Staying away from home not only brings peace but also chaotic silence.
Photo Credit: Subhashree Biswas
The loneliness away from home does not always come dramatically, but it can be felt in small moments – while walking on a path back from college, listening to music and sometimes watching old photos and videos can make you remember your home. But most importantly, it hits during festivals, special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries, when you realise that the people you love, or people who care for you, are far away. It can be exciting to move to a new country, but it can also bring silence, long distances, and different challenges to adapt and learn to live in a new place.
That is the reason the idea of home and belongingness changes when you live in a strange land.
Home is not the place where you are born, or where you reside, but it comes with a deeper meaning as it is a sentiment that you have been preserving since childhood. Moreover, it is defined by people, conversations with loved ones, food, and the relief of being understood and accepted. On the other hand, being understood in a new country and environment does not happen overnight; it develops slowly organically via caring, connections and shared experiences of friends that later becomes family.
One of the initial ways people establish a home far from their homeland is by retaining their culture.
People take their culture with them without any reason, naturally. It exists with them through the festivals they never forget, in the meals they prepare and customs they hold even after living far from their home. Even though these things seem normal at first, when placed in a foreign setting, they take on a new significance, as they remind us of who we really are as individuals.
However, there is something fascinating about seeing people recreating components of their homeland wherever they are, food they share with their new friends, festivals they celebrate together, not just as an event, but trying to keep their memories alive, which somehow turns into comfort.
However, making a home far from one’s homeland is more than just upholding one’s own culture, but also being open to others’ cultures. It is also about being open to other people’s perspectives.
Photo Credit: Sakshi Thapa
That is when the actual connection starts; even though people do not speak the same language or have been brought up in the same culture, they still discover commonalities through understanding. They come together, learn through each other’s experiences, share joy, and create a space like home. Such connections are unique as they are not based on similarity but built on openness and willingness.
Being with someone on their good times is OKAY, but… standing with someone when it is their worst makes things more meaningful.
Living far away from family is not an easy thing, as many things come with it, such as adjustments, homesickness, financial strain, academic stress and cultural differences. Everybody is fighting with something which they ignore expressing; these hardships bring people together in the form of support in tough times, leading in strengthening of the relationship.
At times, the meaning of home can be the person who notices your loneliness and tries to be with you, or sometimes its group of people with whom one can celebrate festivals, as when life starts feeling difficult, it’s the close ones that stand with you and make you realise that you are not alone in this.
In such instances, the home is not just about a place, but rather it is the relationships and connections that matter the most.
That is what makes connecting with people so important in a foreign country. It tells us that home is not always the same place, as it is possible to build something new. It can also be exchanged. It may develop in unexpected places thanks to warmth, connectedness, and togetherness. You do not have to completely forget about your roots to fit in a new country but can cherish your roots while also building new connections and memories.
A foreign land starts feeling less unfamiliar when people come together to encourage each other and tackle all the challenges together.
What is more comforting is that, with people, one can find one’s way back home, no matter how far one has come.
