Where Should I Be?
These days my school mail group which is otherwise mostly dead is seeing a flurry of activity...the topic of debate is whether one should be in America or India...A majority of my classmates are in US (hailed as the land of opportunities by the most recent addition there and as the land of homesickness by one of the earlier migrants)
This weekend when I was back in my hometown, I met two of my classmates who were on vacation from US... both of them seem to be quite happy in America, so much so that when we (hubby and self) asked them when (and whether) they were planning to come bac to India they didn't even have to blink an eyelid before saying not anytime in the near future...and in the next breath they also added that they wud love to return bac at a later date...And that set me thinking...And I ended up jumping into the mail war in my e-groups with my take on the issue...Felt like reproducing the excerpts of that mail here ...
Good to see the serves and volleys going bac and forth on whether to be or not to be....an Indian, an American, a world citizen or plain and simple confused !!!
But I noticed that all the mails are from those who are in America (and UK!), so I decided to write in from India !!!
I guess it's jus that wherever we are, if we can follow our heart that's good enuf...i mean by the time u miss home badly, if u can fly bac (and similarly if u want a break from India, fly off to U.S) then that's fine...All people out there who miss India badly, always have a choice of coming bac....And similarly, those of us in India need not be jus the ones who are here because of family and marital pressures and waiting to go to US if only these pressures were not there........(I saw something in a similar light mentioned in a previous mail!!!)I for one, am in India and perfectly happy to be here...Tomorrow, if I feel like it, I will relocate to some other place...that can be America or Africa...depending on what my calling is...I firmly believe that all of us in this group atleast are fortunate enuf to have that choice....
But if you feel that India is a better place and still remain in US or vice versa, then that is sad....'Cos it means either what u initially thought of when u moved to US turned to be not really what it was or that u have lost sight of the goals and dreams that propelled u there in the first place...And that's when its time to close ur mail browser and take a long sharp look at whether u want to alternate the direction of ur life....not that I am saying everytime u feel homesick and write a mail to the group abt Johnny's pufs* its time to relook at ur life...but if u r really miserable and keep dreaming abt movie releases back home every Friday, then i guess "Jus Come Bac...." 'cos despite reservations and beaurocracy and everything else...we have all managed to do well....
*Johnny's is a bakery in my hometown and the pufs there are my very good friend's favorite snack
P.S I somehow can't find the Compose mode toolbar...Anyone has any idea how it vanished?
This weekend when I was back in my hometown, I met two of my classmates who were on vacation from US... both of them seem to be quite happy in America, so much so that when we (hubby and self) asked them when (and whether) they were planning to come bac to India they didn't even have to blink an eyelid before saying not anytime in the near future...and in the next breath they also added that they wud love to return bac at a later date...And that set me thinking...And I ended up jumping into the mail war in my e-groups with my take on the issue...Felt like reproducing the excerpts of that mail here ...
Good to see the serves and volleys going bac and forth on whether to be or not to be....an Indian, an American, a world citizen or plain and simple confused !!!
But I noticed that all the mails are from those who are in America (and UK!), so I decided to write in from India !!!
I guess it's jus that wherever we are, if we can follow our heart that's good enuf...i mean by the time u miss home badly, if u can fly bac (and similarly if u want a break from India, fly off to U.S) then that's fine...All people out there who miss India badly, always have a choice of coming bac....And similarly, those of us in India need not be jus the ones who are here because of family and marital pressures and waiting to go to US if only these pressures were not there........(I saw something in a similar light mentioned in a previous mail!!!)I for one, am in India and perfectly happy to be here...Tomorrow, if I feel like it, I will relocate to some other place...that can be America or Africa...depending on what my calling is...I firmly believe that all of us in this group atleast are fortunate enuf to have that choice....
But if you feel that India is a better place and still remain in US or vice versa, then that is sad....'Cos it means either what u initially thought of when u moved to US turned to be not really what it was or that u have lost sight of the goals and dreams that propelled u there in the first place...And that's when its time to close ur mail browser and take a long sharp look at whether u want to alternate the direction of ur life....not that I am saying everytime u feel homesick and write a mail to the group abt Johnny's pufs* its time to relook at ur life...but if u r really miserable and keep dreaming abt movie releases back home every Friday, then i guess "Jus Come Bac...." 'cos despite reservations and beaurocracy and everything else...we have all managed to do well....
*Johnny's is a bakery in my hometown and the pufs there are my very good friend's favorite snack
P.S I somehow can't find the Compose mode toolbar...Anyone has any idea how it vanished?
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