Of houses and homes....

                 When all hostel students were asked to vacate immediately,  I decided to camp at a relative's place. My stay here made me realize a few things. It had been a while since I'd spent much time at home. Even the holidays lasted not more than ten to fifteen days. Staying here for the past three days had initiated a new chain of thought in my mind. I did a little research and this is what I came up with.
                 The routine that households follow these days have made them similar to bed and breakfasts. With at least two members of the family working long hours and a few members being college students, it seems like there is no family time in this routine. IT company shifts vary a lot. These employees get home late at night, exhausted and sleep in late in the mornings. They wake up barely in time to go back to office. The little time they get before they crawl into bed at night, they spend on their computers, trying to have an online social life at the least. By the time they come home, the older members of the family are probably asleep. There is barely any contact between them, leave alone quality time to spend.

              Other working members of the family are burdened with their responsibilities and any idea they have of spending an evening with their kids is ruined by traffic jams and extra hours on the job. More often than not, people end up snapping at others solely due to the exhaustion they feel.
             Students, especially college students, have another tale to tell. Most engineering colleges work from 8.30 am to 4.00 pm. The time they spend travelling adds to their exhaustion. All they can do is crawl into bed as soon as they can. Students who try to take part in other activities find even lesser time to spend with their families. Sometimes, they just give up trying. Some may say it is all about balancing our life accordingly, but from what I've seen, most people don't seem to find that balance.
            I have seen parents try to stay up late just to find some time to talk to their children. I have seen children trying to help their parents out with their work in order to spend some time with them.It seems as if, day by day, homes have lost their essence. The essence of family and love, the time and space for loved ones; it is said a family turns a house into a home.
            The people living in the rural areas on the other hand spend much more time with the family. Often, most members of the family work together at the same place. They have no electricity in their homes but they light candles and lamps and spend time with each other.They have their meals together, they communicate and share their lives. The bonds they share are way stronger than any of us have seen. The effort they take to spend time with each other is inexplicable. They are family.

           We need to wake up and realize that our homes are turning into houses. The time we spend chasing our jobs and studies is not nearly as important as the time we must be spending with our loved ones. We need to make the effort to turn them back into homes. Because where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.