Movement Inc. Official Home Page
India-versus-abroad lifestyle comparisons are a popular new category of content that gets amplified immensely.
Roads, schools, infrastructure, governance, noise pollution, light pollution, cleanliness, safety, law and order, rule-abiding citizens, a general tendency to do the right thing, respect for the environment and a civil population get stated as the reasons to stay put and never come back.
And I understand where they are coming from.
But I can't help noticing that other than the occasional hike or walk, most Indian expats just live a version of their Indian life abroad. Activity levels rarely improve. Movement is sparse. I can see this with my own client base too.
The second generation of kids who are born and grow up in the new country are dramatically stronger, more active, carry better composition. They are generally healthier. The environment can produce a different person with drastically different habits. This improves the basics like VO2 max, quality of life and body composition in substantial ways.
But most (not all) Indians who live abroad rarely take advantage of better nutrition, more time, and better gyms to become healthier, more active versions of themselves.
I understand this is a question of priorities. You will only give time, energy and attention to things that matter to you.
But it is essentially a version of the same life you lived back home. It's akin to Indians who move into a gated community five minutes from work, save an hour commuting every day, and spend that hour on Netflix. This is tragic.
I am judging people who don't take full advantage of a new environment to build a higher quality of life that the new environment makes possible.
What's the point of better air, better roads, better gyms, less pesticide-laden produce, more affordable protein, and the capacity to move in cleaner, less polluted natural environments if you don't actually take advantage of most of those things?
When your free time is spent watching the latest Hindi or Tamil release and your weekends are spent raving about the dosas or parathas at the new Indian restaurant.
We move. We admire what's better. But we mostly anchor to what is familiar. And wind up living a version of our familiar Indian existence in better conditions.
That is tragic.