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'I hope India treats me as kindly as UK did': Indian woman's homecoming post after 5 years abroad strikes chord online
An Indian content creator's homecoming post has struck a chord online after she reflected on returning to India five years after moving to London.
A digital creator’s emotional homecoming post has struck a chord online after she reflected on returning to India five years after moving to London. In an Instagram post, content creator Jigeesha Gupta wrote about leaving home as a teenager “barely knowing who I was” and coming back as “a woman with fire in her soul”.
“After 5 years in London, I’m home. Five years. 1,825 days. A lifetime of growth compressed into what feels like both forever and a blink of an eye. I left India at 19, barely knowing who I was, carrying dreams bigger than my suitcase. London didn’t just welcome me, it raised me,” Gupta wrote.
“Through the loneliness of those first winter nights, the joy of finding my tribe, the heartbreak that taught me resilience, and the victories that felt impossible just years ago. I’ve cried on the tube, danced in tiny flats, worked jobs that broke me and others that built me. I’ve been homesick and home-found all at once,” she added.
Gupta further spoke about how London gave her confidence, perspective and a renewed sense of identity. “London gave me everything - confidence I didn’t know I had, perspectives I never imagined, friendships that span continents, and most importantly, it gave me myself. The version of me that could dream fearlessly, love deeply, and stand tall through any storm,” she said.
However, returning home has not been easy, she said. “Now as I step back onto Indian soil, I’m not the same person who left. I’m carrying pieces of two worlds, two cultures, two versions of home,” Gupta wrote.
The content creator further said that she is not the person who left five years ago. “The girl who left with stars in her eyes has returned as a woman with fire in her soul,” she wrote, adding, “This isn’t goodbye to London - it’s hello to the next chapter.”
She also acknowledged the emotional processing behind the shift, saying she delayed posting about her return “for a month” while coming to terms with it.
Speaking to HT, Jigeesha Gupta said, "What the post doesn’t capture is the weight of that first night back. I walked down the streets of my neighborhood, surrounded by familiar faces and places that somehow felt foreign, and realised I was mourning London while simultaneously celebrating home. It’s a strange grief, missing a place that was never truly yours, yet gave you everything you needed to become yourself. I kept thinking: will India recognise this version of me? Will I recognise myself here?”
(Also Read: Indian woman shares why she regrets not moving abroad: 'I'll leave in a heartbeat if I get another opportunity')
Social media reactions
The post has resonated with many who shared similar experiences.
“Hey! Have same story as yours.. left India when I was 17, lived in UK for 5 years moved back home. I feel each word of yours.. lots of love, growth and happiness,” one user wrote.
“wish you all the strength and blessings for new chapter… I know it will be tougher, I feel you in that way cuz I am going through the same but please always admire and follow the self-confidence that UK and London gave you,” commented another.
“It’s been 3 months , I’m still can’t accept the reality , but yeh you took the words right out of my mouth,” wrote a third user.
