Searching home,
Away from home,
He wanders—
Odysseus-like, in the
Alien lands,
Weathers unseen earlier,
Helping hands,
Smiling faces,
Each mirroring a rich nation,
Languages different,
Gestures common,
Each journeying
In the Odyssey,
Bound by goals,
Middle-class and global;
Cooped up in a small
Sublet, doors shut,
Cooking, ironing, studying,
Talking on Skype,
Remembering Mumbai coastline
Drenched in the fierce sun or the torrential rains,
Now—
Dreaming of the golden Florida shoreline
That quietly beckons,
The young lonely student,
—A teetotaler and vegetarian, a stranger in his own land for this habit among the Indian male hedonists, defined purely by daily intake of the meat and foreign liquor—
Away from the hustle- bustle of an Asian mega-city,
Secluded like a monk,
Doing individual lessons and Internet,
An international learner,
Searching love and home,
After every three months,
In grey Aarhus, covered
In rains/snow,
Moving about like a poor tramp,
Powered by a soaring young spirit,
And youthful determination,
In the university European town,
Where identical aspirations,
Come to
Complete disparate fellowships,
Of mutual support and understanding;
In Aarhus, my dear,
A welcome occasional invitation,
For coffee in a restaurant
With two loving friends,
—Three is a crowd everywhere—
From varied geo- locations,
Sounds so good, real and fulfilling,
A rich soul-curry,
Served with care,
Or,
A relaxed nightly chat with nuclear family,
In a receding far-off home
Now, it seems
Lost forever!
1 thought on “Homes”
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The poem ” Homes ” , by recounting what Borges might have called , ” an intricate labyrinth of steps ” , raises the even more apposite French maxim ” plus ca change plus c’est la meme chose “.