For as long as I can remember, my life has been in constant motion: five schools, four cities, three countries, and two continents.
Picture this: a small community 8,000 miles across the North Atlantic Ocean, in Hanumangarh, a small Indian town near the Indo-Pakistani border. Pakistani militiamen fight Indian soldiers some thirty miles away and panic-stricken refugees are torn between life and death.
I grew up there, taking my first steps and volunteering with refugees and among the rural poor.
When I turned seven, my parents sent me away from home to an international boarding school, for safety and to get an education better than what was offered in my community.
At first, it was exciting. I wanted to use my education as a means to break the cycle of my community’s poverty. However, the distance between school and home was such that I was barely home.
Moving to America last year as a new Upper-mid at Hotchkiss, I found myself lost in the warm yellow, lamp-stained stillness of the Edsel Ford Memorial Library. “Where really is home?” I wondered.
Is it Dubai, where the world of possibilities is as tall as its skyscrapers; a city that went from a land of no resources to a bustling metropolis, living proof that your biggest weaknesses can turn into your greatest strength?
Maybe it’s India — the country that showed me the world isn’t always glamorous and that giving back to society should be the way of life.
Or is it 11 Interlaken Road — a community where I have slowly learned to belong and help others feel like they belong?
Hotchkiss will always have a special place in my heart. What about those packed dances on Saturday nights, Prank Day, #rollsnabe, and playing Head’s Holiday roulette?
From India to Dubai to Connecticut, I’ve had an imperfect journey of ups and downs, yet an unforgettable one worth living for.
Learning from a variety of cultures, mindsets, and experiences, I’ve grown in each place.
Perhaps there will never be a definite answer to the question, “Where is home?” or “Where do I belong?” There’s not a room on earth in which you or I cannot belong.
My experiences have taught me to carve out “home” from all situations that come my way, and I encourage you to do the same. Home is where the heart is.
In Paul Simon’s words, “I’m homeward bound!”
