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    Coming Back to My Hometown

    Grew up in a small town of south Gujarat, surrounded by the slow rhythm of places like Dang, Ahwa, and Vansada.
    As a kid, I didn’t think much about it : the green hills, forest roads, quiet mornings , it was just normal life for me.

    But After moving to a bigger city, everything felt different.
    Faster. Louder. Everyone constantly rushing somewhere.
    chasing things they don;t even know about!

    Coming back home now makes me realize how much I miss that slower pace – mornings where you hear birds instead of traffic, long drives through dense greenery, evenings that don’t feel hurried.

    For me, the quieter stretches around Dang and Vansada's villages and towns hold meaning. There’s something grounding about the landscape here that’s hard to explain unless you’ve spent time in it.

    If anyone else here grew up in a smaller town and later moved to a city, did going back change how you saw your hometown?

    by IcyLadder5067

    43 Comments

    2. deletedpenguin on

      Thanks for sharing what could have otherwise been an overlooked part of the world. Looks very peaceful. I’m in Sydney, and easy to get lost in the noise, the movement and rat race. Fortunately, I live on the outskirts, where I can go for a run or walk in the bush and get lost in the sounds of the birds, the wind in the trees and my own thoughts. Something I think we should try and not take for granted.

    6. Aware_Library3810 on

      Looks like the local welcoming committee was already waiting for you by the road! 🐄🌿

    7. run2chill on

      Totally get it – I live in a village in England, and as much as I love travelling, coming home feels so good.

    8. Spiritual-Matters on

      I didn’t know where this was: western India touching the Arabian Sea and the tip of Pakistan (generally).

    11. Historical_Lab8619 on

      This ‘slow peace’ thing hit me straight in the heart. I am from a village too. Living in the city, when I come back, it feels like instead of traffic, I hear the wind and birds chirping. These are the moments, the peaceful ones, that every person actually needs

    16. affemannen on

      Humans were never designed for a fast paced life. Our brains are still wired as they were the day we left the trees..

      Hence why adhd and other neurotypical diagnoses are on the rise. If we spend our infancy and growing years constantly watching fast videos and millions of stimuli assaulting our senses of course it’s going to be hard to focus on slow mundane tasks.

      The majority of people who spends some time in a slow town close to nature without their eyes glued to a phone all report a higher feeling of content and calm.

      Even research has shown that spending more than a week in green surroundings affect our body and mind in many different positive ways.

      So I totally understand you, and when seeing the pictures I’m quite jealous.

      That looks positively wonderful.

    19. himahekkbye on

      stunning pictures! went to dang for a school trip once. beautiful & incredibly pristine. i hope it stays that way! 

    20. ButterflyFew6607 on

      I’m stuck in an infinity loop to where I’m at right now, yearning that one day I’ll be back to this kind of scenery and “solitude” from where I came from.

    24. AntiKapitAlex on

      I miss parts about the village I grew up in – having a garden in front of the house, and living 2 minutes from nature. But we also lived right in the middle of the village, so a lot of noisy neighbors and talking behind our backs.

      Now I live in a town/city (65k people) but it doesn’t feel as bad. Our view from the apartment is awesome, we can see part of the Bavarian alps. There‘s traffic noises but I used to live right on a Main Street, so it’s ok.

      I still only have a 30min drive to the alps to go skiing, and only 15min to the next mountain for hiking. It’s awesome! Though I’d love to one day live really rural with no or little neighbours.

    26. snark_nerd on

      It looks beautiful; thanks for sharing.

      I think a lot of people would love to live a more peaceful, rural life if it was more possible to earn a living there.

    29. alexvonhumboldt on

      I grew up in a small town called Cabudare in Venezuela. Theres nothing special about it but I do miss my childhood and the life we had there. I went back 2 years ago and it felt like the town was frozen in time. Not much had changed. Same cracks on the concrete and everything was run down. It made me really sad

    31. angelic_nexus on

      Honestly, that’s such a relatable tension to navigate, lol. I grew up in the Northeast and spent my early twenties convinced I needed to see everything before I “settled down,” but now I realize some of my best memories are just sitting on my parents’ porch with a coffee, you know? The world will still be there, but those moments with family won’t and that’s perhaps the more profound realization than any stamp in your passport. The good news is you don’t necessarily have to choose; maybe it’s just about being more intentional with your time rather than trying to do everything at once, lol.

    40. Visible-Resist-1291 on

      I grew up in a small town too. A very traditional one in fact but now I moved to the City, Nairobi and all I can say is that an loving life here😊

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