At one point, Gogol mentions that he, "makes the mistake of referring to New Haven as home."(Lahiri 108), the city where he goes to college. He understands that saying this upsets his parents, yet he feels the right to call it home because it is perhaps the only place where he has ever felt comfortable. Ashima is clearly insulted and she tells him that, "after twenty years in America, she still cannot bring herself to refer to Pemberton Road as home."(108) It is understandable that Ashima feels a sense of betrayal since her son is subtly admitting that New Haven, and not where he was raised by his parents, is the place where he belongs. It is also upsetting that she admits that after spending twenty years in America, it is not a place she identifies as home. Yet again, whenever they visit India, "Gogol [is] aware of an obligation being fulfilled; that it [is] above all else, a sense of duty that [draws] his parents back."(141-142). If they really feel a sense of obligation to go back to India, then it simply can't be the place they call home either.
If Gogol's parents are so conflicted about where their home lies, then it is no surprise that Gogol feels the same way. At one point, Gogol is forced to attend a discussion about Indian novels written in English, and he learns about the term ""American-born confused deshi." In other words, him." (118). This term is used to describe Indians who don't know where they are form or where they belong, and Gogol accepts that he is one of them. Eventually, Gogol realizes that he wishes to be deeply connected to a place. This happens when he joins his girlfriend at her parents summer home, "He realizes that this is a place that will always be here for her." (156). That is exactly the type of place that Gogol needs for himself, a place that he can always go back to no matter what.
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