FIRST, the glow discharge is established in the starter. This is because the electrodes gap in the neon bulb of the starter is much lesser than that of the fluorescent lamp.Then gas inside the starter gets ionized due to this full voltage and heats the bimetallic strip. That causes to BEND the bimetallic strip to connect to the fixed contact. Now, current starts FLOWING through the starter.As SOON as the current starts flowing through the touched contacts of the neon bulb of the starter, the voltage across the neon bulb gets reduced since the current, causes a voltage drop across the inductor(ballast).At reduced or no voltage across the neon bulb of the starter, there will be no more gas discharge taking place and HENCE the bimetallic strip gets cool and breaks away from the fixed contact. The initial current causes an electrical arc between electrodes, which ionizes the gas. The heat from the light bends bimetallic strip, closing the switch, which turns off the starter light.The bimetallic strip cools and returns to its original position. Current flows through the ionized gas in the tube.