Why I feel happier in India

I never could explain this until just now.

In the US, when I was going through a bad patch emotionally, or was feeling down, I would feel alone. And truly, there would be days when I wouldn't (or couldn't) talk to another person for days on end- people typically don't begin conversations on the bus or on the street with others. In my lab, the need for professionalism kept most interactions to the superficial.
I saw innumerable people over multiple years, either on the road leading to our house, or in the daycare when I went to pick up kids, and they would have seen me, but we never struck up a conversation or had any kind of connection.
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Here, in India, on my street, on the street where my parents' home is, in my work places, I matter. People come and talk to me. I don't feel invisible.

And that's why, despite all the pollution and the problems, I like it here.