Echoes of a Distant Home - A Sense of Familiarity and Nostalgia
Recently, I had the chance to visit Kanpur for a work trip. Knowing myself, I would never have wanted to step foot there of my own accord unless prompted. Being in Ashoka’s outreach, when I was told that I would be taking care of Uttar Pradesh, my heart sank to depths even the Titanic could not have imagined. How I cursed the fact that no matter where I am in life, UP seems to come back to me in ways I can’t even imagine. Sometimes good, sure, but mostly in ways that just annoy me a tad bit. Fortunately or unfortunately, Kanpur is my hometown. Kanpur is the city where I was born. It is the city where I grew up. It is the city where even today, I can claim that I have spent the formidable years of my life. Yet, it was never home. It was nothing more than a city where I felt caged, and every moment of my teenage life, I yearned to get out. In fact, for the first few weeks of my first semester in college, I tried to slyly hide the fact that I was originally from Kanpur, instead giving eve
