A very sad day.  

It sounds like a clear case of envy to me. All that they could see was this rich woman walking about like a tourist. It's often not a good idea to try and revisit your childhood, it won't be the same, things change, people change, die, or move away. I understand your desire to show your daughter where it was that you grew up, but it was probably not a good idea.

Well, going back to where we started is a good decision on your part. It is just unfortunate that there are people who want to ruin you and think that they can put you out. I believe that you don't need to quit going back to where your life started. I believe that all things work together for good to many people who believe. Don't allow such things to ruin your day. You are still alive. Enjoy life and pray for those who persecute you.

Hello Autumn953. I am so sorry for your sad experience. I can only imagine how you must have felt trying to go home and show your darling daughter your roots. I am close friends with an Indian family and I had the pleasure of visiting your country India a year ago. I had some insight into the culture. It sounds like you went alone with your daughter to your old neighborhood. Perhaps that is why this man had issues with you.

When my sister and I visited in southern India for a month, they stressed to us the importance of never going anywhere alone as a woman. They said it was not considered safe for women to travel alone. Women should always have a male relative with them - a husband, brother, father, uncle. even older son. There are some Indian men who just do not understand and will not accept a woman traveling anywhere alone. They consider a woman alone like a harlot.

The family that we visited, also had once lived in extreme poverty and now live very well. They bought property and have built a beautiful home. When they invited friends from the old neighborhood to their home, their old friends would not come. This hurt our friends very much. It seems that once our friends moved up in status, they were not even welcome in the old neighborhood.

Do not be totally dismayed by this experience. Use it as a teaching tool for your daughter. There are many facets to India. Teach your daughter everything about her culture. She should know the good, the bad and the ugly. There is so much beauty in the Indian culture, so much history. It is young people like her who will change the world because they see the world from all sides. God bless.

That's pretty bad and depressing indeed, because instead of receiving a warm welcome from your countrymen and former neighbors, you ended up being harassed and ostracized.

Well, this case can be attributed to a xenophobia, you know the condition in which people in the neighborhood are afraid or intimidated by "foreigners"and since you gone to other country for so long, they regarded you now as foreigner too. There are people also who envied other people achievements, you know things like that.

What you are to do now is just take it as it is because there's nothing you can do about it because you cannot change their perception and maybe because they have different understanding about people living in a foreign land.

So try to explain it to your daughter and just look life in a positive and happy disposition.

we cannot please everybody even our relatives are also judgmental. maybe that person is jealous of you so instead of showing his or her jealousy to you he or she turn the jealousy into anger.

Thanks for sharing us your story on your journey back home eventhough it does not result to something good. The more I think about it is that those people probably are envious of you because you are already different from them. Maybe the way you dress, speak and walk. What you can do is to still be positive in life and think that you can never really please anyone. If you have not showed anything rude to them, then it is not your problem anymore. As long as you didn't say or show them anything bad, there's nothing to be guilty of. It's not your fault that you got lucky and now living a good life.

I felt so sorry for your daughter. I am sure that was a trip she never enjoyed. Don't you have relatives in the area who could have showed you around and shielded you from these people?

Envy exists. people who cannot see a way out of their misery in life constantly do that. For them it is a way of venting their frustration for inequality in life. Unfortunately, it is not just right to hurt other people in d the process. That was a sad day indeed.

It is refreshing to see someone who despite having achieved a certain level of success had never forgotten about her roots. It is afterall what we had to go through that defines us as people. I admire your desire to go back and show your daughter your past home.

Unfortunately, not everyone from your past had been able to reach that illusive dream of finding a better life for themselves and their families. For these people, they feel that people who have more than they do would only look down on them so no matter what your intentions were, they would still regard you with hostility. It may be right that they show this amount of aggression because they are envious of what you have become. This is not your fault. Your intention was never to make things hard for them in the first place.
It is sad when we no longer feel welcome in the place we used to call home but you have nothing to feel guilty about. Whatever you have, you have achieved because you worked hard for it. If they cannot accept that, it is not your problem.
What you can do is teach your daughter not to feel hate towards these people no matter how hostile they may have been. It is the utmost sign of virtue to teach someone to love and respect despite difficult circumstances. One day, what will matter is how much we have given and not how much acceptance we were able to receive.
Keep your head up.

I am just startled why they acted like that? Any bad memories from the past? They must welcome you because atleast you still remember where you from. But I guess they envy you, just move on.