Can the Indian-American immigrant come home?

re: Can the Indian-American immigrant come home?

srikumar — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 12:22:32 GMT

I think whoever said life/time is a big leveller, didn't know about internet :-) . Read your previous blog on india and why you chose to stay here. Well, explode is whats happening in india and in the process, what you see as endearing and ancient and whatever we've cherished so long is also losing its shine pretty fast. There might not be much of a difference if prashant lives here or in US of A. my 2 cents.

re: Can the Indian-American immigrant come home?

Andhrabhoja — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 18:08:57 GMT

Hah...Aditya dont patronize the blog writer too much...you sound like a slave..."yes madam whatever you say very so wandraful"

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re: Can the Indian-American immigrant come home?

Tom — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:21:02 GMT

Maybe the charm of india and china emerging as a new world could be behind a lot of people coming back to india. Having said that it is not only Indians but a lot of expats who come to india and fall in love with the place just like a lot of indians who fall in love with a place when they go abroad and decide to settle down there. There are a lot of places that are really beautiful...inspite of the traffic snarls, 'the smell' and all the other things that are wrong with india.

re: Can the Indian-American immigrant come home?

Pankaj — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:04:25 GMT

I think it's just the feeling of attachment with a place more than anything else. Some people feel attached to the place they were born in; some are emotionally attached to certain places due to various reasons, maybe where they grew up, spent their childhood, studied etc. Like I was born in Punjab, but I feel attached to Delhi because I studied there. I don't feel attached to Mumbai for no reason... It's the emotional attachment that might not have any obvious reason at all...

re: Can the Indian-American immigrant come home?

adityabee — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 07:17:33 GMT

yes... if you want to be really a Gurgaonwala (not a Gurgaonite), you would have to perforce live a Gujjar lifestyle and sleep on charpoys, smoke hookahs and milk your cows (after you have taken them to forage). maybe not quite what the techies want to go i guess!

re: Can the Indian-American immigrant come home?

Sum — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 05:20:30 GMT

IMHO, Identity actually forms when one wants to settle down, be part of a community and contribute towards it. We reside in Gurgaon - a part of India but a place built by real estate barons and MNCs by buying land from the locals. Gurgaon today has no identity to talk about. Weak efforts by some well-wishers to create something (iamgurgaon.com) are just that - weak. Do we imbibe the local culture - many of us do not want to. Do we create a new identity which all of us and future generations would benefit by calling their own. Oh well, who cares ? To whom is identity important ? From your article, it appears as if you and your friend are treating it like a qualification. A shallow goal like this can only be treated superficially - hoping that relocating will take care of the problem. The need has to be stronger to create an identity.

re: Can the Indian-American immigrant come home?

Carl — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:01:56 GMT

Speaking of tangents, here's one: wherever you are, another place calls. We travel and move to see the world and ourselves as new, fresh. But that only lasts so long. When Tobias Schneebaum left the world and walked into the Amazon to find the Akarama, who he was told would kill him, he found just what he was looking for: "...we were jumping up and down and my arms went around body after body and I felt myself getting hysterical, wildly ecstatic with love for all humanity, and I returned slaps on backs and bites on hard flesh, and small as they were, I twirled some round like children and wept away the world of my past." But here's the thing: even Schneebaum fled the Akarama a year later, back to New York. Even Thesiger left his beloved Arabia for London.

re: Can the Indian-American immigrant come home?

aditya — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:01:54 GMT

@ melissa as in Homer Simpson strangulating Bart Simpson... why you little...! (Marge, i am just strengthening the boy's neck).

re: Can the Indian-American immigrant come home?

aditya — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:44:32 GMT

@ Melissa 'strengthening' as in when someone tries to strangulate you, they are actually helping you build up stronger neck muscles?

re: Can the Indian-American immigrant come home?

Melissa A. Bell — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:25:26 GMT

@Adam, I'll take that as a compliment. Thanks! What can I say? I was in a 12-hour car ride. Sometimes I tend to ramble...

@Aparna, you definitely have something there. I think this is why so many NRIs do not wind up in India long term. Not that they're not brave, just their idea of India is this idyllic memory of their childhood, visiting Nani's home. And when they get there, they can't handle that it has problems, just like every other place on the planet.

@Aditya, Ack! I am so bad at my Simpson's trivia. Thanks. And the adrift part is good to a certain extent, but there is a total beauty to cultural and social traditions. Even if they can be suffocating, they can also be strengthening.

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Art Can the Indian-American immigrant come home? | India Handicrafts & Arts — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:22:50 GMT

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re: Can the Indian-American immigrant come home?

aditya — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:37:28 GMT

i always wonder why our identities are so important to us... part of what appeals to me in the US is the lack of it... doesn't who we are (or think we should be) hold us back as well? a lot of what we consider 'culture' and 'tradition'is actually just old habits calcified and fossilised over generations which give us a false sense of security and a sense of 'belongíng'... how about being marvelously adrift and enjoy being just 'yourself'? just a thought... our world still hasn't got past the classification and labeling of ourselves... i too am thinking too much... and sounding like a nihilist today!

re: Can the Indian-American immigrant come home?

aditya — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:31:13 GMT

@ bell is it Abu or Apu at the Kwik-e mart? i thought he was south Indian... i gotta check this one out!

re: Can the Indian-American immigrant come home?

aditya — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:21:40 GMT

@ the bell: 'I’m also thinking I’m thinking too much. Long car rides will do that to a person.' that is an interesting finish to the whole post... (i have different variations on it, but more or less, on the same theme...!). well written piece, abstract or otherwise.