Home Away from Home

Home away from home
‘The twist of fate’ that tore me away from the home of my childhood, wherein are rooted many of my most happy memories, wounded me deeply at the time. As grounded as I was in my childish belief that nothing would change the long days of innocent pleasure and carefree play, this incident bore a great shock for me. It made me realize, even at so tender an age, that change is the one constant life offers and that all else is at the mercy of its whims. I was privileged with the ideal family of loving parents and a younger sister; However, my blissful childhood was about to come to an abrupt and unexpected end. My parents came to the horrifying decision that I was to continue my education in Delhi instead of remaining in the Jharkhand. Which was ‘Home sweet home’ for me! I was more than unwilling to leave. My entire life was set up the way I wanted it to be and I was. My parents, however, determined to send me to Delhi, though my parents remained in Jharkhand. That year changed me so radically that I stopped being able to identify with the person that I once was. ‘From caterpillar to butterfly’ is not the correct expression for this moving from carefree and innocent child to young adult. It was an experience most similar to having your world turned upside down or being suddenly stranded on a strange and alien world. It radically altered my beliefs and the role I had once created for myself in my mind for the individual I had planned on becoming. In short, I felt forced to become a whole new person in order to adapt to this new life. Moving thousands of miles did not just modify my geographical location; I felt like I had just arrived on a foreign planet where everyone considered me strange. The culture difference was a huge shock for me. From wearing simple clothes, I had to go to wearing clothes that were considered hip hop or cool dude type. I could no longer address people frankly. I had to learn to address them with the ‘respect’ that their ages...