Thrown at crossroads

What happened today is something that i am not able to grasp, elucidate and left me in dismay.

** Here is what happened **
After hearing about the blood donation camp set outside by work, i decided that i wanted to donate blood. This was my first time and i was very nervous. I got there, provided my identification and sat down with an employee to fill up the initial questionnaire and provide a blood sample. I was told that the blood would be sent to the lab and tested for 28 different diseases before it being provided to others. I was asked a series of questions about my health history and my nationality, race and so on. And then came to the part of "the countries i have visited in past one year". I had been on vacation to India and Singapore. After a certain point, the employee looked worried and broke the news to me that i cannot donate blood. Because??? Because of the fact that i had been to India within past one year.

** Here is how i reacted **
I was shocked by that news. As i began to tell her this whole thing was stupid, tears started to rolled down my cheeks. The employee stared at me with a disbelief as i sat there, believe it or not, crying. I apologized for my reaction and tried to explain that i was feeling very offended.Employee being nice enough, tried to console me and gave me kudos for at least trying.I walked out of there without understanding the feeling...
What i did was silly but come to think it was it really??

I guess i should confess that for the first time in three years of my stay in the US i felt, i dont know if it is the right word, discriminated. It has nothing to do about me, i understand that. It could have been anyone who had been to India. So, that was not what was bothering me.It was the fact that it was India. It was the whole thing of "please don't get blood from people who have been to India". My reaction is a shock to me, leave alone others. I was supposed to be someone who would have got up, said "Whatever". I thought i was someone who was not attached to any place. But i felt different today.India, home, my country and everything about it... I finally felt i am a part of it. I shed a tear because its mine.

It has made me question everything about me and what i thought i was. But then i also thought, all Indians who live in some place outside India, should face these crossroads someday or the other. Have they felt the same way? A crossroad you face when you come to face to face with the unknown love that you have always had for the place, that has made you what you are today?Every now and then, i bump into Indian couples who are contemplating moving back to India. I used to wonder what triggered that desperate need to leave behind a good lifestyle, "better than India in every which way" country.

Now i understand that it’s all these small things, that time and again makes us realize that home is home, no matter how imperfect and how annoying. What is that about one’s own country that makes us feel so strongly about it? What is it?Of course, there are lot of discriminations stories i have heard in the past, at work place, amongst friends. But i could always take it with a pinch of salt thinking "It is the ignorance of one person".But what happened today is set by the government of United States. Risk of Malaria, from any person who has visited India in a year!!! I mean don't we have better science and technology to test that stuff?? To determine if the person is healthy or not??
Cynical we say.
I am experiencing mixed emotions right now. What i feel, i dont understand.I can of course, pack my bags, and leave. Who cares, right?But all i wanted in my life was to experience, see the world, try to understand what people are, what places are made of. I stepped out of home not knowing where it was taking me, because that the choice i made. Consequences of my choices will be revealed to me as time chooses to... But today i know that there will be this something that i will never be able to leave behind. Today i know, there will always be a moment of sadness, a moment of nostalgia, every time i am enjoying my experiencing of "seeing the world".
I am only happy that i cried...