HYDERABAD: Home is where the heart is. And, Indian-American singer-songwriter-filmmaker Amanda Sodhi very recently realised that her heart has always been in India. In search of home, she downsized to one suitcase and got going exploring city after city and culture after culture.
Born and brought up in Washington DC, she moved to Los Angeles when she was 23 for her career. “I grew up in a toxic environment full of unbelievable restrictions. As a child, my coping mechanism was to envision a ‘fantasy’ future in which, as soon as I became an adult, I’d break free, move to India and pursue a creative career. This thought was what kept me alive. Confronting my parents was a scary process when I was 23, I mustered the courage to move to Los Angeles. When I turned 25, I gathered the strength to stand up to my family and relocate to Mumbai,” she says.
Eventually, Amanda found herself shuttling between Kolkata and Delhi, thanks to her job which does not require her to work out of a specific location. All she needs is a good Internet connection. “Despite having lived in multiple cities, I have never felt a sense of belonging anywhere. I have had no sense of ‘home’, of a place to return to. Usually, people define ‘home’ as the place where their family is. Being estranged from my family, I have struggled in defining what home means to me and where it is.”
Cut to Diwali in 2020. Amanda was sitting all alone in a shikara in the Dal Lake (Srinagar) when an idea struck her. “Rather than feeling isolated in one city and sulking, why not consciously uproot myself month after month across different cities in India and see what happens when I let go?” she thought. And that’s how her search for home and belonging took off.
She first decided to cover 12 cities across 12 months. But the pandemic played spoilsport and she is now down to 10 cities. July marks her seventh month of this journey, which Amanda is chronicling in her book. She also plans to release a song with footage from all the 10 places, which she has captured on her phone.
The seeker spent the whole of January in Hyderabad, February in Andaman, March in Ooty and April-May in Kashmir. While in the City of Pearls, she conducted a few creative writing workshops on-ground. As per her plan, she left to continue her journey but had a breakdown, which brought her back to Hyderabad towards May-end. “Hyderabad is a very welcoming city. I like how co-living spaces exist here. I love the cafes, the food, the book markets and the chilled-out vibe.” After this, she left for Hampi and is now in Manali. While Amanda still continues her search for home, she’s trying to learn and unlearn what family, home and belonging means.