Just Two Months

One of the very first essays that we write at schools is ‘My Home’ - back then, I pondered on what is the difference between a home and a house.  I have many friends who have left their homes at a tender age to pursue better education; to get a job or for a healthier standard of living than their primary locations. Some keep moving throughout the country because their parents have jobs which require them to get transferred periodically.

I never realized what it meant to be away from home till I got a chance to stay outside home for about two months in Kerala on a work assignment. It is tough to adapt to a new place away from the comforts of our home and its locality. A new place means finding a new vegetable market, a new doctor, the nearest bus stop, an ATM,  a new barber, a new cablewala, doodhwala, kiranawala, laundrywala and also finding new friends. I consider myself fortunate that the working hours would not last beyond 7 -7.30 pm – a general Kochi day will start at ten in the morning and end at most by eight-thirty in the evening. So, we got enough time for our extra-workicular activities which were many.

One regular activity away from home was a Skype call every night wherein I would get to see and talk to my family back home. We would exchange what we had for our dinners, people, the culture, work, home and everything under the sun!  That few minutes of communication would lighten up a really hard day for a first timer outside home. Obviously things and days started passing easily as I got accustomed to Kochi. I explored new places on weekends. 

While going to Kerala, I thought two months was too much time outside home but while returning back and even now when I retrospect, I think those two months were just two months.

This post has been written for blogchatter prompt - Away From Home.

Blogchatter is a twitter initiative where bloggers from all spheres connect, engage and support each other in taking blogs to next level. Also every Wednesday we have a chat session at 8.30 pm discussing a range of blogging topics each week. Do tune in!