How many places exist where one can get a completely transformative experience in a matter of two days? An Art of Living session perhaps, a “Darshan” at a pilgrimage center after an arduous climb through a mountain or a weekend getaway to an isolated part of a forest or a faraway island – viable options. Finding this in a Government of India organized program would be the last thing that would come to mind. Yet this is what I experienced last week.

About me – I am an IT salesperson and live in the UK since 2009. I had been in and out of India since I started work in 1996 but decided to leave permanently during the heyday of the UPA regime when I could foresee the high inflation, stalled economy and corruption unfolding. Following the path well-trodden by “flight out” NRIs, I stuck on and got my British citizenship with a lid on all those patriotic emotions that kept calling against it. Ever since this event 6 months back, a part of the heart was always melancholic and riddled with guilt.

It was on a lark that I decided to attend the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas organized by GOI on 7^th, 8^th and 9^th January 2017. It was a Whatsapp message forwarded by my wife which had Sushma Swaraj inviting NRIs that drove me to look up the event. It was a simple process - register on the website, pay money over the payment gateway and an email confirmation was all it took. I arrived in Bengaluru on the 6^th to attend the event.

The despair - The days leading up to it were covered with horrible news on the Bengaluru molestations across news channels (which are beamed in UK too), on websites and on friends’ Facebook walls where there was a barrage of shaming of India, Indian culture and everything else Indian under the sun. This had compounded the feeling of negativity and despair within me – if there is one enemy of the mental well-being of Indians, it is definitely the sensationalist media. It was in such a mood that I left for the venue (BIEC) where the event was to be held.

The positive beginning - The first positive experience was the ease with which I got my pass and welcome kit at the reception – it was ready and handed over in a manner of minutes, pleasant shock for those used to the ways of GOI. The place was full of youngsters from across India and world – the ones from India were selected students from different colleges through the National Social Service while the ones from abroad were winners of the Know India online quiz contest conducted worldwide by GOI.

The days were packed with multitude of speech sessions as well as plenary sessions with panels full of distinguished guests. The second positive shock was that the sessions always began and ended on time, another divergence from past experiences with GOI.

The first day – was a truly incredible experience – the Chief Guest of the opening session was the Vice President of Suriname, Michael Ashwin Adin whose speech was also the standout in the session. He is descendant of the Indian migrants to Suriname several generations ago and was visibly proud of his heritage. He quoted from Hindu scriptures in Sanskrit like “Dharma eva hato hanta/Dharmo rakshati rakshitah” and many such allegories on why India should lead the way in the world. His grasp on content and context of the scriptures was much more than any resident Indian.

The other two sessions that stood out were the panel discussion on Startup India led by Amitabh Kant of the Niti Aayog and Startups in Karnataka. The Startup India session was intellectually stimulating, Kant laid out the vision for Startup India – the “Triveni Sangam” of a demographic dividend with a restive young population, the fact that India has many problems to solve as against the West and the fact that a quantum leap is needed for the economy through entrepreneurship to take us to a $10 Trillion economy by 2030 with a $7000 per capita income.

The session also had Venture Capitalists from Silicon Valley now helping GOI set Venture Capital for the program, mentoring specialists, serial startup entrepreneurs, a professor who is focusing on spreading the entrepreneurial spirit in universities. Examples were cited of some dazzling successes by startups in India example HelloIndia, an app that has taught English to 9 million Indians in towns and villages.

Startup Karnataka was focused on the greatest things happening in Bengaluru and Hubli with doyens of the IT industry in Bengaluru speaking especially on the India Stack program. The standout presentation was by the very young CEO of “Team Indus” which is a startup building a spacecraft to go to the moon – their tagline “Har Indian ka Moonshot”.

The second day – this was possibly the best day of my life. It all started with a power packed first session attended by dignitaries like the PM of Portugal, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar, Karnataka, CM Siddaramiah, VP of Suriname Mr. Adin and our favorite, PM Modi. In anticipation, the hall was jam packed which was mainly for PM Modi from what I could tell. As if to confirm, his entry was greeted with a rapturous welcome, hooting, standing up and slogans of “Modi, Modi”. The speeches were all round positive by others with the PM of Portugal surprising everyone by pulling out his PIO card to show that he is of Indian origin.

PM Modi took the dais to the same welcome he got when he arrived and gave a rousing speech alternating between Hindi and English with ease, completely without notes. Statements like “Aapke sapne, hamare sankalp hai” or “Videsh aapki karmabhumi hai, Bharat aapki Marmabhumi” floored the audience.

The next session was for the Chief Ministers’ of states which was attended by Assam CM Sonowal, Karnataka CM Sidharamaiah, Chattisgarh CM Raman Singh, Puducherry CM V Narayanswamy and Maharashtra CM Fadnavis. All of them pitched strongly for their states but the standout was CM Fadnavis who spoke without notes.

The highlight for the day for me was standing in a crowd outside the dignitaries lunch venue to catch a glimpse of PM Modi which I could just 7 feet away. It was not just me but my entire family that celebrated this event.

The final session I attended that day was chaired by M J Akbar on the India Development foundation for Overseas Indians which has been set up to help NRIs donate to specific projects in India and also track and monitor the progress and spending of their money.

Through these two days, my mood had changed from despondency to positivity as I heard one positive story after another and saw what the Government of India was doing up close.

Gains and takeaways – I could only attend the first two days but when I left, I was dramatically transformed from the negative despairing NRI to a positive, upbeat Pravasi Bharatiya. It was on account of a few things:

1. The many positive initiatives the government laid out to us and the very open ear and attitude they were demonstrating to the audience
2. The energy of Young India represented through the audience participants, the startups that were showcased and even the young Chief Ministers.
3. I had shed the betraying feeling I carried of having abandoned my country because I met so many Indians from different countries who had left across time frames ranging from 10 years to 100s of years but still came back; example a couple from Fiji, a big family from Reunion Island, a businessman from Japan or another IT professional from Germany. It is the love of “Bharatmata” that binds our hearts and calls us back every time. If those who left 7 generations ago have not forgotten the motherland and keep contributing to it, why would I having left recently and still connected by all the modern means.
4. My resolve to contribute to the motherland’s benefit through multiple initiatives and spreading of positive energy resolved after this experience which was the most transformative ever had.

To conclude, an event which was simple to go to, attended on very low expectations completely transformed my outlook for the country, fellow NRIs and towards life and my aspirations for India.