73. the home where your heart truly belongs

Michelle Jacquet DeSevren Branch is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. 

In the early 2000s, she released two chart-topping albums, The Spirit Room and Hotel Paper. She earned a Grammy Award with Santana for The Game of Love. Her Grammy-nominated hit single Leave the Pieces is also widely recognized. 

She has composed deeply soulful songs. However, what resonates with me more is her deep love for her home. 

Once she mentioned, “I'm fortunate because I have a job I enjoy. I really miss being at home—sleeping in my own bed, seeing my animals and siblings, and enjoying my mom's cookies. I have a couple of cats and have adopted a kitten. Yet, now that I’m about to hit the road, I won't see him for a while, which I find upsetting.”

Isn't that melancholic? Nonetheless, she noted, “We all share the same journey.”

Home is where you live, but nowadays, like all other gadgets, it has also become a valuable and highly unaffordable commodity. 

As the saying goes, the heart is in the home. It is where one spends childhood years and where the long, checkered journey of life is remembered. The home is the place where memories come alive, and inner freedom prevails.

But life is unpredictable with its twists and turns, often detaching us from a sense of belonging to a specific home or room. With lofty dreams and aspirations, one might live in many cities and rent numerous rooms. 

This is a story about many people. About two-thirds of the population lack homes, living in cramped rooms and sharing small spaces with numerous family members, each seeking a personal space that remains elusive to all. 

Growing up with working parents, we often stayed in numerous government residences. The constant fear of moving to another house lingers, and the feeling of emptiness makes the experience even more distressing. 

Then come the hostel rooms. They hold a special place in the galaxy of memories, where we're free to display posters of our choice and enjoy a carefree life. 

But as soon as we leave college, the search begins for a new place of our own. Before we can plan our next steps, life advances into rented accommodation, accompanied by the newfound joy of the job. 

Time passes peacefully with your spouse and the laughter of your children. You plan to build your own house. Your savings grow, but high EMIs keep you busy, making life less joyful.

Home is a necessary, personal, and wonderful place— a unique space to relax and sleep. It is a kingdom where we are the rulers, and our word is final. 

A space where we feel free to do anything without hesitation. By entering our rooms, one can glimpse our mental attitude towards life. 

The way things are arranged and laid out reflects our thought process. 

The most troubled philosopher of his time, Berkeley, correctly stated that “he is happiest whether he is a king or a peasant who finds peace at home.”

Homelessness arises from various factors, and each country has its own specific ones. Even each individual has their own reason.

But even with a roof over one's head, it is not necessarily true that one feels at home.

Stuart Hall was a truly distinctive individual. Despite arriving in Britain from Jamaica at age 19 and spending his entire life in London, he never truly felt at home there. 

This contrast was a key source of his strength and originality. Due to his colour and background, he viewed the country from an outsider’s perspective rather than as a native.

I have lived in various cities, both large and small, sometimes in government housing because of my job and other times by renting on my own. 

Honestly, I have never truly felt at home anywhere.

So, I also still haven't found the home where my heart truly belongs.

To me, my parents' house was the only place where I genuinely felt at home; luckily, that feeling remains, and the house still stands.