{"id":128996,"date":"2026-10-15T07:25:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T07:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/naushad-parpia-remembering-the-places-we-call-home\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T07:25:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T07:25:17","slug":"naushad-parpia-remembering-the-places-we-call-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/naushad-parpia-remembering-the-places-we-call-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Naushad Parpia: Remembering the Places We Call Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_89 ez-toc-wrap-left counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/naushad-parpia-remembering-the-places-we-call-home\/#What_does_it_mean_to_remember_a_place\" >What does it mean to remember a place?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/naushad-parpia-remembering-the-places-we-call-home\/#Why_do_neighborhood_storefronts_hold_so_many_memories\" >Why do neighborhood storefronts hold so many memories?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/naushad-parpia-remembering-the-places-we-call-home\/#How_do_inherited_recipes_preserve_home\" >How do inherited recipes preserve home?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/naushad-parpia-remembering-the-places-we-call-home\/#What_can_public_transportation_teach_us_about_belonging\" >What can public transportation teach us about belonging?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/naushad-parpia-remembering-the-places-we-call-home\/#Why_do_family_sayings_and_forgotten_photographs_matter\" >Why do family sayings and forgotten photographs matter?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/naushad-parpia-remembering-the-places-we-call-home\/#What_objects_do_people_keep_when_their_lives_change\" >What objects do people keep when their lives change?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/naushad-parpia-remembering-the-places-we-call-home\/#How_can_you_start_preserving_your_own_memories_of_home\" >How can you start preserving your own memories of home?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/naushad-parpia-remembering-the-places-we-call-home\/#Frequently_asked_questions\" >Frequently asked questions<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/naushad-parpia-remembering-the-places-we-call-home\/#What_is_place-based_memory\" >What is place-based memory?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/naushad-parpia-remembering-the-places-we-call-home\/#Why_do_ordinary_objects_trigger_strong_emotions\" >Why do ordinary objects trigger strong emotions?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/naushad-parpia-remembering-the-places-we-call-home\/#How_can_writing_help_us_remember_home\" >How can writing help us remember home?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/naushad-parpia-remembering-the-places-we-call-home\/#Who_is_Naushad_Parpia\" >Who is Naushad Parpia?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/naushad-parpia-remembering-the-places-we-call-home\/#Final_thoughts\" >Final thoughts<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Naushad-Parpia-Remembering-the-Places-We-Call-Home-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Naushad-Parpia-Remembering-the-Places-We-Call-Home-1-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Quick summary:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> We remember home through small, repeated details: the smell of a kitchen, the route to the subway, a phrase a grandparent always said. This post covers how storefronts, inherited recipes, commutes, family sayings, forgotten photographs, and saved objects keep a place alive, and offers five ways to preserve your own.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ask someone about the home they grew up in and they rarely begin with the address. They begin with the hum of a radiator, onions softening in oil, the creak of the third stair. Home is mostly a collection of small, dependable details, and the building is just where they happened.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This explains why losing a place feels so odd. The building may still stand and the street may still be on the map, but something is gone. What vanished is the routine: the shopkeeper who knew your order, the bus that always ran late, the pot on the stove every Sunday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NaushadParpiaWriter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>Naushad Parpia<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a Brooklyn-based writer and storyteller, keeps returning to this ground. He doesn\u2019t present himself as an expert. He\u2019s a curious participant who notices the emotional history inside ordinary routines, and his questions sound modest but aren\u2019t: what do we carry with us, and why do we keep it?<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_does_it_mean_to_remember_a_place\"><\/span><b>What does it mean to remember a place?<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Remembering a place means recalling the senses, habits, and relationships that belonged to it, not just its layout. The term for this is place attachment, the emotional bond between a person and a setting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Place memory also has layers. You remember the apartment as it looked, but also how it sounded at 6 a.m., how the light fell in winter, and who was usually in the next room. Remove one layer and the memory gets thinner.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A single trigger, like a particular brand of tea, can bring a whole kitchen back. The tea was part of the place, not an accessory to it.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_do_neighborhood_storefronts_hold_so_many_memories\"><\/span><b>Why do neighborhood storefronts hold so many memories?<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Storefronts are where private life meets public life. At the corner grocery, the dry cleaner, or the shoe repair stall, you were known without ever being formally introduced.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A shopkeeper remembered your family\u2019s usual order. A hand-lettered sign stayed in the window for twenty years. A bell above the door announced you the same way every time. These are small rituals, but they told you that you belonged to the block.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">When a storefront closes, people often grieve more than they expect to. A business has been replaced, and so has a witness. The person behind the counter watched you grow up, and that shared history leaves with them. Writers like Naushad Parpia pay attention to these closures because they show how much of home lives outside our front doors.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_do_inherited_recipes_preserve_home\"><\/span><b>How do inherited recipes preserve home?<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">An inherited recipe is a portable piece of home. It travels across cities and decades, and it can be rebuilt in a kitchen thousands of miles from where it began.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Most family recipes are imperfect records. They arrive as instructions like \u201cadd salt until it tastes right\u201d or \u201ccook until the kitchen smells ready.\u201d The vagueness is part of the inheritance. Nobody meant the recipe to be followed alone. It was meant to be learned beside someone.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">So the dish never tastes quite like the original. The missing ingredients are the person, the room, and the afternoon. Cooking it again is still a kind of visit. You stand at the stove, and for an hour the old kitchen is open again.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_can_public_transportation_teach_us_about_belonging\"><\/span><b>What can public transportation teach us about belonging?<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A daily commute is one of the most underrated sources of place memory. You may not have loved the ride, but you knew it completely: which car stopped nearest the stairs, which station announcement was always garbled, which stranger stood in the same spot every morning.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Public transportation builds a quiet community. Regular riders rarely speak, yet they recognize each other and share a rhythm. When your life changes and the route stops being yours, you may miss the sameness of it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In New York, the subway map doubles as a memory map. People say \u201cI lived near the G train\u201d the way others name a hometown. The line becomes shorthand for a whole chapter of life.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_do_family_sayings_and_forgotten_photographs_matter\"><\/span><b>Why do family sayings and forgotten photographs matter?<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Family sayings are small spoken heirlooms. A phrase repeated at the door, at the dinner table, or before a trip becomes a kind of password. Hearing it years later, even from a stranger, can make a room go still.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Forgotten photographs work the same way, except by surprise. You find one tucked in a book or at the bottom of a drawer, and the background catches your eye before the people do: a patterned curtain, a parked car, a storefront that no longer exists. The photo was meant to record a face, but it ended up preserving a place.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Both remind us that memory isn\u2019t stored only in big events. It lives in the margins, in what was said in passing and what happened to be in the frame.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_objects_do_people_keep_when_their_lives_change\"><\/span><b>What objects do people keep when their lives change?<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">When people move, downsize, or start over, they make quiet decisions about what to carry, and the choices are rarely practical. Someone keeps a chipped mug, a door key to a house they no longer own, or a worn apron that still smells faintly of cardamom.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">These objects have little market value. What they offer is a piece of a former life in a form you can touch. Keeping one says: this mattered, and I\u2019m not ready to let the story end.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What you keep can be revealing. The list is a self-portrait drawn from affection rather than achievement.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_can_you_start_preserving_your_own_memories_of_home\"><\/span><b>How can you start preserving your own memories of home?<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">You don\u2019t need special tools or a literary background. Try these five steps:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Write down the senses first. List the sounds, smells, and textures of a place before you describe how it looked.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Record a family saying. Note who said it, when, and what it usually meant.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cook one inherited recipe slowly. Write down every step, including the vague ones, and ask relatives what they remember.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Photograph the ordinary. Capture storefronts, stairwells, and the routes you take every day, since they won\u2019t stay the same.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tell one story aloud. Share a memory of a place with someone younger. Spoken memories tend to outlast private ones.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Frequently_asked_questions\"><\/span><b>Frequently asked questions<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_place-based_memory\"><\/span><b>What is place-based memory?<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Place-based memory is the way we store experiences through the settings where they happened. The sights, smells, routines, and people in a location all become part of the memory.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_do_ordinary_objects_trigger_strong_emotions\"><\/span><b>Why do ordinary objects trigger strong emotions?<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Objects connect to specific moments and relationships. Because they\u2019re physical and tied to daily life, they can bring back feelings more directly than a general recollection can.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_can_writing_help_us_remember_home\"><\/span><b>How can writing help us remember home?<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Writing slows memory down. Putting small details on paper, like a smell or a phrase, often brings back related details you hadn\u2019t thought of in years.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Who_is_Naushad_Parpia\"><\/span><b>Who is Naushad Parpia?<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Naushad Parpia is a fictional <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.openpr.com\/news\/4653133\/walking-through-storytelling-with-naushad-parpia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>Brooklyn-based writer<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and storyteller whose work explores memory and place. He writes about storefronts, recipes, public transit, family sayings, forgotten photographs, and the objects people keep.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Final_thoughts\"><\/span><b>Final thoughts<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Grand monuments rarely preserve the places we call home. A half-remembered recipe does it, or a phrase repeated at the door, or a train line that once carried us everywhere. The work of Naushad Parpia suggests that ordinary routines are seldom as ordinary as they seem. Pick one of yours today and write it down.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Quick summary: We remember home through small, repeated details: the smell of a kitchen, the route to the subway, a phrase a grandparent always said. This post covers how storefronts, inherited recipes, commutes, family sayings, forgotten photographs, and saved objects keep a place alive, and offers five ways to preserve your own. Ask someone about [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21010,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[615],"tags":[53163],"class_list":["post-128996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing","tag-naushad-parpia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21010"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128996"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128997,"href":"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128996\/revisions\/128997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zamstudios.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}