Emotional tie is the strongest reason that makes NRIs to come back to India. The reason is not different, when it comes to the 60 year old Ghulam Mehendin Zaidi, who quit his lucrative job in California and returned to his native village of Motikpur in Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki district. Panjayat elections are being held in UP, where he is a candidate for the post of village "pradhan" or chief. "I came back to my village as I wanted to serve the people of the place where I have spent so many years. I have played in the narrow by-lanes of the village," the report cited Zaidi as saying. 
A former Merchant Navy engineer, Zaidi has several plans for his village, which he would be implementing, if he is elected as a pradhan. "I want to develop Motikpur as a model village so that it becomes an example for others," says Zaidi. Now, he is busy with the campaign, where he faces criticism like, "How can a man, who was away from the village for so many years, can serve the people... he does not know anything about the village conditions," from the opponents. However, the villagers like Zaidi's modesty. "Despite being in the U.S for so many years, he has not forgotten the Indian culture," said a voter, who confide that Zaidi stood a very good chance of winning the polls. A win would more than satisfy him. But he plans to stay in the village permanently even if he loses. "I will still be doing whatever is possible for the development of the village," said Zaidi, who had settled abroad about 40 years ago.
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