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Bharat Meri Jaan
A love letter, my past, and reclaiming ties to the motherland.
Bharat, meri jaan*, I didn’t realize I had missed you.
The warmth of the air, the comfort in family, and my identity being accepted were all at peace. It’s the peace and a part of my heart, I had forgotten.
I wasn’t in a place of constant resentment, I had time to live a slow life.
I had time to go back into the time that had passed, sit down, and breathe again.
If anyone knows what this feels like, it’s incomparable.
It’s something the concrete buildings of Manhattan can’t give you.
While I know your progress is stagnant, and people move abroad for the opportunity, the same people are too accustomed to something that people miss here.
When I landed at Delhi Airport, I was in disbelief.
I didn’t travel internationally in 11 years, facing circumstances someone would read in a book. I had no explanations left in me.
Our hands used to be tied, but my mother was finally given a chance to repair the broken heart caused by my…