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I left India as a diffident young bride, apprehensive about leaving behind all that was familiar, but eager to embark on a new phase of life. The news of my whirlwind arranged marriage followed by my departure for America had been met with unstinted support and approval by my large circle of family and friends.
Over the course of the fourteen years I lived abroad, I acquired many skills, earned a doctorate, and became a mother. I became equally comfortable in both India and the U.S., effortlessly switching between cruising on American freeways and bargaining with street vendors on my annual visits to Bombay.
My decision to return to India in 2003 was not received with the whole-hearted endorsement that I had expected. Instead, it sparked many discussions, debates, and disagreements within and beyond my circles in both countries. A few people even observed the irony that my situation was similar to the return of Lord Rama after fourteen years in exile. However, unlike Rama who had been banished, I had left voluntarily.
The decision to return, however, was taken after much soul-searching. Even so, neither the parting nor the settling down were easy. As Khalil Gibran said so eloquently in The Prophet,
It is not a garment I cast off this day, but a skin that I tear with my own hands.
The essays that you are about to read were published between December 2003 and November 2004 in the California-based magazine, India Currents. They comprised a monthly column titled “Round Trip” and are a record of my thoughts and reflections at the time. They are about leaving a familiar foreign country and returning to a country, that was ostensibly my own, but to which I was returning as a virtual stranger.
I received many positive comments and emails after each essay was published. Many readers wrote to say that my experiences had helped clarify their thinking and that it had facilitated honest discussions about the ramifications of returning to India.
I hope you find these chronicles of a returned Non-Resident Indian (NRI) interesting and helpful, whether you are within or outside your home country and whether or not you are considering a move. After all, every life is a journey, regardless of whether you stay in one place, live like a global nomad, or end up being something in between.
