Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Patriotic Expatriate

 Avvaiyar, the great Tamil poet told ”Thirai kadal odiyum thiraviyam thedu” (Seek your fortune even by venturing overseas). A visionary who foretold the movement of expatriates and the need for globalization many centuries far ahead. Today the World is Flat and borders are no limits for expatriates. Does migrating make them less patriotic?

This question rose in me as I myself am an expatriate. We see a lot of patriotic messages of motherland been shared between expatriates. If patriotic why migrate? Does it give a sense of belonging between their own minority communities that they build in the country which they migrate?

People migrate to other countries from their country for various reasons. Mahatma Gandhi went to represent Muslim Indian Traders based in Pretoria, South Africa. He seem to follow what Avviyar told centuries ahead. But did this make Gandhi less patriotic? History speaks otherwise.

Are expatriates torn between their patriotic feeling for their motherland and attachment to the migrated land? Sometimes one gets confused between the two!!! Maybe some triggering point will be needed to bring back the true patriotic feeling in one self, like Gandhi been thrown off train in Pietermaritzburg.......

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