The human side of global mobility

May 27, 2026

Dieter Withoeck

Dieter Withoeck is a Belgian expat who has lived in India for nearly two decades and is married to Rooted and Routed host Sabiya Pathan Withoeck. In his second appearance on the podcast, Dieter and Sabiya explore the difference between collective and individualist societies, and how the two of them have quietly swapped roles. He's the foreigner who feels at home in India, while Sabiya, an Indian, often feels like an outsider in her own country. The conversation digs into a rarely-discussed side of global mobility: how difficult it is to return to your home country after years abroad. Dieter shares his own experience of feeling like "an expat in my own country" on returning to Antwerp after eleven years in India, and the two discuss what reintegration means for the growing number of NRIs coming back to India with families and children raised abroad. They also examine the fast-changing India, drawing Belgian companies across beer, chocolate, pork, potatoes, and agricultural technology — and why these brands now build and adapt locally rather than simply import. The episode closes on lighter ground: imagining a festival that blends the Belgian tradition of Sinterklaas with Diwali, and a shared hope for the day India qualifies for a football World Cup.

About

Sabiya Pathan Withoeck

Host & Creator of Rooted and Routed

Sabiya is the voice and curator behind Rooted and Routed — a podcast for the people whose lives don’t fit on a single map. She brings the kind of curiosity that only comes from having lived the questions herself: what does it cost to belong in more than one place, and what does it mean to root yourself when the ground keeps shifting?

Each episode is a real, unfiltered conversation — not relocation tips or expat checklists, but the emotional and structural reality of building a life across cultures, countries, and systems.