Do you relate to one of the characters? How? Why?

After every holiday, whenever I had to return to hostel, I had some kind of agitation; it may perhaps be the grief of leaving home or can it possibly be the sorrow of being apart from my mother. I feel the same kind of gloomy situation author Chang-rae Lee use to experience when he had to leave his mother in the essay “Coming Home Again”. I also feel the same kind of bliss Lee use to feel while returning home again. I remember home as a place where ever my mother is. Intimacy with my mother always makes me feel frail and miss her a lot. Like Lee the relationship with my mother is very cherish and I do believe that she is the one who makes the house, a home.  

In traditional fashion, she was the house accountant, the maid, the launderer, the disciplinarian, the drive, the secretary, and of course the cook. (125) Author’s description about his mother exactly matches with how I want to describe my mother. I can tell that author was very close to his mother from the way he describes her, her food, her habit and how he use to hang around her. When he is describing the moments with her mother he seemed to use very gentle word and the word itself is blooming with the pleasantness. I like to relate myself to the author because I have same kind of affection toward my mother. Whenever I try to describe my mother I would prefer the way Lee uses,………………….She is the one who taught me to walk, she is the one who taught to talk and disciplined me and when I was young enough she did taught me to cook.

Most of my life, I spend it in a boarding school. I only used to see my parents in every two months. Now in my adulthood I wished that I would have spent more time with my parents. My childhood passed without even getting close to my parents and without their guidance. Only when I was in ninth grade my mother began to realize that she is missing the important part of her life, that is being with me and taking care of me. So, she decided to take me out of boarding school. I loved to spend time with my mother in the kitchen. I used to sit on the kitchen table and do my assignments while, she used to cook food for us. Whenever she takes a break from cooking she used to put her hand on my head and used to ask how far I had completed my assignment and sometime use to correct it if there was any mistake. Her warm damp hand over my head always used makes me feel like I am home safe and sound. The smell of garlic and spices from her hand was always pleasant.

Though there were only three members in my family, my mom used to make us feel like big family by cooking all those varieties of dishes. She always used to cook the food I like even though I did not have any particular preference for food. I use to enjoy whatever food she cooks. My dad was the only one who used to complain her food. At that time I did not know any good way to show dad how important each and every dishes she cook was. 

In Asian culture children are mostly close to their mother. So, they develop some kind of fondness towards them. I was fond of my mother too. I use to follow her wherever she goes and help her in shopping and cooking. I tried to copy her dish but could not bring the same taste and color as her foods. Even while I am here, I call her and ask for recipes, I am not able to bring the same taste. I always miss while cooking. Even though I follow the exact recipe the food never had same taste. At that time I thought that I did not follow the recipe exactly, but at the end I figure out that it was not the food that was delicious, it was her love towards her family and passion of cooking for family made the food delicious.