Foreigner Praises Indian Families Visiting Ancestral Homes: "Deeply Admire"

A foreign woman living in India has praised Indian families for their deep connection to their roots and culture. "One thing Indian families do, I wish the world did more," she wrote in a recent Instagram post. "They visit the place their ancestors came from." For many Indian families, a major life milestone, whether it is a wedding, the birth of a child, or the loss of an elder, is incomplete without a journey back to their ancestral village. It is a deeply ingrained cultural practice aimed at seeking blessings and maintaining a connection to one's origins. 

Praising this age-old tradition, the woman named Ksenia Kala wrote, "Every family and every culture has its own way of keeping its history alive. This is one tradition I've come to deeply admire in India." 

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"Last year, we decided to visit my husband's ancestral village with our children for the first time. My husband never grew up there, and neither did his parents. But this is where his grandparents were born, and where generations of our family lived before them," she wrote. 

"The last time we visited was shortly after we got married in 2014. This time, we returned with our three children while I was pregnant with our fourth."

She continued, "Our children got to walk the same paths their ancestors once walked, meet relatives they might never have known otherwise, and discover places that hold generations of family history. In our village, there's even a 15th-century temple surrounded by ancient banyan trees, quietly standing as it has for hundreds of years."

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Watch the video here

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A post shared by Ksenia | family life in India (@kseniakala)

The creator admitted that the concept was entirely new to her own upbringing. "Growing up in a different culture, this tradition changed how I think about raising children. It taught me that a sense of identity isn't something you simply tell your children about," she reflected. 

"It's something you help them experience. Walking these paths, hearing family stories, and seeing where generations before them once lived creates a connection that words alone never could." 

Social media reaction

The sentiment she shared resonated deeply with many users. "We are nobody without our culture," one user wrote in the comment section.

"Yes ma'am, it is the teaching of our Dharma—to evolve with the generations, but always remember your roots," another user shared.

Meanwhile, a third user wrote, "Unfortunately, my ancestral village is now in Pakistan, and we don't even know where."