NRI

As a NRI and bhakt, the one charge that is always thrown at you in an argument is that you dont live here, and your knowledge is only from social media etc. Now there is an element of truth in that but there are some advantages tuned in NRIs like me have which probably score over the people making those arguments and they are from lived experience.

1. Moment you go abroad, you meet indians from different parts of India, so you make friends with people from Punjab, Rajasthan, karnataka, Tamil Nadu, bengal, orissa etc. All these people give you real time info on what happens in their state as well as you get to know details of their history, geo, politics, nature etc. Really doubt those living in India in one place would get this kind of exposure to people this diverse. This broadens the world view for us as well as gives more knowledge.

2. Tuned in NRIs like me who travel a lot also get a pan India view, we stop thinking of ourselves as bound to a state, and the additional resources we acquire due to enhanced earnings also enable us to travel far and wide and see the country more than locals. So I went to Varanasi and Kanyakumar, trivandrum in the same year.

3. The very process of lifting yourself from parochial identities, then makes you think of all Indians as your own and combining that with the perceptions you build from observing how the west built itself, makes you more committed to the cause of indias development. And enables one with ideas to do that.

So it is not entirely a lost cause even though the charges of hypocrisy will always be levelled.