The world is the place I call home

Where are you from? This seemingly harmless question has been the bane of my existence. Others who have relocated frequently as children will relate to this dilemma.

There are those who have grown up in the same house, the same neighbourhood, the same city, with the same friends and studied in one or maybe two schools. They know every nook and corner, every tree and every shopkeeper in their area. They know everybody and everybody knows them. It’s their town.

And then, there are people like me.

Among all the sly, the shy and the brilliant children at school, I was mostly the new kid. We relocated a lot. I studied in a lot of schools and lived in eight cities across India for the first 18 years of my life. Being called to the front of the class every three years to introduce myself has been one of my most dreaded memories till date. I eventually came up with a smart, funny introduction and fared better in the later years.

All this time I have wondered, would life–would I–be different had I grown up in one place? What is home to me? My exploration of this subject threw open the doors to understanding what felt like living out of a suitcase.

Nomads of the day

Moving is an intensely emotional experience which can lead to radical changes in one’s personality. In fact, it ranks highest on most people’s lists of the most stressful events of their lives. You not only leave behind your home and belongings, but also the relationships you invested in. If sorting through your possessions wasn’t bad enough, you also get to choose between things you have accumulated over months or years–what to keep and what to throw away? With every object you pick, comes a wave of nostalgia. And although it is possible to ignore the physical discomfort that packing and moving causes, to snub the erupting nostalgia is practically impossible. When you survive the process, you end up in a new city with everything you own compressed into boxes and bags, ready to be pulled out and repositioned. You end up in a new place–ready to begin again.

Moving elicits a roller coaster of emotions like anxiety, anger, sadness and more which can be hard to fathom. However, while it could be extremely painful at the time, on looking back, it isn’t as bad. For Priya Syriac, an army kid who had to relocate frequently while growing up, the excitement of going to a new place and meeting new people overtook the pain of moving. “There was this fear of a new school, of a new place, but at the same there was excitement. I got very good at packing. Even now I can pack really quickly. I know what I need, I don’t panic when it comes to moving,” says Priya, highlighting the positives of residential mobility.

Disposable friendships?

I rarely formed strong attachments with people because I never really saw the purpose of investing time and effort in short-lived relationships, as I knew I would soon be moving again.

My behaviour was recently legitimised through a new research, according to which people who move a lot tend to view both the things they own and their relationships as disposable.

This is not always the case though. Stanley Jose, a Bengaluru-based real estate consultant grew up in more than eight cities and studied in 10 different schools. He says he has formed strong social ties throughout his life. “I am still in touch with my school friends. These are not fleeting contacts, these are 18-20 years of friendship. I have kept in touch with few close friends right from my school days,” states Stanley.