My daughter, Shanthi, was born in New York City, and I never dreamed that she would have any direct connection with England, where I was born, except to vacation there and visit family.  But, she never ceases to surprise me – from birth onwards!!

A couple of years ago, she found out that she was eligible to apply for UK citizenship through me – I have UK citizenship through having been born in London.  A couple of months ago (the delay was largely due to my own disorganization in getting my documents to her), she was sworn in as a subject of the realm, and got her UK passport – so, she’s exploring the idea of living, temporarily or permanently, in the UK.  She is, in a few hours, going to be flying home from a week-long visit to London, mostly to visit our family there – and also to check out the job and housing scene.

She’s blogging her experience at http://shanthioverseas.blogspot.com

Her experience, so far, is reminding me of my own exploratory visit to London, way back in 1979 – I ultimately decided to come “home” to the US, and proceed with school and career in the way that was expected (although, even that didn’t turn out quite as straight-forward as it might have)…

I’m so glad that she had a good time, and I look forward to seeing what comes of this turn in her life – yes, in some ways I’m a little jealous of her freedom and opportunity to do things that I didn’t have a chance to do, but I’m mostly just glad that she’s forging her own path.