Home beautiful home

P G Mathew

pgmathew65@yahoo.com

Home is where our heart is.It is where we want to return to after every sojourn.It is not
only a house but an ecosystem where we were born and nurtured. Wherever we roam
in life, home is the destination to rest and relax. Relatives,neighbours friends and the
surroundings including pets and domestic animals form an extention of home in the
larger perspective. No matter the house is a palatial bunglow or a crude hut, we feel
peace of mind and bodily comfort there.Joys and sorrows are shared at home. A joy
shared is multiplied and a sorrow shared gets divided.

At home we shed all formalities and feel the relief of coming back to our original self.
No pretentions, protocols and show offs are required there. We breathe free air. People
staying away from home for years together, on account of job or other
reasons,recognize the value of home. They miss the personal care and concern they
enjoyed back home and out of nostalgia cherish the dream of a day of home-coming, to
settle and live happily for ever.

The relationships at home are natural and biological. Consanguinity is an undeniable

connection. No matter how big you have grown or how lowly you remain, your parents
and siblings would not change. Thanks is a superfluous and unnecesaary word at
home because everybody is bound together by natural ties of obligations and rights.
Blood is thicker than water.

Our habits and tastes take shape at home. The subconscious mind remains attached to
home how different an environment we are accustomed to later on. Talents and skills
bud at home even though they bloom later based on favourable milieu and exposure.
Chidren who get a firm and sound character at home would not be easily distracted by
unruly environment outside.

We find love and care at home. Also one gets guidance and admonitions. No doubt
there could be moments of discord as well. If something untoward happens in the
morning, before sunset we should return to harmony . That should be the thump rule. If
not, the mirth of home would fade away and give rise to discomfort. We have to be
cautious about that.

A biblical fable depicts a prodigal son of a rich household who having taken his portion
of the wealth from the father forcibly, leaves the home and leads a life of
debauchery.Later on he becomes penniless and is forced to starve. Then he
remembers the security he enjoyed back home and returns with the hope of at least
being considered as one among the father’s many servants so that he could survive.
The father seeing the approaching son from a distance runs to meet him, embraces him
and orders for a celebration for the unexpected reunion. That is the pleasure of
homecoming. Hank Williams famous song ‘That beautiful Home’ is about an ethereal
home where man hopes to reach and dwell in eternal solace at the end of a virtuous life.

Home breeds new homes when the siblings move to new houses after marriage. Still
the parent home remains as a connecting link and meeting hub.Home is a beautiful
construct that evolved in the social development of mankind.

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