For some like Gurdial Singh, the occasion is a platform to air grievances about their resident countries. Singh, whose contingent of six has sought a meeting with the Prime Minister, heads the Dastar Action Committee in France. The committee is campaigning against the ban on wearing turban and other religious symbols in French schools and offices.

“At first glance, they don’t understand us or our religion,” said Inderpal Singh, 24. “Sometimes, the cops ask us to remove our turbans so they can frisk us. How do we explain that it is not a cap?”

Singh said French President Nicolas Sarkozy is coming to India on January 26, and “we hope Manmohan Singh puts forth our issues to him.”

For Dr N S Rajendran, it is his interest in education and the knowledge economy that has bought him to the event for the third consecutive time. A professor at a university in Malaysia, he said that “success can’t always be measured in dollars and cents”. His colleague Dr Arumugan, also a professor, quickly added that the event offers them a chance to “feel Indian”.

And does the delegation from Malaysia plan to raise the sensitive issue of treatment meted out to Indians there? “I can’t speak for the entire delegation,” an evasive Dr Rajendran said, “but the general attitude is that we can deal with our problems back in Malaysia ourselves. We are confident the issue will be resolved soon.”

New York-based filmmaker Trilok Malik, whose ‘Lonely in America’ was screened at the NRI film festival during the first Pravasi Bhartiya Divas, said he has become a regular at the event. He has begun to notice that many NRIs are questioning the very purpose of the forum: “There’s a belief that there is very little substance in Pravasi Bhartiya Divas. Most of the speeches just tell us what we already know.”