In the ultra-privileged sections of India that I’m part of, there is a renewed vigour for “leave India” debate. Renewed vigour because while Indians love India, Indian culture, Bollywood/Tollywood/Mollywood; we love it from a distance

• India is biggest beneficiary of inbound remittances
• Indians are part of British cultural lexicon, are choking the US visa backlog, are politicians in Canada, and have left lots of imprints elsewhere.
• The richest class of Indian’s leave India in droves, a growing trend [1][2] People like me leave the country anyway. Having swallowed the red pill of nihilism and free of patriotic attachments, I see this as nothing but the natural thing to do. It’s a simple prisoners dilemma and choosing defection is the rational choice . India’s overall HDI is medium, but the largest swath of our country lives a life close to sub-saharan Africa . If given a chance, the easier question to ask would be, why should you not leave?

Well, that question gets answered easily for you. Immigration has been getting harder over the years, the days of getting on a boat and starting a new life in a new land are over . Borders are closed, countries are hostile, visas are mandatory. The easiest to get visas are workers visas which have restrictions on who else you bring, you can’t just wholesale bring the fam along . Last I checked, most people care about their family. So, unless your payoff matrix has a co-efficient of zero for “relationships”, there is a trade-off to be made . So it’s hard, and it’s also not that fun; being terrible for those poor souls who love to regularly hug their loved ones.

But this begs the question, is life so bad for my upper middle brethren? My intuitive answer here is no. Most of us enjoy the USD/INR arbitrage, simultaneously being cheap hands for hire and the richest kids on the block . Urban India has caught up developmentally to some extent, whatever the state failed to provide us, we’ve provided ourselves through private initiative . The lack of reliable power is patched up by generators in many houses and housing complexes. The bottomless pit called the Indian labour market, means you can hire maids, cooks, drivers, delivery boys, and make your life a hell of a lot easier . The only reason we are slightly affected now is because our privilege has been denied to us during the pandemic. Hospitals and medical supplies are so overwhelmed, that our money doesn’t matter anymore, skipping the line with money isn’t possible . We suddenly had to open our eyes and see what most of the country goes through everyday. But this too shall pass. The pandemic won’t last forever. Eventually we’ll be back to the safety of our isolated and privileged cocoons . So, you have reason to stay to here out of comfort, laziness and inertia.

Another nobler reason to stay here is to fight. Every problem is also an opportunity. Build the systems, vote good leaders, invent new organisations, and most importantly; care . This advice is applicable to the 10% of the population with gusto and initiative, not the 90% sheeple.