Something unusual is happening in India’s metro cities. More and more young Indians are beginning to feel mentally closer to the United States and Europe than to their own country.
Go inside an international school in Mumbai or Bangalore and the signs are there. Teenagers are conversing in American accents, referring to US pop culture, and following political movements like Black Lives Matter.
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At the same time, however, they are all unaware of what happens in India. Indian elections, local politics, or regional issues don’t come up organically in conversations.
One of the main reasons for this shift could be what they see on the internet. The majority of Indian youth watch American YouTubers, streamers, and influencers who shape their worldview every day.
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Even the families who have been living in India their whole lives seem to claim to feel more at home in the US within a few months of residing there. The shift in environment, availability, and infrastructure leads to a rapid but deepened connection.
This leads to an even bigger question of belonging. If the next generation belongs to a culture that they never actually lived in, then how are they going to belong to India’s dense, layered reality?
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When immigration channels are closed and fewer people are able to settle abroad for good, the issue will not just be how to remain in India, but how to get back to it. The true test may not be how to leave, but how to come back.
