Ramjee's note was very entertaining - the only problem is that it assumes that everyone who left was an engineering graduate groomed by the system to go abroad. the observations on typical behaviour were very funny-I remember refusing to drink alcohol in India and nobody could believe that i actually don't drink hard liquor because i don't like it and not because of any moral qualms. Apparently i wasn't phoren enough. I am out of place now in the rest of the world as well as in India and shall paraphrase oscar wilde instead: any club that would have me as its member is probably not one i want to be a member of.
jokes aside, the words of Satyendra Pakhale, an industrial designer in Amsterdam, had a greater impact on me regarding the issue of going home and being at home. He described his work as being a non nostalgic exercise in design that draws from his indian upbringing the way a child would relate to objects it found-naturally and without wondering whether it was indian or not. he happens to live in Amsterdam and india and a few other places. and that is just how it is... To all Silklisters,I have never properly introduced myself (although i have met a few) and have gracelessly inserted myself into a variety of conversations. As apology i offer-an introduction: I work for a Canadian non-profit in Vancouver managing a project in Sri lanka where we are helping community women in 2 cities to rehabilitate from tsunami in one case and frequently occurring floods in the other. I prefer poetry to prose and am currently writing a screenplay on an obscure subject that prompted a friend to give me a dubious award for being the most likely to make a film about a bengali worm falling in love with an orissan moth. I live with Mike and our respective ghosts of lives past and talk with my mom everyday who never fails to remind me of my childhood, young adulthood and life in India. i complain every day of not having my profession more closely allied to the arts and someday will do something about it. Meanwhile i get to read inspirational nonsense on Silk that keeps my nose to the grindstone... cheers. Radhika 2007/11/25, Udhay Shankar N <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > On Nov 24, 2007 9:58 PM, Udhay Shankar N <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > An interesting (and well-written) example of > > something we've all seen a great deal of in the > > past few years - the story of one family's > > decision to move back to India. I seem to have > > seen Shoba Narayan on a blog somewhere - would somebody invite her to > silk? > > > > Udhay > > > > http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/papers/Return_to_India.pdf > > A couple of earlier ruminations on this theme, from members of this list: > > http://www.geocities.com/cybersurg.geo/backindi.html (from Shiv, > written in 1997) > http://www.qsl.net/vu2sro/a_long_letter_to_an_nri.html (from Ramjee, > written in 1998) > > Any others? > > Udhay > -- > ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com)) > >
