Life is like a long train ride, with stops at different stations. I have moved from home to home, from land to land, many times in the past five decades. The continuous changes have made the Earth a more prominent home where, as regards the borders, I have the same sky, one moon, and one sun where I can find refuge. However, occasionally, my thoughts traveled back to my first home in a Bangladeshi village where I grew up with Dadi, my paternal grandmother. She embodied love; my soul is tethered there despite my physically moving from different places. I carry my childhood home in my heart; it went everywhere I journeyed on a life train.

To some people, home is where familiar things greet the eyes. Seeing an old maple near the house, a street sign, and a café where one goes for morning coffee could bring a sense of belongingness. For others, home means having loved ones nearby having friends and neighbors to share good times and bad. The concept of a home expands beyond the walls, through the screen, to other parts of the world. When sharing a roof, the sense of home is sitting at the dinner table with family at the end of the day. There is magic in finding a cup of tea ready for you, made with love, waiting before you head out to work.

On the other hand, the sense of home comes with seasonal uptakes. Living in New England for the last decade, the vibrant seasonal changes are being home to me. There is magic in witnessing the spring's gifts of daffodils, tulips, and crocus after snow and its white world leave the winter days. For my friends and family in Dhaka, Bangladesh, during the month of Falgun, the sight of orange " krishnochura" flowers and mango blossoms that send cloying scents in the air and fill their lungs is feeling rooted and loved. But the difference is the feeling of belonging, that you know how things are in the place where you go to sleep, wake up, and have your first cup of coffee or tea. You wake up in an area that makes you feel good; it can be a hotel, a rented home, or your own. 

The concept of home is evolving with time and tide. Defining a home is a challenge with the world-changing grip of the Ukraine war, the ongoing COVID-19 causing havoc, and one of the highest scales of migration the world has witnessed. One has to be alive and well to feel the heart's need before trying to get the feel of a home. Hungry, cold, and death lurking in every moment of war-torn people, the safety of a roof and walls is a lost dream. In his novel Depths of Glory, the acclaimed author Irving Stone writes, "A hungry stomach has no ears." In the present restless world, death and destruction take away lives; we worry about being alive before a man's basic needs. Innocent children and women fleeing for life are thankful to find a safe place to spend the nights. Safety before what the heart seeks gives one a sense of belonging to life, to be alive. However, it does not mean we are unaware of our hearts' desires. We shed tears for a place, for loved ones lost or left behind, of what we knew our heart belonged to, but move on to be safe. In place of a cottage, a building, or a temporary shelter in a makeshift tent is a home where the moment can bless us.

From the chaotic world of war and pandemic, step into the family life. The rising divorce cases across nations leave children searching for deeper meanings of what a home is. Broken homes send children to foster homes or shuttle between parents living under separate roofs. The purpose of a house that usually designated a singular sense of belonging, a glad tidying, and love spreads to multiple roofs. It is no surprise to hear kids say, "There are two houses I live in, and I shuttle back and forth since my parents are divorced. But I have no idea which is my home since both the parents have new life partners and more children there. I am unsure who feels more at home, they or myself." 

Individual freedom is needed and essential to the growth of the self. These days, families disintegrate and seek happiness outside their wedlock or partnership. That is all good for the adults, and they have their challenges. The children get sandwiched between the adult confusions, and we wonder where we can help them find a home that gives them the feeling of belonging to the core.

Wikipedia adds," The idea of 'home' has been researched and theorized across disciplines - topics ranging from the concept of home, the interior, the psyche, liminal space, contested space to gender and politics. The home as an idea expands beyond residence as contemporary lifestyles and technological advances redefine how the global population lives and works." There is the digital world's influence in a home to all these. The Internet is like the bloodline for a home for the young and old—the inhabitants to function in the current world more than the heart is the need to be realistic. Fifty years back, humans were agreeable to a slower pace in life. But as life becomes a question of survival for millions, a home is where one can be safe. The saying, "Home is where the heart is," is veiled in its credential momentarily because the heart is asunder with the war/pandemic-ridden world. For the body and the spirit to function in harmony, the heart needs to listen to the rest of the body send safety signals. Rich man or poor man, in the end, a house is a home where love resides. The saying goes, "My house is small, no place for a millionaire. But it has room for friends and love, and that is all I care."