maybe my home was not to be found in others, but to be created by me.. It would be a place that let me be me.. That allowed me to explore endless possibilities. A mental and physical safe space, where I can thrive. Where I don't have to hide my stories.
I yearn to have a physical space that allows this, but more than anything else, my own mind is my HOME. It's the only one that's sure to stick around. Everything and everyone else is just a bonus.