I am a proud Indian...BUT in US...

Ya ya, I know...we all are...proud Indians. Can anyone deffer from me on this? NO, absolutely no, because we are proud: Of our culture, of our heritage, of our religion, of our country. Each of us love our country and are so proud to be an Indian that people from other countries should learn from us how to be a patriot.

Now you must be wondering, when all this is true, then why bring up the topic!! Actually I am currently in USA and when I was leaving India, everyone told me, that now I will never return to India, that I had done a great job and now I was set for life. When I told them that i was planning to return, many of them looked at me with shock on their faces, many of them shook their 10 gallon heads and assured me that I will never come back to India, in-fact I should not even think about it, as such opportunities do not come in life time and again. Some of them even told me that no matter what I said now, I will never come back to India and they were as sure of this, as that one can not return to life after death.

I was astonished and surprised on all these responses. These were proud Indians who had spent their whole lives in this very country, India, and considered themselves as proud Indians. Most of them had never been to US but were explaining me about comforts in life in US so well as if they had lived there only and were visiting India for the first time. Anyways, I came to US to continue my studies.

Now, US has a different lifestyle and culture. I was living alone in an apartment so I started watching hindi songs' videos on youtube and there I read comments on them. Most of them were from NRIs and they all talked about how lovely India is, what a great culture and society we have and how they miss India. I asked several of them, if they miss it so much then why not go back? Don't they get jobs there? They were all getting jobs but obviously not so much of money and luxuries, "so they could not go back".

I really don't understand, very rarely I see, if any, old Indians here who are happy, they all want to go back to India, but can't 'coz of their family and children who have lived all their lives in US and can not adjust in India anymore, and none of the young ones who are coming here want to go back 'coz of money and independence they get here. Yet they all talk about wishing to go back to India (of-course these young ones will turn into old ones who would then want to go back, to seek what we all actually seek: peace of mind and love; but they will not be able to...'coz of their children then)...!!!

Another thing I noticed was, when all Indians living abroad return to India for short visits, they abuse every thing in India...from air to roads to doctors to system...everything, but when abroad, they all miss India and talk about going back (I said talk...as they do not really want to).

Then why this act of being proud...why not accept the truth. Its not that USA is perfect, it has a great lifestyle for young bloods like me who can live life literally kingsize and make money too...but then...STOP. That is it... > 95% of people (I talked to, and I have discussed this issue with >200 people face to face or via internet) agree, there is very little beyond money and some comforts of life like electricity/water...the things that were in India...the closeness of relations, those evenings with friends, having dinner with family almost daily and the fun they could have had in daily life by doing same or even more work, but not being under so much of performance pressure all the time...I fail to understand what these people chase in lives, when they acknowledge not to be as happy, as they could have been but still pursue the so called "........ dream"..!?

Is it still, that we are becoming victims of mass propaganda, just like looking at a teenager smoking and drinking and it being said "cool" in teen world, others do it too...or people buying Loreal when they can get the same quality in Lakme? All say, India is flourishing and improving, but not at the rate we want it too...we all want to live in a country like US or UK and if India becomes like that...we will return...but nobody wants to be a participant in the process of making India that country..."great patriots that we are..." and nobody wants to acknowledge that these countries are what they are because their citizens worked and suffered for it. I do not know about other things, but I can say
this, they are what patriots should be like...they do not cheat people from outside and they work hard and suffer to make their country great, they never say wrong and bad things about their country in front of others (it is astonishing for most of the people when I tell about the crimes and unsafe areas here...and why so..!!?? when crimes in India are not even 1/20th or even 1/30th of here...while everyone has a bad image of India).

Well there is a lot more to be said and add...but right now I need to sleep, so that I can get up early and go to work...but I will do it as I get time...till then...enjoy and if your mentality permits...think about it.