Dear friends,
I do not like talking about myself for fear that I’ll sound pompish. I believe reading these letters would be the best way for you to understand who I am and what I stand for.
Almost everyone I grew up with has now gone abroad. People who go abroad think it is the cool and fashionable thing to do. “There is nothing left in India,” they say. People whose children go abroad think it is the wise thing to do. “There is nothing left to live for in this godforsaken country,” they say. “It is completely ruined. Look at all the corruption. There is no healthcare, there is no education.” Most of these classmates and friends who went abroad after completing school now work at shops, loading stations, petrol pumps, driving cabs and trucks or something or other in that vein. Only very few out of those who went after completing their degree have white collar jobs. All of them take pride in their lives.
The few who stayed back have moved to larger cities for better jobs. There are no friends left around me anymore. I am the only one back home. A lot of people have questioned my decision to not go abroad. Finally came the day when I was directly asked, “When are you going to go to Canada?” I was appalled at the way people thought, it dawned upon me that going abroad after completing school was the default choice in life for most people in these parts who could afford to do so and an aspiration for those who couldn’t. The people are equally shocked at me telling them that I have never, ever, even for a second thought about settling down on some faraway shore. Surely I would love to go abroad to travel and see the sights if I had the money (and the heart to spend it).
I am terribly afraid of landing in a soup where I will have to shell out more money than I can afford. I have a gnawing worry about getting sick and then having to spend loads of money on getting well. But such thoughts must be retained for another letter.
Believe me this was a much longer letter but in the end it was curtailed in favour of the polite bits.
31st May, 2023
Yours &c., your friend Umbritzer