Your child asks why grandma is lighting little clay lamps on the balcony of a flat in Ohio. Or why you’re covered in coloured powder on a Tuesday. Or why everyone at the gurdwara is crying and laughing at the same time. These are fair questions. Festivals abroad rarely come with the classroom, the cousins, … Read more
A decade ago, most people outside India had never heard of ashwagandha. Today it sits on pharmacy shelves next to melatonin and magnesium in London, Toronto, and Sydney. Turmeric lattes now appear on ordinary café menus. Wellness apps offer “dosha quizzes” right alongside sleep trackers. Ayurveda popularity in the west is not a passing curiosity … Read more
Every month, a chunk of your salary leaves your account before you even notice it landing in another currency. Rent, groceries, your own savings goal — and right behind them, a transfer to your parents in India. For millions of NRIs, this is simply how the month works. It rarely feels simple, though. Supporting family … Read more
Nobody wants to think about a parent’s final years while sitting in another country. Yet for millions of NRIs, this is exactly the reality: parents ageing in India, children building careers in the US, UK, Gulf, Canada, or Australia. End-of-life care planning is not about giving up hope. It is about making sure your parents … Read more
Frequent flyers know the feeling. You land, and your body has no idea what time it is. Your stomach wants dinner at 4 a.m. Your eyes refuse to close until sunrise, then refuse to open for the 9 a.m. meeting. For NRIs and global travelers making the long haul to India, this disorientation can last … Read more
Every NRI runs into the same question sooner or later: can I hold two passports? The honest answer is no. India does not allow full dual citizenship. What it offers instead is close enough for most practical purposes — the Overseas Citizen of India card. This breaks down what OCI actually gives you, how it … Read more
Grandparents on masala-doodh duty every winter. An aunt moving in for a month before a wedding. Three generations arguing over the remote in one living room. Not long ago, this was just how a lot of Indian households worked — one roof, many relatives, decisions made together over evening chai. Migration changes that picture fast. … Read more
Mental strain does not always announce itself with a crisis. More often, it shows up as a mind that will not switch off, a body that feels tired without reason, and a low-grade tension that never fully lifts. For NRIs and foreigners connected to India, this weight often carries an extra layer — distance from … Read more
Landing in India after five, ten, or twenty years abroad brings a strange kind of jet lag. Part of it comes from the flight. Part of it comes from realizing how much has changed since your last visit, and how much of your old packing list no longer applies. Should you carry heavy sweaters or … Read more
Two people fall in love, or agree to an arranged match, and then discover the wedding was the easy part. The real negotiation starts after: whose family’s calendar of festivals gets followed, which parent gets called first with good news, and whose idea of “normal” becomes the default at home. For NRI couples, that negotiation … Read more