My Home Doesn’t Speak

It is hard for me to connect to people from different cultures. Longing for home starts as I step out of it. Coming here I had not expected to connect with the people of this distant land, but my interaction with the Cham community was different. They made me think of my homeland Kashmir,  a landlocked valley considered an alien place caught in a turmoil for several decades. It is hot here, but I can still feel the coldness of my land. Physically, I might be here, but in my mind I am stuck in the narrow lanes of downtown Kashmir.