Homesick

For the first time in years, I find myself experiencing the not-so-pleasant sensation of being truly homesick. I just finished reading a book called 'The Red Carpet: Stories from Bangalore' that painted a picture of the city I know (knew?). It seemed to capture so perfectly some of the experiences I had and many of the people I knew there that I was torn between the desire to take the book to every friend I have made here and say 'Here - THIS was what my life was like.' and with the feeling that they would read all the wrong things, wouldn't understand what I wanted them to, wouldn't see me in the book and in some essential way, know me better. I'm still torn, debating whether to hold on the hope that those of my friends who might actually be interested in reading the book will find what I did, while logic seems to indicate that they couldn't.

What was almost more interesting was finishing the book on the same day I faced the possibility of being here indefinitely. The same day that that job back home disappeared, the same day I said very glibly 'Oh I'm almost never homesick' and then quoted my parents, according to whom my philosophy in life is 'If I'm not near the one's I love, then I'll love the ones I'm near.' Mere hours later, I find myself reminiscing about 5 rupee pooris from the school canteen, sing-alongs with songs like Sounds of Silence, Marianne and Jamaican Farewell, the latest drama with the latest maid and oddly enough, the energetic chaos of Bangalore traffic. I'm restless now - listening to the miscellaneous Hindi music I have or the songs I grew up with don't seem to be doing much either way. How to deal with homesickness, especially when it's a foreign sensation?