Home...in Past Tense by Bix Gabriel

Bix touches on issues of displacement and the impact of globalization as she describes the rapid changes she has witnessed in her hometown of Hyderabad, India, and the simultaneous strangeness and familiarity she experiences there.

Tell us a bit about yourself?
I moved to the U.S. from my home city of Hyderabad, India in 1999. Like thousands of others, I went to study, certain that I would return home. It was not until 2006 that I finally came to understand that the idea of going home was no longer absolute. For years, I had fought against making my home in the U.S. - its politics and values, and the life I saw around me was at odds with what I wanted. But the process of living in a place is something I never took into account ... How does a neighborhood, a regularly visited tea stand, a certain kind of commute, or a familiar tree waiting around the corner affect how you see your place in the world? What does a physical place mean to a person, a family, a people?

Why did you choose this story to tell?
This piece is for my home-city and its people. It is also to share my city with two of my dearest: A person who grew up with me in Hyderabad, lives in the U.S. and has not seen Hyderabad first-hand for seven years. And a person who has never seen my home-city and can never know what it was like when I was growing up.

How have you changed as a result of making/telling this story?
Home in past tense is ultimately for me. It reminds me that the city I left and have always loved can never be the same, when I return there. It will always be something outside of me and part of me...present and past.