Tag Archives: NRI

NRIs and the duplicity of life

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In India, NRIs – non resident Indians, are always looked up to; NRIs are often envied for their prosperity and the riches. NRIs hold a special status in all walks of Indian life. They are well recognized for their deep pockets. There is no debate that most of the NRIs are considered very successful among Indian society, regardless how they make their living in the foreign land.

And how are the NRIs and Indians perceived in the foreign land? What is their social status in the county they live in? Well, exactly the opposite in many cases. There are no stories of special stature to write home about. For example, in the American society, you can find lots of successful NRIs, lots of middle class Indians who are well settled, but there is nothing to envy about their social standings, at least not in the adopted country. They are just a part of another minority group. Continue reading →

NRIs and the Distance

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NRIs: Living abroad and the distance between families/friends

The long distance relations, the long distance friendship, the relatives far away and the families scattered around the globe – it is part of living abroad. ‘The distance’ is a part of the journey for most of the NRIs. The distance may be one of the variables depending on where and how far you live, but it is a constant – it is always there. When it comes to the overseas’ life, the distance is what identifies the lifestyle of majority of the NRIs.

Most of the Indians living abroad have what you may call ‘an international family’. The parents may live in one country, the kids in another place, and some of the siblings yet somewhere else. Most of us travel to the faraway places for opportunities – the financial opportunities, the chances for career growth, better jobs and so on…. We explore all around the globe looking for something better – better schools, better jobs, the better places to raise kids….

Along the way, while searching for a better life, come the compromises and the sacrifices. One of the obvious results of all these relocations is the distance.

At the heart of all this running around, at the bottom of all this hunting all over the globe is the search for a better life. The whole thing – the living abroad – revolves around the idea of finding a better life. Continue reading →

NRIs – Scattered relations, separated friends!

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“At first, I tried phoning regularly, almost every day. Then it changed from everyday to every week-end. Talking on the phone is not the same, and it becomes very expensive. Over the years, I have basically lost touch with most of my friends, even some of the closest ones,” He speaks in somewhat sad tone, with pain spilling out of his words, “I still call my friends, we email more than phone. We still understand each-other, but it is not the same. I am no longer a part of the friendship circle that I left behind.”

This is true for most of the NRIs. We often talk about going abroad; living overseas and we share our experiences in the foreign countries. We explore the pros and cons of leaving our homeland and settling overseas. Whenever there is a reunion or a get together, we discuss it all – the good stuff, the bad side and the compromises of living abroad.

However, one of the least discussed and the most unfortunate side-effect of the whole thing – going abroad and settling overseas, – is the emotional and social impact it has on our psychology. It is probably because we don’t like to talk about something very personal. Maybe it is uncomfortable and often painful to discuss something that was much cherished and now lost.

“What we leave behind is lost forever. You cannot go back after years and restart from where you left. Time does not wait for anyone, and people have moved on. Maybe that’s how it is supposed to be, but there are some aspects of going abroad that I will always miss – the circle of friends and families. Yes, I am richer now, but at what cost, I often wonder.” Continue reading →

Some things never change….in India

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An NRI’s prospective on the not-so-changing aspect of Indian life

Bigger houses, better cars, western food, newer mobiles….there are so much new in India; there have been so many changes over the last 10-15 years. India, along with very few other countries, is economically growing at a pace that rest of the world can only talk about. The changes are everywhere.

And then, there are many more things that are about the same, same as the old days. If you look closer, the stuff that has not changed much is in fact much more profound and much more important than the economic progress made since early 90s.
The key aspects of Indian way of life that have not changed much include:

  1. The overall mentality is still the same. The way society interacts and overall thinking has not changed very much.
  2. The political power, the corruption and the mussel flexing to get the work done is same old. If you have money, you can bypass the due process and the waiting lines.
  3. The outdoor cleanliness is no where to be found. The trash and garbage is all over the streets, just like before.

    4. Continue reading →

The Changes in India – An NRI’s View

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An NRI’s perspective on the main changes in India

After a long time, I went back to India this summer. Everybody was warning me, “You won’t recognize your town.” … “Be prepared for a reverse culture-shock”…. “It is not the same India you left more than a decade ago.”

Even though the reason for my trip was family emergency, I was quite excited. My trip was short, only two weeks, but I was all looking forward to going places and visiting friends, families, old memories…..

Yes, I did see the new face of India; I did visit all of my old friends, all of my relatives and neighbors, even though I barely recognized half of them.

It was very hot for the month of May, but I spent everyday on the road – going places and meeting everyone I had intended to.

Not to disappoint anyone, I was not shocked or surprised after what I saw in my home-town or overall in India. May be because I was already warned. The main changes I noticed were:

Bigger houses and shopping malls everywhere: Almost every house has added one more floor/storey to their residence; or they have added adjacent rooms. That’s good, because it used to be quite crowded indoor before. It is still crowded for some reason even though there are more rooms. A lot more shops and malls add to the city life.

Traffic is crazier than ever: Once I started my Indian journey from Delhi airport, the sound of non-stop horns on the road was the first realization that I was home. The traffic is much crazier. The funny thing is that the drivers are much more aggressive, and still, they are always late to their final destination.

Everybody has two cell phones: I don’t get it, why you need two cell phones. The way my driver explained to me, “One is to talk to my family and friends, and one for others.” I still don’t get the ‘others’ part. Continue reading →

Horn Please – the art of honking in India!

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If you go back to India after a few years of stay abroad, the first thing that gets your attention is the noise from constant honking of the horn on the road. Now-a-days, they have introduced musical horns with so many different tunes, if that makes you feel any better. But, the annoyance of horn noise is something that bugs anyone who visits India after a while, or for the first time.

At first, one might think that honking of the horn is an indication of impatient driving or being overly aggressive on the road. After all, most of the vehicles have the rear-view mirrors and they should be able to tell that someone is approaching them from behind to pass by, instead of being reminded with a loud horn. But after a few days of stay I realized that most of the drivers use horn for alerting the other drivers as they take-over or pass by in the narrow lanes.

In America, as you konw, honking of a horn on another driver is rare and used only when someone needs to be reminded of his/her mistakes. In India however, the use of Horn is a part of driving etiquettes. Continue reading →

10 simple ways to improve cross culture understanding in a new country

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The social adaption varies from person to person, some people adapt faster than others. Regardless, it is very natural to have strong opinion or strong biases against a new culture or a new place.

Once we move to a new culture, we subconsciously start to get used to the new norms as time goes. And, in many cases, we don’t even realize that we are adapting to the new culture; it happens automatically. It is a natural social change – adapting to the new culture over time.

However, the social adaption happens much faster if we make a conscious effort to interact with the local culture. To improve the cross cultural understanding and learning more about the local way of life, here are a few simple but effective things that we can do:

1. Adapt to the local language: Don’t isolate yourself from the local language and the local way of speaking – the slang, the style, …. the whole nine yards. The article ‘Self-help guide to lose your accent’ goes into the details on this subject.

2. Participate in the community functions: Be a part of the local community. The social interactions help with understanding the local culture and appreciating the differences.

3. Volunteer at a local school or library: Being a volunteer at local school or library is not only a noble thing to do, but it help you equally. You learn a lot about the local way of life, the local education system and it opens many doors to the local activities.

4. Don’t be over conscious of being different: We are all different, one way or another. The world would be a boring place if we were all very similar. So don’t be self-conscious about being a minority in a local culture. Continue reading →

Cross-culture understanding – It is a culture thing

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India Abroad: The multi-cultural living – it’s a culture thing

It’s human nature; we have opinions; we carry biases in our head all the times, even when we don’t want to. The way we are raised, the way we have seen the world growing up, affects the way we think. We always look at everything and everyone through the eyes of our own culture.
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One of the common biases in any culture is the self superiority complex – every culture considers itself superior or better than others. For someone from India who is new in America, for example, it is not an unreasonable belief that Indian culture (or subculture based on the part of India one belongs to) is far better than any of the local American cultures.

One of the key reasons for self superiority is that fact that we don’t know as much about other cultures. We try to judge and perceive everything and everybody from the viewpoints of our own culture.
Why?
Because that is the only reliable reference we have. We know our culture so intimately; we are so used to our own social standards. Everything outside our society has to measure up to our cultural norms – good or bad, true or false. That is why we are always comparing different aspects of a newly acquired foreign society to that of what we are so used to – our own India culture or sub-cultures. Continue reading →

The way I used to be

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I miss aimless walking through the streets, the summer roam;
Venturing out in the winter chill, and wandering astray.
Not knowing the destination, but always feeling at home;
I miss howling at the rickshaws, telling them, “Just take me that way.”

I miss the dusty paths, the unpaved roads with no sign to ‘stop’;
Or treading through the morning fog, where one could barely see.
Or waiting for hours at the corner, for a glimpse of her from the roof-top;
And then wondering all day, ‘what her name might be’! Continue reading →

Quality of life abroad – going in circle

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Quality of life is often listed as one of the key reason for migrating to different country, or different place. For example, some the common reasons for migrating from India to countries abroad often include

  • The economic hardships and lower income,
  • Search of better employment,
  • Better education system or higher education,
  • Better medical facilities,
  • Ability to start and operate a business with minimum political and social corruption,
  • Financial and economic opportunities in a foreign land…etc.

All these facilities and much more developed infra structure, combined with financial advantages, add to the comforts of day-to-day life abroad. As a result, based on all this, it does make a difference to the quality of life.

Over the last many years, however, there have been lots of discussions about expatriates and NRIs going back home. There is even a cool term coined for it – R2I : return to India.

Why are lots of Indians returning to India? Guess what – one of the most common reasons for R2I is ‘quality of life’ back home. Continue reading →

Loving the life in Canada

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She waited in the line for 30 minutes before the Brampton Employment Resource Centre opened. Once inside, there was more wait. She sat in a chair waiting for her turn while people around her chatted.
She thought she was a people-person, but everything around her seemed to annoy her that day. She was tired of fruitless job search.

The place was crowded. There were all kinds of people around her. Two women sat in the front row, giggling and filling up an application. A group of middle aged men were standing nearby, with construction workers’ shoes on, as if ready to start some construction job right away. A young mother sat next to her, with infant toying with the milk bottle.
“They did not have any openings last week”, the young mother said, trying to make a small talk, and then added quickly, “Hi, my name is Kari!”
“Hi, I am Jassi.”
“So you are local?” Kari asked, while trying to control the little one who wanted to wander away from her arms.
“Sort of, but I have been in Canada only for a few months.”
A long silence; she grabbed the baby who was eager to wander around, “There are no jobs in accounting in Brampton area!”
“Really?”
“Yeah, the adviser showed me some openings in the restaurants last week, but I don’t want to be waitress; I need a real job!” Kari kept going; expressing her frustrations with the job search.
“I know how you feel”, Jassi said quietly. Kari most likely did not hear her; she did not respond. Or, she didn’t want to talk about her feelings.

“This sucks man,” the guy with construction worker’s shoes said, as he waked away from the counter. He obviously did not like the news, whatever the lady at the counter said.

“It was nice to meet you, I have to go,” Jassi said.
“Why? Don’t you want to meet the adviser; your turn should be coming up in 10-15 minutes?” Jassi had already walked out, even before Kari could finish her sentence. Continue reading →

Canadian Living – A multicultural society by default

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We are always busy comparing stuff around us. We compare apples to oranges, Bollywood to Hollywood, old music to new music….It is human nature we compare our experiences with all sorts of things all the time.
If you live in USA or Canada, you most likely have heard this from your desi friends:
“Canadians are much friendlier!”
“Canada is a much better place to live”…
Or something similar…

I have heard the same so many times from many Indians who either travel through Canada or have lived in Canada. Many of them have lived in both Canada and USA at different times of their lives, so they speak from their experiences.

Recently, while traveling through Canada, I got the first hand opportunity to explore the local living and local cultures. There are some things that stand out in Canadian cities:

Canadian cities are much more multi-cultural and diverse:If you walk through the streets of Toronto or any other major Canadian city, you will notice one significant difference compared to major US cities – you are surrounded by a very ethnic and diverse crowd. The brown skin seems much more mingled and much more predominant. Continue reading →

Our Experiences with Indian visa application in canada

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We recently went through the process of applying for Indian visa for a family member with Canadian nationality. More specifically, the applicant in this case is a person of Indian origin, and holds a Canadian passport, who currently lives in USA. If a Canadian Citizen living in US applies for a visitor’s visa within USA (at the the Indian Consulates in USA), the longest Visa issued is for six months only. If you need a longer visa, the only option is going to the nearest Indian Consulate in Canada, and apply for the Visa on the Canadian soil.

The Indian consulate in Canada no longer issues all the visa approvals directly. Outsourcing is part of modern business plan, so it seems for the visa process as well. The main page of the Indian Consulate in Toronto points this out right away:
“As a major step towards upgrading visa services, the Consulate has outsourced the collection of visa applications and their delivery to M/s VF Services – Canada (VFS). Applications for Visa, Passport and Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card should now be sent to the Indian Visa Consular Services Centres operated by VFS at the following locations:…”
The locations listed are Toronto, Brampton and Winnipeg.

Also, note that:
“The Consulate will continue to accept applications for emergency visa, emergency passport (Tatkaal), Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) card , Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) and all attestation services from 9:00 am to 11:30 am (Mon-Fri). Processed documents will be delivered from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm (Mon-Fri).”
The Emergency Visa is only for one month, and can be received on the same day from the Consulate office directly. Continue reading →

Welcome to America

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Husband’s third day in US.

“Slept well, finally”, he yawned.
“Good. I heated water in the microwave, for tea”, wife said.
“I like pan made tea, don’t you?”
“Yeah, may be later; can you help me with washing these dishes please.”

He hesitated, then walked over to the microwave slowly, “let me have tea first.” Continue reading →

USA Census 2010: Make yourself count as Asian Indians

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The Constitution of America requires that the U.S. Census count every resident in the United States, every 10 years.

Starting in March 2010, census forms are being delivered to every residence in the United States and Puerto Rico. Once you receive your form, you are supposed to answer the 10 short questions and then mail the form back in the postage-paid envelope that is included in the package. If you don’t mail the form back, you will likely receive a visit from a census taker, who will ask you the same questions from the form and will fill the form for you.

The questions are mainly related to the number family members in the household, type of residence and. telephone number. Name, date of birth and race of each person is also part of the questionnaire. The information you provide is confidential and for the purpose of obtaining population statistics mainly. According to the Census, “Your answers cannot be used against you by any government agency or court.” Continue reading →