Skip to main content

Escape Hatch

An interesting option for those who wish to escape American reality but also makes sense for those nearing end of life and having the means to travel the world before they depart

"Villa Vie offers a unique one-of-a-kind way [to] see the whole world at a slow pace where you have enough time to actually experience the cultural vibe of every port," Villa Vie Residences Head of Sales Anne Alms said in a statement. "Your villa is your bedroom, and the ship is your home, she'll take you across the globe to endless horizons."

If this was a true "skip-forward" escape from reality, maybe the person will return to a country they no longer recognize and likely can't re-assimilate to anymore. If what they fear most from this presidency comes true, America four years out will not be home to them anymore. So the question is if it makes sense to stay home and actively engage with the system they love and seek to protect. The desire to escape a country whose problems seem endless, mounting and unsolvable is very familiar to folks like me who found a way out. 

All of what had prompted my desire to leave India remains true to this day. Things have gotten worse in many ways but it would be a lie to claim nothing has changed for the better. Those changes have been big and sweeping to the point that it is a country I hardly recognize anymore - and in a positive way. In hindsight, should I have stayed back and worked through the obstacles - I can't know for sure. What is likely is that if I had never left, some parts of my life would be much better and some much worse than it is now. In balance, my net happiness with life would look about same I think. 

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Part Liberated Woman

An expat desi friend and I were discussing what it means to return to India when you have cobbled together a life in a foreign country no matter how flawed and imperfect. We have both spent over a decade outside India and have kids who were born abroad and have spent very little time back home. Returning "home" is something a lot of new immigrants like L and myself think about. We want very much for that to be an option because a full assimilation into our country of domicile is likely never going to happen. L has visited India more often than I have and has a much better pulse on what's going on there. For me the strongest drag force working against my desire to return home is my experience of life as a woman in India. I neither want to live that suffocatingly sheltered existence myself nor subject J to it. The freedom, independence and safety I have had in here in suburban America was not even something I knew I could expect to have in India. I never knew what it felt t...
111 comments
Read more

Under Advisement

Recently a desi dude who is more acquaintance less friend called to check in on me. Those who have read this blog before might know that such calls tend to make me anxious. Depending on how far back we go, there are sets of FAQs that I brace myself to answer. The trick is to be sufficiently evasive without being downright offensive - a fine balancing act given the provocative nature of questions involved. I look at these calls as opportunities for building patience and tolerance both of which I seriously lack. Basically, they are very desirous of finding out how I am doing in my personal and professional life to be sure that they have me correctly categorized and filed for future reference. The major buckets appear to be loser, struggling, average, arrived, superstar and uncategorizable. My goal needless to say, is to be in the last bucket - the unknown, unquantifiable and therefore uninteresting entity. Their aim is to pull me into something more tangible. So anyways, the dude in ques...
6 comments
Read more

Changing Pace

This blog has been a big part of my life for the last five years. Besides giving me the opportunity to connect with a number of interesting people and share my thoughts and ideas with them, it has been a form of daily meditation for me. No matter what the day threw my way, I made a very deliberate effort to find a little quiet time to write.The process of thinking about what to write and then the act of writing itself worked as an antidote to aggravations big and small. Five and half years ago, when I started Heartcrossings both my personal and professional lives left a lot to be desired for. The only real happiness I had was in being J's mother. While that was often enough to make me forget what I did not have, I sorely needed a third place to call my own and shape in the likeness of my dreams. This blog has been where there were no limits or constraints and that was absolutely exhilarating - it is the reason I have been able to nurture it for as long and as much as I have. A lot ...
25 comments
Read more