An American content creator's heartfelt confession about missing India after returning home has gone viral, with many social media users praising her deep connection to the country, its culture and its people.
An American content creator's heartfelt confession about missing India after returning home has gone viral, with many social media users praising her deep connection to the country, its culture and its people. Tabby Phillips, a US-based traveller and social media creator, recently shared a candid Instagram video revealing that she has been grappling with "reverse culture shock" since returning from India. To cope with the emotional void, she found comfort in a shopping spree at a local Indian grocery store packed with her favourite snacks and foods.
Holding a box overflowing with Indian snacks, Phillips opened up about the strange feeling of returning home after spending a significant amount of time immersed in another culture.
“Do you know what reverse culture shock is?” she asked in the video. “It's when you've been somewhere different than your own culture, and you've been there for an extended amount of time and come home and your home doesn't really feel like home any more.”
Related Articles
The creator revealed that her first long stay in India, which lasted six months, left a lasting impact on her. The return journey back to the United States proved emotionally overwhelming.
“I literally hit depression in one week. Everything was like overstimulating,” she said.
While she described her current experience as less intense, Phillips admitted that the familiar feeling of longing had returned. She said she deeply missed "India, my friends, the smells, the foods, all the things," prompting her to visit Janta, an Indian grocery store in her hometown, to recreate a small piece of the country she had left behind.
Phillips proudly displayed packets of Maggi noodles, Kurkure Masala Munch, lychee juice, Kerala banana chips, milk biscuits, frozen dosa, Amul cheese and ready-made parathas.
She demonstrated what she called the "correct" Indian way of opening snack packets — tearing them from the side and eating directly from the bag. While tasting Kurkure Naughty Tomato, she burst into laughter and compared the flavour to “a Cheeto with ketchup."
Throughout the video, Phillips spoke warmly about the foods, fruits and regional delicacies she discovered during her travels in India. Many of those favourites, she said, have become difficult to find outside specialised Indian stores, making her visits to such shops even more meaningful.
“My heart's ripped out. Half of it's in India. The other half is here,” she said. “When I'm here, I'm missing India. When I'm in India, I'm missing here.”
In the video caption, Phillips wrote that she hoped her grocery haul would help soften the effects of reverse culture shock. She added that she was already missing “India and all of my friends, my travels, the culture, all the things.”
The video quickly resonated with viewers, many of whom were touched by her genuine affection for India.
