How I Handled Homesickness After Leaving India
How I Handled Homesickness After Leaving India
How I handled homesickness after leaving India wasn’t easy. I was 13, had no phone, no friends—just memories, DVDs, and small reminders of home.
What Homesickness Really Feels Like After Leaving India
In 2013, I moved from India to the U.S. with my parents.
I was just 13. No phone. No social media. No choice.
Handling homesickness after leaving India at that age wasn’t something I was prepared for. Everything around me felt off—cold, quiet, and unfamiliar.
This is how I unknowingly started handling it—and how those small things helped me feel a little more like myself again.
1. I Let the Feelings Come
Some days I’d feel angry. Other days numb. And sometimes I’d cry for no reason.
I didn’t know how to explain it — I just knew I missed everything from India.
Instead of fighting homesickness, I eventually let myself feel it. That was the first step toward healing.
2. I Went to the Library to Feel Close to Home
Before I got my first laptop, the public library became my lifeline.
I’d go there to watch Bollywood songs, check cricket scores, read news from India, and browse photos of home.
It made me feel connected again — like India wasn’t so far away after all.
Also, before leaving, my uncle gave me two DVDs with Bollywood movies. I rewatched them daily — they became my comfort ritual.
3. I Didn’t Talk About It — But I Daydreamed a Lot
I wasn’t someone who wrote in a diary or sketched in a notebook, but my mind was always back in India.
I’d daydream about old friends, street scenes, and festivals.
My imagination became a safe place to deal with homesickness after leaving India.
4. I Held on to Little Things Like They Were Gold
I had an Indian rupee note folded in my wallet. I never spent it.
I also kept one of my school report cards from India. Just seeing it reminded me of who I was before the move.
To anyone else, they were scraps of paper. To me, they were pieces of home.
Read Adjusting To A New School Abroad to see how I handled emotional challenges in a new environment.
Those moments taught me a lot about how I handled homesickness after leaving India and how much emotional strength it takes to rebuild a sense of home.
5. We Went to Indian Stores to Handle Homesickness After Leaving India
The first time we visited an Indian grocery store in the U.S., it felt like a hug.
Parle-G biscuits, aloo bhujia, and masalas I recognized from their smell alone.
Even if we didn’t buy much, just walking those aisles helped me handle homesickness after leaving India.
6. I Observed More Than I Spoke
I wasn’t very vocal about what I was going through. But I was constantly observing:
How other Indian families behaved.
How American kids acted.
How my parents tried to adjust too.
Little by little, I started adjusting as well — silently, but surely.
7. I Realized It’s Okay to Miss Home — Even Years Later
Even now, so many years later, I still miss India.
But I’ve learned that doesn’t mean I’m stuck in the past or ungrateful for what I have.
It just means I came from somewhere meaningful — and that place still lives in me.
Homesickness isn’t something you outgrow; it’s something you carry with pride.
Final Thoughts
If you’re struggling with homesickness after leaving India, know that you’re not alone. It’s okay to miss where you came from — it means you belong somewhere special. Over time, I’ve learned that how I handled homesickness after leaving India became one of the biggest lessons in self-understanding and emotional strength.
Bonus tip: If you’ve just moved abroad and are feeling lost, create a small daily habit that reminds you of home — like cooking your favorite Indian snack or calling a childhood friend. Little things make a big emotional difference.
If you’re missing home, Dealing With Homesickness: You’re Not Alone might help too.
