Love And Hope In The Air, February Is Here

From the Editor’s Desk

February 2026 | The WFY Magazine

There are moments when putting together a magazine feels less like editing and more like listening. Listening to the noise of the world, yes, but also to its quieter signals. The hesitations. The fatigue. The strange mix of confidence and anxiety that seems to follow people everywhere now, whether they live in Kochi or Kuala Lumpur, Toronto or Trivandrum, London or Lagos.

February 2026 arrives carrying that familiar contradiction. On the surface, the world looks busy, fast, and productive. Stock markets move, elections are planned, deals are signed, technologies are announced with great certainty. And yet, beneath all of this, there is an unmistakable sense that many people are pausing. Asking whether the direction we are moving in is still the right one. Wondering if speed has quietly replaced meaning.

For a magazine like The WFY, written for the Indian diaspora but never limited by it, this moment matters. Indians today form one of the largest and most globally dispersed communities in history. According to United Nations data, more than 18 million people of Indian origin live outside India, contributing not just remittances, which crossed 125 billion US dollars in 2024, but skills, ideas, cultural memory, and political influence in their adopted countries. Yet, the experience of being Indian abroad is no longer a single story of success or struggle. It has become layered. Complicated. Sometimes even contradictory.

This issue reflects that complexity.

When we chose Anil Seth: A Beautiful Human Mind in an AI World as our cover story, it was not simply because artificial intelligence dominates headlines. It was because the question of what remains human has become urgent. AI systems now write, predict, diagnose, simulate, and generate at scales unimaginable even a decade ago. Global investment in AI crossed 300 billion US dollars in 2025, and governments from the US to China to India are racing to regulate and deploy it. But technology alone does not define a civilisation.

Consciousness, emotion, doubt, and empathy still matter. Perhaps they matter even more now. That tension sits quietly at the heart of this edition.

Across the world, politics too feels unsettled. In World Politics, we look at Britain’s careful positioning in relation to a possible second Trump presidency. The UK’s Indian-origin population, now over 1.9 million strong, is deeply affected by shifts in transatlantic politics, immigration rules, and economic alignments. What once seemed like distant power games now ripple directly into diaspora lives, from visa regimes to trade flows.

The renewed global attention around Greenland and NATO politics may appear remote at first glance, but such manoeuvres speak to a broader reality. Power is becoming more transactional. Strategic. Less patient. For Indian-origin communities living in Europe and North America, this matters. When geopolitics hardens, migrants are often the first to feel the pressure, sometimes subtly, sometimes overtly.

Yet, not all global movement today is outward. One of the more interesting developments we explore in Economy & Business and Academics is reverse migration. After decades of outward student mobility, with over 1.3 million Indian students studying abroad as of 2024, early signs suggest that some are coming back. Tighter visa regimes, rising costs of education, uncertain job markets, and changing aspirations are reshaping decisions. Our piece on Kerala’s preparedness for returning global students is not about alarm. It is about readiness. About whether institutions, industries, and society are prepared to absorb talent that has seen the world and wants to re-engage with home.

Economic structures themselves are under scrutiny. The feature on Great Economies in the World That Live on Imports reminds us that globalisation has created deep interdependence. Countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, and even parts of Europe import goods worth more than their entire GDP. This is not weakness, but it is exposure. India, with imports hovering around 23 to 24 percent of GDP, occupies a very different position. For the diaspora, this contrast shapes opportunity. It influences where businesses are built, where supply chains are anchored, and where resilience lies in times of disruption.

In Finance & Legal, we examine why South Korean insurers are looking at India. It is a technical subject on the surface, but the underlying story is simple. Global capital goes where long-term growth looks credible. Insurance penetration in India remains below 4 percent of GDP, compared to a global average closer to 7 percent. That gap represents both risk and opportunity. For Indian-origin professionals working in global finance, such shifts are not abstract. They translate into jobs, partnerships, and regulatory challenges.

At the same time, personal life continues alongside these macro shifts. Perhaps this is why our Lifestyle and Health & Wellness sections feel especially relevant now. Longevity is no longer a fringe topic. By 2030, one in six people globally will be over 60. Magnesium deficiencies, hidden heart risks, sleep disorders, emotional availability in relationships. These are not indulgent themes. They are survival questions in quieter forms.

Our contributors approach them without drama, because everyday life rarely announces its turning points loudly.

The diaspora experience is deeply emotional too, and Letters Home: The Emotional Geography of the Indian Diaspora captures something many readers will recognise. The idea of home today is elastic. It stretches across time zones and memory. Technology allows daily contact, yet emotional distance persists. According to recent surveys, over 60 percent of second-generation Indians abroad say they feel connected to India culturally, but less than 30 percent feel confident navigating its institutions. That gap shapes identity in ways policy cannot easily address.

Art and culture offer their own forms of negotiation. As the world marks 150 years of Impressionism, our exploration of how Indian artists reinterpreted the movement is not an exercise in art history alone. It is about translation. About how ideas travel and transform. Indian modern artists did not imitate European styles blindly. They absorbed, questioned, and reshaped them, much like the diaspora itself has done with cultures abroad.

Poetry finds a generous home in this issue too. In times of noise, poetry slows us down. It allows ambiguity. The poems featured here speak of love, insomnia, longing, and quiet endurance. They do not try to explain the world. They simply sit with it.

In Science & Technology, developments feel relentless. Space exploration, smartphone algorithms, image manipulation. These advances are impressive, yes, but they also reshape perception. When phones edit our photographs automatically, they quietly edit memory too. For a generation growing up with constant digital mediation, reality itself feels negotiable. That is not a moral judgement. It is an observation worth holding gently.

Travel patterns are changing as well. Indians are travelling more, but differently. Cherry blossom destinations turning away tourists, quieter itineraries gaining popularity. There is a fatigue with overconsumption, even in leisure. Perhaps it mirrors a deeper desire to reclaim experience from performance.

Spirituality, especially among younger generations, reflects this shift. Gen Z does not reject spirituality outright, but it questions authority, structure, and inherited dogma. Their engagement is selective, personal, sometimes fragmented. This too is a form of reinterpretation, not unlike how artists once reinterpreted Impressionism.

And then there is sport. The story of sacrifice, identity, and representation in playing for India resonates strongly with diaspora readers. Sport often becomes a proxy for belonging. A way to negotiate loyalty without paperwork.

Putting this issue together, one thing became clear. The world is not collapsing, nor is it confidently advancing. It is recalibrating. Slowly. Unevenly. Sometimes awkwardly. For Indians across the globe, this recalibration feels personal because migration has always been about adaptation.

At The WFY, we do not claim to have answers. What we aim to offer is context. Thoughtful reporting. Writing that respects intelligence without assuming certainty. We believe readers deserve space to think, not just information to consume.

As you turn these pages, whether in print or on a screen, I hope you find moments that pause you. Moments that feel familiar. Moments that challenge you gently. If this issue does that, then it has done its work.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for staying curious. And, as always, thank you for being part of this global conversation.

— Melwyn Williams
Chief Editor, The WFY Magazine
February 2026