Where is Home?

Home is a notion which has occupied my mind for  a while. Where do we call home? Where do we feel home? Is home the place you are born or the place you've lived most of your life?

Still I haven't found a unique  answer to these questions.

I met people who were born in a country like Lebanon, Iran, Australia and since at least one of their parents were from that country, they're originally from there. They then moved to another country like France, UK, the states or … when young or still a kid, and lived the rest of their lives in the immigrated country. Yet, when they want to visit the country where they were born, they say: “I'm going home” and when they finished their visit in the Home country, they say: “I'm going back to US” or any country for that matter.

I've seen the opposite as well, but the first scenario is more common.

Talking to a friend who had left Iran when he was a kid, he said that since he traveled a lot, he always took his teapot with him, to have a piece of Home wherever he went. “Then I realized that I can find different elements in each place which can convey the notion of Home for me, like the smell of some local fruits and flowers; and so I find my Home in different places.”, he said.

As for me, since one of my self-indulgence is food, cooking myself an Iranian food or drinks, is one habitual hankering for Home; but when I read Persian literature or poems, watch an Iranian movie or listen to some Iranian songs, the notion of Home intensifies and deepens.

There is definitely a physical notion to Home. There is a tramp who has been living in front of the building I live since 10 months ago. He sometimes leaves in day and comes back at night to sleep on the ventilation grill he's been occupying ever since. So this man finds a sense of Home in this particular place that brings him back there every night.

While I was lost in my thoughts, I saw this man in the street and took a shot. What is in this cardboard that defines Home? I couldn't help but wonder