GOLDEN YEARS

This Mental Health Awareness Month, Is nostalgia good for you?

- BARRY RODGERS

When Mumbai-based graphic designer Neeraj Anand visited his hometown of Jaipur in March, he was greeted by the familiar smell of pyaz ki kachori wafting through his apartment. It immediately put him at ease. The whiff of fuller's earth permeated through his room, and the sound of his mother's favourite bhajans reminded him of a simpler time. These nostalgia-infused recollections gave him the sign he needed that returning home was a good decision.

These seemingly harmless triggers brought about by a wave of nostalgia prompted him to ask his reporting manager for a permanent work-from-home arrangement. Initially hesitant, given that most employers are eager for their employees to once again work in person, Anand's manager relented. "I suddenly missed my childhood, missed the familiarity of home. I had been dealing with severe bouts of loneliness, especially after my mother left after her short visits to Mumbai. I would live alone, which sparked a longing to return to my roots," he says, adding: "While adjusting to life at home as an adult can be difficult, the sense of familiarity has helped me overcome the depressed-like state I was grappling, which was only exacerbated by the pandemic.”