John

Ever returned home one day, and still felt homesick?

It’s hard to wrap your head around it. Is it nostalgia? Has your home changed?

If you love motorcycle road trips, nostalgic travel stories, or miss your childhood home, this journey will resonate with you.

You can also check out the YouTube video about my journey from Pune to Rajkot

Reason for My Homesickness – A Book!

I moved to a new city for college in 2016, and since then, I’ve stayed in two different cities away from home. Let me be clear, I loved the freedom, and going back home once every year initially felt cumbersome.

It had become a routine, going home for Christmas every year without giving it much thought, and like most people, even I took it for granted.

Last winter, however, before going home for Christmas, I had started reading ‘Return to the Little Coffee Shop of Kabul’. I felt nostalgic as I waded through the book, but soon that nostalgia turned into homesickness. For the first time in years, and in some part due to the book, I yearned to go back to my childhood home.

“Sunny felt for the girl, but at the same time envied her heading back to Kabul in less than a month. But perhaps it was just Sunny who felt homesick…”

This time, I decided that going home should be a road trip, with my girlfriend on my motorcycle. The thrill of the road trip elevated my nostalgia for home.

Total distance – 1200+ kilometers.

A Ride Down the Memory Lane

 

I only recently started going on motorcycle tours, one of the most freeing experiences of my life. Riding Griffyn, my motorcycle had become meditative.

Our motorcycle trip home started from Pune on a cold early morning at 5:00 a.m. amidst a dense fog. Our path ahead was blocked by a truck that had overturned right on the narrow entry for bikes and smaller vehicles as bikes are not allowed on the expressway.

Still, due to the accident, we were allowed to take the expressway until the first exit which took us back on the correct path.

We reached Mumbai, the city of organized chaos. It does feel daunting at first but having stayed here in the past, the chaos felt familiar. We reached Surat in the evening, our first pitstop before continuing home, and my girlfriend’s father and her sister were there to welcome us.

We stayed at her place for 2 days and finally, it was time to take the ferry. I was excited about it, as it would be my first time taking my motorcycle on the ferry. It was an amazing experience.

The Ferry Experience

The overall ferry experience from Surat to Bhavnagar was smooth, check-in was quick and, since we were on a bike, we could bypass the long queue of cars. We just waited for the boarding to start which was well managed

Now it was time for a 4-hour voyage before we take the last stretch of the road to reach home. We disembarked at Bhavnagar port and soon hit the roads of Gujarat which turned out to be sublime.

After 4 hours of a smooth ride, we were on the outskirts of Rajkot, and in the blink of an eye we reached home.

Homesick at Home

“You know sometimes a place becomes more than just a place in our minds. We let it become who we are…”

Glimpses of home from my memories flashed in my mind during the motorcycle trip, memories I forgot I had or thought were worthless.

Even after coming home, I felt homesick, for the home lost in the past. I was overwhelmed with those bittersweet memories as I walked around the yard.

I remembered the swing I fell from, multiple times, tied between two tall trees which since long been cut down.

Or, when I used to wear skates and get my dog, Tiger to pull me and we would crash together into a wall or a tree.

He passed away when I was away from home for college. There are, however some sweeter moments too, still making it feel like home.

“That first whiff of cardamom drifting up from the cup had been enough to erase the years she’d been away.”

My mom baking the Christmas cake with my girlfriend.

Or my parents, who got even older still scolding me just like when I was a kid. Or my room, halting time and remaining unchanged.

Or the stray animals still wandering into our garden, one of the greenest in the street.

Memories Make a Home 

I realized I was feeling nostalgic and homesick for a home lost to time, where I spent my happy childhood years with my friends and family whom I now miss dearly. My generation, I believe, was one of the last ones to experience the true joys of childhood at home.

So now, how do I make myself feel at home in a new city?

When I fill the gaps left by the changing times with my memories because as I say,

‘Home is where memories have been made!’

Thank you to the book, ‘Return to the Little Coffee Shop of Kabul’ for making me nostalgic and getting me on this road trip down memory lane.

Have you ever returned home after years, only to find that time had changed everything important? When did the nostalgia hit? Share your experience – I’d love to read it.