Indra’s Drishtikona (Viewpoint)

Some Sincere Advice From This Elderly Person

Posted : July 26, 2005 at 11:08 pm [IST]

I was here in US for almost 6 months. I shall be leaving for India on the 29th July 2005. I came across a lot of people from India, particularly the young ones who are so respected today for their technical skills all over the world. However, I have some sincere advice to place before the young men and women from India here in US, based on my experiences of this past 6 months.

I got an impression that the social networking among the Indians from the different parts of the country is not strong enough. I was in this apartment (Mansion Grove Apartments) that must be having at least 200 Indian families if not more. I was here during Holi and Ramnavami too. I didn’t find anything around that can show that so many Indians are here.

I also missed some caring enquiry from any of the young men - “Uncle! How are you? Are you enjoying your holidays? Where did you go last week?” And as a courtesy, I expected some one also to offer at least in words, or even as a formality - “Can I do something for you?” That is basically our Indian culture. And why should we give up some good thing in our culture?

Perhaps all this has happened because most of the youngsters here are from regional colleges that don’t inculcate the cosmopolitan culture as some of our institutes of national importance do. People are hesitant to talk with person with whom they don’t have an intimate acquaintance. Again, almost all these young men and women have come to US directly after just completing their education in India without working anywhere in India. Naturally, this must be one of the reasons for their apathy or ignorance about India. Let me assure these people that over the years many good things have happened. India is changing and changing very fast to become a better place to live. But as usual, the country is large and has a lot of historic burden that will take some time to fix. If anything, it requires assistance from everyone outisde India who are proud of their heritage. Let’s not forget: Despite all the globalization and flattening of world that I have talked about here on this blog, the shloka “Janani Janmabhumishch Swargadapee Gareeyashi” remains just as valid today as it ever was in the past. I suggest:

 
With restrictions on green cards, keep on evaluating your worth in other equally developed and emerging markets including India. Will you not be interested in finding out if Infosys or Wipro will be interested in employing you based on your qualifications and experiences?

Keep yourself usefully engaged for keeping yourself updated in the knowledge of your technology, learning through self-study at bookstores, libraries, or Internet surfing or through part time night courses at different local universities.

Use your opportunities to maximize and multiply your earnings through extra works of different types from home or some side businesses. You have the opportunity. Work hard, and set examples for others too.

Save the maximum through intelligent investments here as well as in India. The coming years may be much more testing and difficult.

Explore to have an enterprise of your own. You shall be getting disenchanted with your assignments and work content of your salaried job one day, and will not have work satisfaction. Your own enterprise will keep you on your toes always and you shall be getting the full benefits of your hard work. You can think of having a startup in India too. Many are doing it. Perhaps it is only the technology sector that has for the first time provided the opportunity of becoming entrepreneur to all technocrats

Try to own a house as a property and good investment. Unfortunately, Indians are not at the top in Asians’ list of ownership of houses.

And take care to keep yourself fit with regular walking, playing and exercises. Again you have these opportunities. Don’t emulate American and go obsess.

Keep a positive attitude for India’s economic growth. Don’t be skeptical. Things are much better of today in India.

Be Indian and keep your network growing with fellow Indians. If it does not help, it will not harm. At least, keep a ‘Gita’ in your place of worship in your residence and read a ’sloka’ every day. If you can, please adopt a village in India and do some benevolent work there.

Before coming here, I never thought of meeting so many elderly Indian parents who have all come to be with their children for a few months. Many of these young men invited their parents to US, as they take that as a duty and some sort of payback for what their parents did for them. I was lucky enough and got plenty of opportunity to meet and interact with many of them who have come from different parts of India. It seems like some of them are not very happy with the way their children live, behave, and express their views. Some even find it difficult to keep themselves engaged for the whole day. The young men must plan the visit and duration of their parents’ visits with all these considerations. It may be troublesome for them, but some amount of sacrifice is essential.

While many may disagree with some or all my views here, they’re my sincerest attempt at sharing what I saw and felt during my stay here in US. I wish every Indian here in US my very best.

- Indra

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