May 27, 2005 05:58 PM
4578 Views
(Updated Jun 18, 2005 06:22 AM)
Hi friends, this is a personal experience with the indians who left the peninsular sub-continent to settle in the west & find work, money, & a safe haven here, trying to cover as many aspects of the diaspora as possible:
UK: most people there are semi-desi type, i.e. they still have a lot of true patriotism & indian values, maybe because of strong ethnic population there, or more proximity to Asia. There are all types of people here & try to keep together using weekend parties & desi-assocns & temples.... most of these are quite well off due to high level of education done in good universities here, & few of these are even millionaires & multimillionaires due to booming business like car-dealerships, indian food businesses & software placement cos.
US: Due to en entirely different culture here, the indians here develop a lot of attitude (esp the younger generation...many of them think res. indians who come here are idiots, when they dont know terms like freeway & tollway, a sub, & the look-after-yourself-culture. Though I met only a few nice people here, who are really co-operative, I found this % to be around 75 & 25 ratio. The 'desi' (sorry to tell u earlier, this is the word to describe indians here) are glued to PCs all day long, to sites like sulekha.com, desihub.com, & all kinds of matrimonial sites.... they would like their wards married to only US citizens, even though he/she may be manager of some food restaurant, or only a high-school grad here. Many people of all nationalities here are deep upto neck with debt since they buy expensive cars, big homes & huge medical insurances... then they keep on looking at pay raises (which may doesnt happen for few yrs in a row), shopping at cheap places like wal-mart & doing PT things like food-classes, dancing or yoga classes. Or they would ask spouses to work to maintain a good lifestyle. I think a lot of people are also fooling 'gora' people by taking 'Ancient Yoga' classes which only needs a empty room/verandah, few mats & books (which you could pick off streets in every indian city).... some communities are notorious to have entire families brought here, by producing fake marriages, relations etc & then these relatives are left to work here on manual jobs on 6-7$ per hr wages. There are only a very handful who have ectually made big successes & that is generally due to their own qualities as a 'person' & not due to indian culture, in gen. Culture actually makes you look nice, conservative & friendly over here... Overall few nice, mostly snobbish....
Canada: Writing this makes me feel the cold wind chill there... this country has been advertised as 'The best country to live in' by all immigration agencies, but that is true only for those who are brought up here, or have gotten a majority of their education from here. For most others who come here as immigrants (incl. india), life is a question of survival. Immigration agents are making money by the dozen luring all potential well-to-do clients in india & gulf (where a lot of indians also work). Beware of frauds, people... life is not very easy... from getting your first survival job to getting your asian degrees evaluated for proper jobs, & then the job search itself can be hell of a problem!!! There are very few hi-tech companies there, & the major business centres are Toronto & Montreal. Vancouver is big city, but more of tourist paradise. Hence, getting first 'good' job here can be pretty difficult & many people are on a hand-to-mouth existence in the name of being NRI!!! Winters are bone-chilling, it will make you cry if you go out in a wind-chill!!! There is snow-cap for 4-5 mths, toronto being somewhat okay as its southwards & near lake ontario. Toronto is very multi-cultural true, but all immigrants land up there, there is much crowding, & fight for resources that you wished to leave behind in your home country & looking for job is real bad!!!! Many indians landing here - doctors, MBA, engrs have to drive a cab to make a living or take loans & start university...hence only those who are bachelors, have lot of patience & tolerance can make it here, & it will take much time as well guys!!! Everything is not all that rosy here or anywhere for that matter!!!
