Home: The Perfect Place To Be

My idea of a perfect home is all about a cozy corner, with my family giggling in joy, with nothing to worry about. It is a place where I can play all day with my brothers and sisters, where my mom cooks our favourite dish and dad makes us laugh so much that it hurts. I used to live in a home like that in Kolkata, India, where I was born and lived for seven years. We never called our extended family “extended,” rather we were all one big family and cousins as brothers and sisters. There were twenty people staying in the same house. It was as if we were on vacation all day. My mom and my aunties took turns taking care of us, cooking, helping us with our studies. My dad and my uncles took turns going to the market and doing other household work. We watched movies together on a big giant television on weekends. We went on trips together. We fought and made up. We laughed and cried and played together, and most importantly, we loved each other so much that we hated to part ways at night while going to bed. Our granny used to tell us Indian mythological stories sometimes too. My favourite was when we went on trips together to a beach or a train station. We chatted so much that we were at a loss of words. We ate so much that our stomachs ached. Luckily, we took a lot of pictures together, which I now look at if I want to go back to those days in my mind. Every family deserves to have a house, so they can gather around talking to each other and do other family activities and feel safe and comfortable.