Home is where the heart is.

" Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration." ~ Charles Dickens

One gets nostalgic when word "Home" is said because mere saying it conjures so many emotions, it's a place for which you feel the deepest affection, no matter where you are. Something that holds a value that's  way beyond mere bricks and mortar might normally represent.

Recently I with my son and husband went on a weekend trip to visit my parents to the town where I grew up. The town with which I feel a strong emotional connection, the streets, school, college, parks, stores, the old house where I spend my childhood (ancestral house owned by my great grandfather and his brother, now abandoned) and now the new place where my parents live adds special meaning to my life because it has spots where some of my significant life events took place.

When ever I am in town before going to my parents house, I stop outside my childhood house to stare at the outward facade just to remember how it felt to live there as a little girl with my grandparents, parents and 2 siblings.

Each time I visit, memories come flooding back. Fond memories of the fights with siblings over silly things, us playing and growing up together, running up and down the stairs, roaming on streets, mom cooking in kitchen and making us do our work. grandmother busy doing prayers and making us watch all those mythological serials that were aired on television and taking us to temples, grandfather stories of his hometown and long evening walk to the park, dad's bed time stories and his special unexpected treats. Our birthday parties, our togetherness, our madness, our festivals celebrations, our get-together....

Thinking about my childhood and reconnecting with my first house, where I grew up seems strangely satisfied. It feels like opening a treasure box full of wealth that cannot be measured with money but can only be treasured.

Houses can be many but there is only one home in the whole wide world. So the word “Home” is resonating within me. Any person who spend their life away from home, to study, to earn livelihood or shifts frequently due to transferable job or own more than one house or is married like me...will perhaps understand and connect with it better because There are so many houses but where is home???

First- Is it the house where I grew up and still finds a deep connection???

Second- Is it the house where my parents live now, without whom there no word like home???

Third- Is it the house where my husband grew up and I went after getting married and my son was born???

Fourth- Is it the house where I live with my own family, a loving husband and son???

It seems difficult to choose one because there are lot of emotions involved. But answer is ought to be found for inner peace.

So what defines Home????

Is it the people, a specific place or the memories made during a certain period of time???

One thing is clear that bricks, walls, roof that protects us from storms (all kind of storms) may make a house but definitely not a home. House or a specific place does have a significance but it's a material aspect, Home has a deeper and spiritual aspect.

If I go by the saying of legendary novelists, writers, poets I'll end up saying it's a place where

* you don't need to wear mask...

*you can express your emotions without any awkwardness...
* there is no judgement only solace...

*there is love, respect and acceptance...

* heart can laugh without shyness...

* tears can dry at there own pace...

* You feel comfortable and love to be...

Or more precisely...Going by these interpretation it can be said

"Home is where the heart is"

Time plays an important factor in decision making. Past is what needs to be preserved in memories and present is meant to live and future is what needs to be glorified...

So in my case first aspect of my childhood house is discarded. The building is in ruins now. When I went inside I saw things but not people.   So it's not home anymore. But it's preserved in my memories, thoughts and feelings the way it use to be. No matter how far I travel I will always carry those with me. The building will always reminds me of who I am and where I came from.

Second aspect of my parents house is dismissed too that's because I left it to start a new life. It's never the house that matters to me anymore it's the people who lives inside it..They are and always be home. A space in my heart is made for them because building house was never their priority, it was always shaping their child's Identity. With the wonderful memories and knowledge they made home for us. So whenever given a chance to go somewhere or meet someone I'll definitely go to my parents who created a home.

As per the third aspect my in-laws house where my husband grew up, I always see a spark in his eyes and smile on his face when he talks about the place, his room, stories with his brother, school, college and his friends, but somehow I never felt that spark. No matter how hard I try there is bit strangeness and loneliness in the place. Well many people will call me evil for not accepting the house. Go on, but that exactly what I feel. The feeling of being at home comes from within. I can't deny the fact that his parents live there and he'll have same feelings like I do for my parents.  I do have respect for my husband's feelings and I guess that's what matter. 

I choose the place where I live with my husband and my son to be called my Home and that's because it's where my present is and with whom I see my future. There is one more reason to back this, when I am not around my place, husband or son I keep thinking about them. They are in my thoughts, my worries, my wishes, my heart. My heart beats for them. My home actually has a heartbeat. 

A picture frame made 2 yrs back with Photo Grid App.

The thing I learnt in finding answers to my questions is that Home is a feeling, not a place. There is no physical place that can be called home. 

So you can create your home anywhere till you have your loved ones around. 

These are few lines from the lovely song sung by Gabrielle Aplin.....

I'm a phoenix in the water
A fish that's learned to fly
And I've always been a daughter
But feathers are meant for the sky
And so I'm wishing, wishing further,
For the excitement to arrive....

The lines that touched my heart, it's a beautiful song Home...I heard it recently in the serial Total dreamer on Zindagi channel...And searched for it....

Take me away to some place real
'Cause they say home is where your heart is set in stone
Is where you go when you're alone
Is where you go to rest your bones
It's not just where you lay your head
It's not just where you make your bed
As long as we're together, does it matter where we go?

Home..Home..Home...

To enjoy the full song with her lovely voice...Google it...(I actually sang the song while writing the lyrics...😊..)