HOME... A CONVERSATION

Donskobar Junisha Khongwir is an educator and visual artist.

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She graduated from AJK MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia University, and is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mass Media at St. Anthony's College, Shillong. In addition to teaching, she serves as curator at the Northeast India AV Archive, where she focuses on the preservation and dissemination of archival materials, ensuring that the region's rich audiovisual history is accessible to scholars, artists, and local communities

Karen Lalrindiki Donoghue teaches at the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong. She is currently a Fulbright-Nehru postdoctoral fellow at Cornell University, focusing on the community history of the Mizo diaspora in the United States with an emphasis on transnational identity and solidarity. She is a member of the executive committee of the Oral History Association of India

HOME

is a difficult idea

For some it has form—a structure, a place

For others, it is people—family, friends, a lover

For some it is the act of arriving

For others, it is a destination within

For others yet, home is found in leaving.

Dearest K,

You’re often in my thoughts.

I keep returning to those last lines from your poem

For others yet, home is found in leaving.

Now that you’ve left Shillong, I wonder if those words echo differently for you.

Do they bring clarity, or are you still trying to make sense of what leaving means?

As for me, I’m still trying to grasp what home truly is a place where one feels loved and cared for.

Lately, my mind drifts to Laitlyngkot.

I don’t know if returning there will restore my memories or rekindle that sense of belonging, but I do find myself wanting to build a home of my own there —a physical one this time.

I imagine tending to a small kitchen garden, an orchard, and perhaps a creative space tucked away in the backyard.