Money maketh a home?

Many a times I have faced the question, ‘Will you settle in US or will return to India?’ Initially I used to say I have not thought about it. Now I say, most probably I will be going back to India. From my previous posting it might seem like I would definitely get back to India and that I hate to stay in US. But that’s not the case. I want to go back to India but it is not just my lifestyle.

I often wondered what’s there in India that is lacking here. Is it just that my roots lie in India? Is it just that it is my ‘motherland’? Is home merely a geographical location or is there something more to it?
India is associated with so many things for me. Religion, bustling streets full of people, street vendors shouting and selling their wares, the shops where the customers might be known by name to the shopkeeper, buses and trains packed, the posh offices of the MNCs coexisting side by side to the slums, the n number of villages, the great cities and I could go on and on…
US for me is mainly money, then cars, sophistication, status symbol, and hey also monotony, work, and whatnot!!

So ultimately I end up in a situation: money and comforts Vs a sense of belonging.
Is it possible that I stay in US for sometime doing a job (which means I will be getting money) and maybe develop a sense of belonging? From where and how do we get this sense of belonging? The US people must also be having this ‘home feeling’! Obviously it would be a nightmare for them to make India their home. They simply wouldn’t understand how things work there and they would not learn ‘things’ as there wouldn’t be rules or there would be more exceptions to the rules than the rules themselves.

What would anyone choose? I want money but US can never be my home. Is it? (at least for now ;) ) So like most other Indians here with me I don’t think too much of it now a days. I just tell people I would do a job here for a couple of years and get back to my ‘home’. But again, did anyone think of any figure that specifies how much money you want to save? Can any amount of money earned satisfy one? I know many cousins and non-cousins who came to ‘earn’ but ultimately made US their home.

Now I imagine myself after a few years. Suppose I get a very good salary in US (come on people…it is just a supposition!) what would I do with the money? I being of the typical Indian type wouldn’t squander it for costly Europe trips or I not being the car freak would not even think of the latest car. Maybe I will make more trips back to India or hoard more and more money for my children, grand children, their children, their children’s children…This may sound ridiculous but this is what would happen probably.
I would be going to the office daily, attend the meetings, do the job, grab lunch somewhere, drag through the hours, go home, watch TV… blah blah … Weekends would be parties within a limited circle of friends (after all we are not ‘white’, everyone is not comfortable with us!) and once in a while I would go meet my distant cousin who has settled here in US…but how long would this continue?

Another scenario would be me returning to India. I would do a job there too but as I won’t be paid in dollars it would be considerably less I guess. But I don’t have to make an effort to blend into the workplace and be one among the colleagues. I don’t have to put the fake accent so that I don’t sound different (believe me; most of us do that consciously or unconsciously). It would be similar to US as in: I would be running to the office, grab some food, return home etc…there would be parties but of a different kind. You have a sort of involvement in the celebration whether it is a small get-together or a huge marriage function. Maybe here lies the difference between home and a geographical location.

Well, I see I am getting nowhere and the questions seem to be increasing rather than getting answered so instead of rambling on I will stop here and continue my ‘research work’. I have
a meeting with my professor tomorrow and a link to my blog wouldn’t answer any of his questions!

I have 'stolen' some photographs from the internet and using them as visual aid(read: making my posting colorful...lol) , hope those people dont mind!