Day 02 - #30daysofme

The Task: The meaning behind your Blog name

LegallyAlien - hmm, pretty self explanatory, no?

Well, like many other things in my life, my blog name was inspired by song lyrics. The song here is 'Englishman in New York’ by Sting.

"I'm an alien
I am a legal alien
I'm an Englishman in New York"

Wikipedia explains the meaning of Legal Alien pretty well.

I am a legal alien – in Australia and in India too. I guess moving to another country made me realise that “home” (i.e. India) will always be home because that is where I grew up but at the same time, it will never be the same home again. Does that make sense?

In the same way, while Australia isn’t the “home” I grew up in, after 3.5 years here, despite its alien-ness, it will always be home to me.

I have two homes and no home

I realise that for the rest of my life, I will always be slightly “alien” wherever I go and I like that. I guess as an immigrant, being a bit of permanent misfit comes with the territory. So being “Legally Alien” is now a permanent part of my identity and hence, the blog name.