“On bad days, I do feel lonely in a way that I can’t explain,” so says Dilip Ratha, a World Bank economist who studies the economics of migration. The article, a profile of Ratha’s life and work, is worth a read, but what really stood out for me was the above quote, capturing an emotion I have personally felt. This occasional yet powerful tug of one’s home country when living in a different land maybe the fate of all of us first generation migrants. It does not, by itself, devalue the choices (professional and personal), each of us has made, but such decisions are often made with the head. The heart sometimes tells a different story.

Note: The title of this post is a play on Alan Silitoe’s story, The Loneliness of a long distance runner.