On 01-Dec-2009, at 10:40 AM, Shoba Narayan <[email protected]
>Returning home is not (or should not be) an altruistic act. You
return home due to circumstances (ill parents) or by choice, or by
tacit agreement (company sends you and you don't protest).
Bingo! Well said, Shoba.
I'd add "or you think India probably holds more opportunities for you
than wherever you are" to her list of reasons.
I came back almost 11 years ago and don't miss much of the US - except
perhaps Fry's, outlet shopping and the national parks. And I find even
those are manageable on occasional trips back there.
Having met many other returnees I sense their need to have a medal
pinned on them for their heroic deed of returning to their needy
motherland. And there's some dissonance when the neighbours don't
exactly drift you for having come back.
Once they get past this hurdle, I also sense an alienation with the
very culture they professed to move back to, of the "OMG, the kids
have sex here! And nobody cares for Nargis / Mother India!!" variety.
Some deal with it by escaping into local expat colonies like in ITPL
Bangalore, or the Breach Candy Club in Bombay reminiscing about a
different 'back home'.
Confusing life it can be.
Pico Iyer wrote about the feeling well in Global Soul.
