Yearning For The Mountains: Apprehending The Profound Longing And Persistent Desire To Return Back To The Root In Nini Lungalang’s “Going Home”

Abstract

This paper aims to study the lifestyle of people dwelling in the two different worlds of the city and the mountains, through the select poem for analysis, “Going Home”, by Nini Lungalang. Lifestyle and environment can influence and affect a person’s life and behavior, and model and fashion it accordingly. The lifestyle, ethical values, ideologies and code of conduct of the humans living in the cities is incompatible and directly opposed to the lifestyle, code of conduct, ideologies and ethical values of the same humans residing in the lap of nature, in the mountains and valleys. Life in the mountains is comparatively simple and peaceful than life in the big cities, which is always challenging and demanding, with never-ending cut-throat competitions and hustle and bustle. There is a much bigger competition and tussle going on among the city people for almost everything in the cities, and the leading cause behind this ceaseless competition is their greed and growing materialism. In the poem “Going Home”, Nini Lungalang has tried to portray the vexations, fright and revulsion of her poetic persona who became a part of the terrifying city life, and this inevitably resulted into a desperate longing and persistent desire to go back to her native mountains, far away from the horrifying city life. Thus, this paper aims to explore how Nini Lungalang through her simple and poignant way of writing, with innocent tone and efficient language, has depicted the above specified issue in the select poem by astutely rejecting the ways and world of the city people.