Finding "Home"

Flashback: 1998
First Year of College: English Literature Honors Course

Class: Ancient Greek Literature: Odyssey

Professor (who over the years became my fav.) starts the class by asking us a question

“What do you think men desire the most?”

Random answers: love, wealth, health, (me being loudest – power), strength, fame, luck….
Our professor kept saying a no to all our answers
Finally when we gave up… (not easy for a group of smart talented headstrong young girls)

She gives us the answer “HOME”

Back then, I thought my professor must be getting old and soft.. and that she “didn’t know better” Ah! foolishness of a young mind

Wasn’t it obvious for anyone in the world that men craved for power the most! 

Power is the force behind almost all battles… my stubborn head tried to reason again with the professor – trying to hint that she must be wrong… 

but she stuck to her point and we started with Odysseus and his adventures… 

I thought maybe this formed a good way to introduce the poem in the class, 

that’s why the professor wanted to stick to it… but all these years...

this point stayed in my mind as it was so much beyond my comprehension, how could someone want “home”, everyone has a home (yeah.. inexperienced mind).. didn’t they want adventure, new experiences…

So there it was tucked away in my head all these years – one tiny thought which just didn’t make sense to me

Back to the Present: Older & Wiser (I hope!)

Last two decades after the college incident – I feel have been to make me more sensitive towards the point where instead of power, values of home and love take over.

Second World War, current political conflicts – mainly hover around land, defining space. On outer level, they look like a fight for power, but when one looks closer - Every quest for power is actually a quest for home, of defining home for you and others.

Novels, movies - almost in everything and anything that stirs us, finding way home is an emotion that is more exploited / expressed by artists than any other theme sans that of love. Even in love its almost finding home, its just beside someone other than the physical space defined by some walls or piece of land. 

And finding this space, emotionally and physically is sometimes the most arduous journey we can ever take.