Ho Gaye HO Pradesi

                                                       Ho Gaye Ho Pradesi

You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart always will be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place. 

 Miriam Adeney 

“Whenever you go on a trip to visit foreign lands or distant places,

remember that they are all someone’s home and backyard.”
 Vera Nazarian 

Love your parents. We are so busy growing up,

we often forget that they are also growing old.

Anonymous 

My only daughter well employed, leaving her job in India, is going to Canada for green pastures there, I would be alone here as my husband is already with the Lord and subsequently she intends to settle her family there: I am not comfortable with any relations so most probably I would stay alone or would go to some Old Age Home to be taken care of by workers there or some social service hands. Last Chapter of life, nobody knows, who would help us to write may be some unknown.   

I have never been abroad; have learnt many things about foreign from others or internet. Majority people go Western and other cold climate Countries. These are countries with harsh climate too cold to go out at least for seven to eight months in year so you have to live with artificially heated homes some times by Natural Gas and it other places by electricity causing eye dryness and many other skin diseases and vitamin D deficiency, staying inside for long periods causes sometime  depression which has no medical treatment. Medical treatment particularly for non fatal diseases is a luxury in these countries: for some simple tests one has to wait for months together forget about non-essential surgeries where wait is for months together. Medicines are not available across the counter without Doctor’s Prescription so one has to live with seasonal changes. India Sunshine is always missing. Taking a house on rent is too costly buying is out of question unless you are supported by India by selling property there. Income Tax is too high one has to pay Federal Tax as well as Provincial Tax. Cost of living is 250 to 300% more as compared to India. In jobs employers prefer local experience and local degrees; high end jobs are scare for immigrants so you have to work for menial jobs like Zomoto Delivery Boy, Amazon Counter Boy, KFC Waiter, Sanitation Jobs, Cleaning Cars etc forcing many to hide their job identity while visiting parents and their home town, some do not visit except on bereavement even then there are exceptions. Daily needs markets are too far off and no hawkers. Traffic laws are too strict; challans too hefty and Driving License, locals get more. House Maids not available, if you happen to get one it is too costly and they work on hourly basis. Result children as young as one and half year, are sufferer: they are given screen TV or Mobile to play with so that parents are able to do house hold jobs, no outside playing.  Road side grabbing is common so people carry cash with them to pay the protection money. Visa fee is high and rejections even for tourist visa are too many.  Immigrants are always a second rate Citizen even if they have a legal status of a citizen, there is ever “Rising Anti-Immigrant Sentiment”.   Social isolation is another big disadvantage which has lead to one moving within his own community and social irritation among the various groups coupled with language proficiency. 

Still people go abroad for settlement with the hope of better life there which many do not get, some come back to India others spend time praising foreign lands despite the realities otherwise. Another reason more so with the urban lot is independence they want in their actions and life style; parental interference is irritant particularly between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law peculiar to North India. Second big issue is health of the parents especially when they are unable to take care of themselves and their ever growing age which in itself imposes some responsibilities on those who live with them irrespective of relation. Lure of high wages when converted into INR, more disciplined life, high degree of sanitation, gadgets for many day to day chores, love of the new, and “I do what I do” attitude are others. 

After one generation it is “My father came from India”, then “We have relatives in India”. Third Generation sometimes comes to India as tourist place or for immersion of Ashes in the Holy Ganges. 

Hence despite love and affection at home

  and ancestral roots and property.

Ho Gaye Pradesi