At a time when many Indians are pursuing dreams abroad, Caleb Friesen took the opposite road. At the beginning of the twenty, the creator and the father of Canadian content packed his bags and made Bengaluru his house. Its reasons were not rooted in ambition or strategy – but in a silent and radical pursuit of domestic growth. Now, after eight years in India, a video of reflective friesen on his unconventional decision becomes viral.
The video begins with a question that Friesen is used to hearing: why leave Canada for India when so many Indians are heading in the other direction? His answer is unexpected. “Become more difficult,” he says – not by an external struggle, but an internal change.
He shares a pivotal moment of his youth: a 40 -day fast during which he only consumed water and air. He dropped 18 kilograms, but what he won was a deeper lesson. “When you get involved, growth can occur – even without action,” he says.
Friesen calls for this “passive growth” – the type of transformation which takes place not through planning, but by changing your environment. “This is the type of growth that does not require a plan. It happens just when you change your environment, “he explains.
This is what led him to India. He wanted to challenge himself, be mentally and emotionally stretched in a way that he could not orchestrate. “I wanted to be in a place where growth was inevitable,” he says. And India – with its complexities and contradictions – has become this crucible.
His belief in passive growth also shapes the way in which he considers parenting. Becoming a father, he says, is another experience that forces growth, simply by being. “My son continues to exist, as is my growth,” he reflects.
Thanks to climatic shocks, cultural changes and the daily unpredicts of Indian life, Friesen found what he was looking for: not comfort, but transformation.
