I can't imagine the time when we were free , free to move, free to travel, free to do a lot of things which we rather took otherwise, then there came a time when you wish for all those simple things to occur to you which you didn't even bother about so much ! (Irony)
Living in a country other than your own, comes with benefits but also have their own set of cons. While we constantly evaluate them , one always finds the grass greener back home ( classic cliché isn't it). Having said all of the above , its been 2 years that I visited my country and almost that many years of having visited my parents and in-laws (because of the travel bans and other regulations)
So every year as soon as the scorching summer arrives in the Middle East it is the time we splurge to plan to go home and the summer holidays just aligns with plan. Hence next three months are well placed back home, where things are easy not because it is my country but the thing that we are not solely responsible for the chores (well largely!)
The arrival back home for holidays is no less than a celebration and we all rejoice mutually. Parents are always overwhelmed to have us and the kids around and then even we are carefree that they are learning in a different way with their grandparents ( we always believe as humans that we definitely learn with the change in place and circumstance)
The feeling described above is very well understood by all the women who go to stay at their parent's house every year during holidays but believe me you just have to triple that feeling to know how it feels to be back home from a foreign land, although there are no extremities and Infact an easier life but still the satisfaction just soars in lieu of our motherland.
As I mentioned its been 2 years that we have been to my parent's place, I feel nostalgic not only by listening to the news that the monsoons has arrived in India or the pictures of the street food we come across on Insta, and every little thing or memory associated with the summer holidays. Its like an yearly ritual that we hook upon and now it just feels empty.
We are into a pandemic and even more serious situation with the onset of the Kids' Summer Holidays starting this weekend (as it's tedious to keep them busy within the four walls), it is also that same time when we travel to India every year with numerous plans and plethora of smiles . Always torn between these two worlds of residence and roots that we overlap a lot many problems entwining them both .
This period in mankind is certainly going down in the history and so will go the agony of not been able to visit home, the deprivation of not being able to spend the fragile and naïve years of kids' childhood with their grandparents. We are not only loosing sanity but a time to connect and care , torn between the two worlds where I want to be and where I should be!
Pic courtesy: Google
