every hotel on every vacation showcases Thai Art among the greens that abound

We’ve been here in Bangkok city, now running into our sixteen month, and it’s familiar and homely today. I’m conversant in Thai, which helps hugely in getting by. Yet there was a time when every Soi (street) and Thanon (main road) felt strange and unfamiliar.  My eyes wore a misty and heavy look, and the heart, overflowing with a sentiment of having given up something wonderful in exchange for life in foreign terrain that could never be home.

March 2019, all that met my vision, wore a strangeness and felt alien; the smells, the canals, the houses and the tiny streets along blocks, that were oh-so-crowded with traffic and people, at almost any hour of the day. Street vendors lined most pavements heavily, laying claim to spaces that the pedestrian handed over willingly, in exchange for an afternoon meal. The long-stay apartment motel we had been put up at, was comfortable but stiflingly hotellike. An extended stay at a motel simply doesn’t work for me, I observed. I was lonely and homesick. I yearned for the familiarity of my homeland, along with the friends I had left back ‘home’.

Food stalls arise, and conjure up delicious fare every afternoon- steaming rolls, stewpots and hot curries

Every street gets busier around certain times of the day, but it is never ever quiet at any given time- buzz is the word!

Forward to sixteen months later : August 2020

I’m at home, in a new apartment, having moved here before the Pandemic hit us this March 2020. From an oversized apartment along Sukhumvit’s Soi 20, we chose a smaller and more compact dwelling closer to the man, my husband’s office. It’s all good.

This street wears an allure that spells – ‘I’m the one with the best eateries and condominiums, and go all the way up to Lumpini Park, and behold a wide pavement, on a one-way street which means less traffic too!’ It’s all good.

The all-pervading smells are all too familiar, heightening around 12 noon, on up till 2.30 pm, gradually dying down in a trail of aromas that still hang in the air long afterward, and I’m immune to them now. Sawadee Khaa resound everywhere; how I love its cadence, a greeting whose sweetness melts . Attending a Thai language school early on certainly perked up matters, and helped me find global friends who were keen to make Bangkok their home, like I did too. We connected.

I know which mall to go to for food and wine, which one for cheap shoes, bags and beachwear; which one to hang out in to hide in, on a hot day, when I’ve already clocked five thousand steps in humid and depleting weather. It’s all good.

What happens when you move to a new land? What parts of you get called upon to quickly adjust to a level of comfort- so that the pain of departure and longing recede to a place of forgetting?

There’s no quick remedy for ‘Heimweh’, a beautiful German expression which loosely translates to  ‘Homepain’ and otherwise what in English is  homesickness. Recreating a home in a new country- it’s no mean task.

The few tricks that did it for me without much ado:

1. Walking around aimlessly :

on Soi Sukhumvit (the main downtown area which stretches beyond hundreds of streets) was an activity undertaken to gain quick familiarity with my surroundings. I shed kilos, as I shed my aloneness. The gaiety of Bangkok streets is legendary.

I lose myself in the physical being of the new city- permit it to wrap and embrace me via its meandering alleyways. This lends me time to find myself again, in a more familiar posture. I watch people- as I watch my step. Shapes out of a nothingness at first, begin to form, as I gain access to a city’s innards. The transformation is subtle; it’s a process. I arm myself with patience, a bag with a bottle of water, dark glasses and an open heart.

I always returned to our apartment with a goodie, from a street vendor- a consumable, or a local artisan’s handiwork.

2. Eating local foods from street vendors :

I was circumspect, but found all my classmates happily munching on locally- brewed stews, fried sausages, dry fruits, fresh fruits without a moment’s thought. Everything was fresh and delicious I discovered. I thrived on these quick grabs.

3. Spending moments in local shops and visiting the library:

An exhilarating exercise and instant connections happened with the local populace. I was in a hurry to feel at home, and all of these worked wonders on my psyche.

4. Walking in the parks (Lumpini, Benchakiti & Benchasiri) :

Is a great way of uniting your spirit with the skies above and the lush greenery of Bangkok. People are very health-conscious and old and young alike take to the parks in the evenings. Hanging around a park is a fabulous way of stretching your mind’s corridors, as well as your body’s stiffening postures. It remains a favorite activity of mine.

5. Playing the Tourist :

visiting well-known monuments wasn’t us. We had already visited Bangkok many years ago and been there, done that. I wanted to drive around and look at those gulleys, and buildings that were remnants of Thailand’s past. Bangkok is a tourist’s delight, but my senses wanted to touch and grab the essence of the city- its heart. We drove around- and absorbed. It’s part of the process of homing in.

‘Home’ wherever one is, is a mental framework, which needs to be built with patience and care. I’ve come home, and when I’m allowed to travel, I shall still go Home in India.

©kamalininatesanAug2020