I recently read a BBC article called “India’s Potential Lures a New Generation Home.” From the article,
Migration experts believe this mass repatriation of well-educated individuals will boost India’s economic prospect both by injecting billions of dollars worth of foreign investments and by importing skills necessary for a wider global engagement. An estimated 300,000 ethnic Indians living abroad are expected to return to India between 2011 and 2015, according to a report by Kelly Services India, a recruitment consultancy.
I was shocked by the article. After hearing stories from my Indian immigrant dad about the struggles he went through as a college student in the US, I was always grateful for the opportunities that I’ve had with my American upbringing. I never questioned my American identity; I always felt comfortable and secure with my life in the US. However, when my family visited relatives in India, once in 1995 and again in 2002, I experienced extreme culture shock. I had sensory overload with my new surroundings in each visit. But I did enjoy learning more and more about my Indian heritage. We mostly spent time in Kerala, the state in south India where my dad was from. The highlight of the trip was visiting the Backwaters in Alleppey on a houseboat.
Houseboat on the Kerala Backwaters in Alleppey. (Via Merakerala.com)
However, I’m unsure if I’d ever be able to move back to India permanently. I’ve grown so used to life in the US that I don’t know how I’d adapt to life in India, even though I’ve visited twice. Here are some boundaries that I think I’d face as an American expat in my dad’s homeland:
Language
Although Hindi is India’s national language, each region of India has its own language. My dad’s from Kerala, which means that he speaks the regional language Malayalam. But he never taught my siblings or me how to speak Malayalam. He never taught us Hindi, either, since he only learned that language in school. I could probably adapt to living in a Latin American country since I took Spanish in high school in college, but it would take a long time to adapt to life in India since I have no knowledge about the national or regional languages. Although English is widely spoken in India, I’d prefer to be fluent in an Indian language while living there.
Food
I have dietary restrictions which force me to avoid all spicy food. I try to pick the mildest foods when I eat at Indian restaurants in the US, but I think my dining options would be limited in India.
Weather
Although I complain about the snow while living in the Northeast US, I do enjoy the change in weather from season to season. In India, the weather is mostly hot year-round, and the monsoons cause issues with flooding and transportation at certain parts of the year.
Monsoon season in an Indian city (via Skymetweather.com).
Although adapting to a new culture is challenging, it can be rewarding. However, I think I would be homesick for my friends and family in the US. I have family in India, but I’d miss my immediate family a lot.
The changing economy means that many Indian children of immigrants in the West means that they can seek job opportunities in their parents’ home country. However, I think I’d have to put a lot of thought into whether or not I’m prepared to make such a drastic cultural shift.
Multiethnic Jen 