StatusHometown and village status
For the town that made you, the village you return to and the house you miss from another city or another country. Lines about lanes, fields, bus stands and the feeling of reaching home.
English
You can leave the town. It does not leave you.
Home is where the shopkeeper knows your father's name.
Booked the ticket. Already smelling the kitchen.
Small town, slow evenings, everybody's business. I miss all of it.
The bus turned at the old tree, and I was ten years old again.
Big city for the salary. Hometown for the soul.
My village has one road and every memory I own.
The lane is narrower than I remember. The welcome is wider.
Back where the tea is sweeter and the news travels faster.
Far from home on a festival. Calling it early tonight.
Left with one bag. Return with the same heart.
Nobody here asks what I do. They ask whose child I am.
Leaving home again. It never gets lighter.
हिन्दी
गाँव की मिट्टी, सबसे महँगा इत्र।
शहर ने रोटी दी, गाँव ने पहचान।
घर जा रहा हूँ, बस यही ख़बर है।
अपने शहर की गलियाँ आज भी नाम से बुलाती हैं।
स्टेशन पर उतरते ही लगा, साँस वापस आ गई।
त्योहार पर घर से दूर हूँ, मन वहीं है।
गाँव छोटा है, पर दिल बड़ा रखता है।
माँ ने पूछा कब आओगे, और टिकट बुक हो गया।
घर से निकलते समय हर बार गला भर आता है।
ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
ਪਿੰਡ ਦੀ ਮਿੱਟੀ, ਸਭ ਤੋਂ ਮਹਿੰਗੀ ਖ਼ੁਸ਼ਬੂ।
ਸ਼ਹਿਰ ਨੇ ਰੋਟੀ ਦਿੱਤੀ, ਪਿੰਡ ਨੇ ਪਛਾਣ।
ਪਿੰਡ ਚੱਲੇ ਆਂ, ਬੱਸ ਇਹੀ ਖ਼ਬਰ ਹੈ।
ਪਿੰਡ ਦੀ ਸੱਥ, ਬਜ਼ੁਰਗਾਂ ਦੀਆਂ ਗੱਲਾਂ, ਅਸਲੀ ਯੂਨੀਵਰਸਿਟੀ।
ਪਰਦੇਸਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਬੈਠੇ ਆਂ, ਦਿਲ ਪਿੰਡ ਦੀਆਂ ਗਲੀਆਂ ਵਿੱਚ।
ਮੋਟਰ ਦਾ ਪਾਣੀ, ਖੇਤਾਂ ਦੀ ਹਵਾ, ਹੋਰ ਕੀ ਚਾਹੀਦਾ।
ਬੇਬੇ ਨੇ ਪੁੱਛਿਆ ਕਦੋਂ ਆਉਣਾ, ਟਿਕਟ ਕਟਾ ਲਈ।
ਪਿੰਡੋਂ ਤੁਰਨ ਲੱਗਿਆਂ ਹਰ ਵਾਰ ਮਨ ਭਰ ਆਉਂਦਾ।
Nothing matches. Try a shorter word, or choose All.
Who these lines are for
Students in hostels, people working in big cities, families settled abroad, and anyone on the train or bus home before a festival. Missing home is one of the few feelings nearly everyone in your contact list has had, so these lines get replies from people you have not spoken to in years.
Make it yours
The power of a hometown line is in the proper noun. Do not write "my village". Write its name. Then add the one thing that is only there: the samosa shop near the bus stand, the peepal tree at the turn, the canal, the school gate, the sound of the gurdwara or temple in the morning. "Phagwara bus stand, 6 am, hot tea" will be understood by every person who has ever stood there.
Good moments to post
- The journey home: the ticket, the window, the first familiar signboard.
- The first meal after reaching.
- The day you leave again. Those lines write themselves.
- A festival spent away, with a photo from last year.
What to avoid
- Running down the city you live in now. It feeds you, and your colleagues are reading.
- Showing the house front, number or lane name clearly when you are posting that the family is away.
- Jokes that mock the way people speak back home.
Before you post
- In Punjabi, "pind" carries more than any English word can. Use the Gurmukhi lines as they are.
Questions
Are there lines for people living abroad?
Yes. Several lines here are written for those far from home. Change the place names to your own.