I really loved this piece. I'm a Tamil diaspora returned to the North of Sri Lanka, here to work on some cultural preservation and my own novel. Though I never lived here, I am finding myself moved by things and people and places here that remind me of my childhood. It's a cellular level connectivity I didn't realize I was missing in my life. And I keep finding myself at a loss of how to describe this feeling. Perhaps the word hasn't been invented yet?
Thank you so much for this, Ashanya — and your move sounds incredibly exciting. What you’ve described is such a precise and important feeling, especially for those of us who return to a place that somehow has a hold over us even if we haven’t fully lived it before … that strange tug of recognition mixed with discovery.
I also don’t think English has a word for it either. The closest I’ve come across is hiraeth, the Welsh word for a deep, aching longing for a home or state of being that may never have existed in a literal sense. It gestures toward what you’re describing, but still misses that cellular, almost ancestral resonance you’re getting at.
Wishing you all the clarity as you settle in and work on your novel. I first visited Sri Lanka nearly twenty years ago and loved it, and I’m hoping to make a trip back next year — your comment has only made that desire stronger.
Really interesting question. And difficult to figure out. It might be a good first step to find out how your foreign friends feel about God. And then match up their feelings with similarities in the Hindu religion. I am a supporter and well wisher for India because I think it's culture backed up by diverse religious beliefs are hugely beneficial in offering the rest of the world survival advice and some of the best ways to achieve some contentment and or peace of mind. Christian theology stresses letting or helping God dwell within you by living life by His precepts. Hindi religion stresses that God is inherently within you from the day of your birth. Eastern culture values all life and the spiritual existence of all beings not just human beings. Western culture centers on human beings because God created man in his image. Western culture values human higher life intelligence. But Eastern culture more easily values the supposedly lower intelligence of dogs, cats, elephants and monkeys. Eastern religious philosophy more easily accepts the spiritual goodness side of animals or the supposedly good human qualities that also exist in animals. The savage qualities of animals also exist in humans despite their humans supposedly higher intelligence. So if God created man in his image than he must have also created an elephant that has excellent spiritual qualities in his image as well. Eastern culture is very fluid in recognizing similarities in spiritual goodness. An American doctor is religious and travels all throughout India and studies it's culture and Hindu beliefs and sees no conflict or huge differences. He considers the different religions as all part of the same fundamental reality or spiritual existence. The higher overall truth is that spiritually, there is no us and them. There is only the collective "We" so if one steers away from differences into shared basic similarities we are all in the same boat stuck with each other in some part of celestial planetary infinity. So there are some who will say man is the center of the Universe. But man-centered cultures are fragile and don't last. The cultures that best survive are the ones that value the spiritual intelligence of all beings and creatures. That's how I would explain it. Of course some would say rubbish. But others might begin to understand. Hope this helps.
I really loved this piece. I'm a Tamil diaspora returned to the North of Sri Lanka, here to work on some cultural preservation and my own novel. Though I never lived here, I am finding myself moved by things and people and places here that remind me of my childhood. It's a cellular level connectivity I didn't realize I was missing in my life. And I keep finding myself at a loss of how to describe this feeling. Perhaps the word hasn't been invented yet?
Thank you so much for this, Ashanya — and your move sounds incredibly exciting. What you’ve described is such a precise and important feeling, especially for those of us who return to a place that somehow has a hold over us even if we haven’t fully lived it before … that strange tug of recognition mixed with discovery.
I also don’t think English has a word for it either. The closest I’ve come across is hiraeth, the Welsh word for a deep, aching longing for a home or state of being that may never have existed in a literal sense. It gestures toward what you’re describing, but still misses that cellular, almost ancestral resonance you’re getting at.
Wishing you all the clarity as you settle in and work on your novel. I first visited Sri Lanka nearly twenty years ago and loved it, and I’m hoping to make a trip back next year — your comment has only made that desire stronger.
Lovely read, Nishad. The piece does such a great job of capturing the nuances and contradictions in all things Indian.
Thanks so much Rohan. Yeah it was a struggle, but did try my best. :)
Sundar
Hehe thank you!
Really interesting question. And difficult to figure out. It might be a good first step to find out how your foreign friends feel about God. And then match up their feelings with similarities in the Hindu religion. I am a supporter and well wisher for India because I think it's culture backed up by diverse religious beliefs are hugely beneficial in offering the rest of the world survival advice and some of the best ways to achieve some contentment and or peace of mind. Christian theology stresses letting or helping God dwell within you by living life by His precepts. Hindi religion stresses that God is inherently within you from the day of your birth. Eastern culture values all life and the spiritual existence of all beings not just human beings. Western culture centers on human beings because God created man in his image. Western culture values human higher life intelligence. But Eastern culture more easily values the supposedly lower intelligence of dogs, cats, elephants and monkeys. Eastern religious philosophy more easily accepts the spiritual goodness side of animals or the supposedly good human qualities that also exist in animals. The savage qualities of animals also exist in humans despite their humans supposedly higher intelligence. So if God created man in his image than he must have also created an elephant that has excellent spiritual qualities in his image as well. Eastern culture is very fluid in recognizing similarities in spiritual goodness. An American doctor is religious and travels all throughout India and studies it's culture and Hindu beliefs and sees no conflict or huge differences. He considers the different religions as all part of the same fundamental reality or spiritual existence. The higher overall truth is that spiritually, there is no us and them. There is only the collective "We" so if one steers away from differences into shared basic similarities we are all in the same boat stuck with each other in some part of celestial planetary infinity. So there are some who will say man is the center of the Universe. But man-centered cultures are fragile and don't last. The cultures that best survive are the ones that value the spiritual intelligence of all beings and creatures. That's how I would explain it. Of course some would say rubbish. But others might begin to understand. Hope this helps.