Some people say home is where the heart is, but the heart is inside your body pumping blood, somewhere beneath your ribcage. According to the dictionary, home is a dwelling place or a place of origin. I believe that home is simply a state of mind. Home is a feeling.

Think of how you used to feel as a child, when you got on the school bus or when one of your parents or a nanny came to get you at the close of school.
Do you remember that feeling you used to have on the last day of the school term or semester, as you packed your things to leave the dormitory or hostel?
You have just arrived from abroad, maybe from a vacation or business trip. You walk out of the arrival lounge, into your car or taxi and that feeling just hits you.

Sometimes, for me, the "home" feeling begins with the heat and B.O* mixing at MMA**, past the anything-to-declare
a.k.a "Aunty,wetin u bring come?***" and then out into the open. I'm home! The scorching sun kisses me, the humidity hugs me and the dust tickles my nostrils. Indeed, I'm at home. Even when I close my eyes, I can still tell that I'm home, The groans and creaks, as the vehicle meets the ever-so-bumpy roads. The whistles and cries of street traders: imported apples, GSM recharge cards, bottled water, pure water****,
The house feels so familiar even with the lack of electricity, the maddening noise of the generator (or for you lucky ones the gentle hum of the noiseless generator). The mosquitoes also organize a welcome party.
The soups and stews so hot and spicy with pepper, the meat is tougher but so tasty. It’s good to be home.

For those of you still do not know what brought you back to this country after so many years abroad (or overseas as some of our people call it). Are you here to join in Aunty Dora's***** rebranding exercise?
What else could make one leave a more organized country, the luxury of smoother roads, regular pipe-borne water and constant electricity (not from NEPA, oops PHCN)? Could it be the cold?

It's that awesome feeling called HOME.


GLOSSARY
*- Body odour
**- An international airport in my country
***- What have you brought for us?/ glorified beggars
****- “drinking water” sealed in polythene sachets
*****- The Minister for Information in my country (she’s also a pharmacist)

P.S. : If home was where one was happy, I’d be living in a theme park, thank you. I’m just thinking!