I
was eighteen when I went to India for the first time, and it was to write. My
father’s financial support from Nigeria kept me propped up. Now and then, he
reached out, to know whether I was on track with the purpose for which he had
sponsored my trip and sustenance to India. Despite his support, I was dealing
with a sense of loss and everything reminded me that I was far from home; from
my family, my friends, and everything that I have known all my life. I was a
teenager after all.
However,
should you find yourself, just like an older or younger version of me, in a
foreign land, but without emotional, legal, and financial support, then you are
in a position I wouldn’t wish upon you. But first, you will have to help
yourself in seeing the world as it truly is; a global community linked by the
commonness of our humanity and the needs associated with it to meet supply and
demand. We are members of this community, and so are you. Hence it follows that
you have something to contribute and which is on demand. But then, you have to
find it. And only when you find it can you offer it and set a price for it.
When you do, then it naturally follows that you will be able to negotiate for
yourself, and rightly so, everything that you need.
To
put this more simply, here are the tips I think you should take seriously:
- Make friends with locals, and
more especially expatriates. Many locals are not knowledgeable about the
bureaucracy of getting legal stay for foreigners, hence you must keep fellow
foreigners within your circle of friends.
- Stay away from trouble and
trouble-prone environments. A police record could complicate your chances of
getting a residence.
- Maintain connection with your
family and friends back home. Not only is this important for emotional support
but with the world being a global community and economically controlled by laws
of demand and supply, it is very possible that your current location could
offer something in high demand back home, or vice versa.
- Ensure that you maintain a safe
and peaceful environment both internally and externally. Ideas, progressive
thoughts, and opportunities are best recognized within peaceful environments.
Hence since you should live in safe environments, you must maintain a positive
outlook on life. Shun depression and desperation. They only breed the opposite
of what is necessary to keep you productive.
Despite all of these tips, it is my wish that you never court
any circumstance that leaves you without legal, emotional, or financial support
in some foreign land.
About the Author
Onyeka Nwelue, born in 1988, is a Nigerian scholar who has had esteemed positions in academia in African studies at two of the world’s most prestigious universities, the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. His crime fiction, “The Nigerian Mafia: Mumbai,” is the first installment in a 10-book series, which has gone on to be longlisted for the 2023 Chinua Achebe Prize and shortlisted for the 2023 ANA Prose Prize. It’s being developed for film by Indian filmmaker, Ramesh Raparthy.
Nollywood actor, Uche Mbadiegwu leaves his Surulere neighborhood in Lagos, to Bandra in Mumbai to join Bollywood, so he could make it big, hoping to play exceptional roles.
Like a flash, Periwinkle appears in his life and changes everything. Tired of living in a pigsty, Efemena wants to live a life of independence, but there is more to being a Nigerian in Mumbai
- a constant escape from the Indian police and narcotics agents.
This novel is a tale of violence, drugs, human trafficking, murder, and sex.
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