Posted on 04/14/2005 8:05:36 AM PDT by CarrotAndStick
To plug themselves into the American Dream, Indians are on an unstoppable quest to reach the shores of the New World. The modern day Eldorado is sandwiched between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and Indians are dying to reach there.
Now an oxymoron. The contradiction surfaces when after earning fame and fortune, when the good life is finally theirs’, when they can sit back, kick off their shoes and relax they, surprisingly, come back to India to, well, chase the Indian Dream.
While they are content to make their millions abroad, it seems Indians have no love lost for their adopted country. Don’t take this out of context, don’t interpret this as ‘Indians hate the country they go to’.
Take it in a more pragmatic way. Indians love the place they adopt. America, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany and the rest are all up there on the wishlist of the Indian immigrant.
Their willingness to adopt a sort of gypsy lifestyle really pays a compliment to their great knowledge, their willingness to take risks and trusting in their entrepreneurship to make their globe trotting pay off.
They are superb strategists. Veritable Israelis, albeit gunning for moolah, making inroads into the world economy. Across the oceans and seas they identify jobs, some just pack their bags and head of into the great unknown to prove themselves on the world stage.
They are today, what the English, the Dutch, the Portuguese and the French were who went and established empires that traversed and ruled the globe from the times of the Mughals to just fifty years ago.
While they may not be exactly risking their lives on the high seas in leaking tubs, but they do imperil their future gambling on the, let’s say, the American feel good factor.
Check for yourself: According to the U.S. Embassy in Delhi, there is an overall 8%-plus visas issued this year as opposed to 2004. While 304,734 visas were issued in 2003-04 (yr-on-yr Oct 1st to Sept 30); in 2002-2003 some 277,407 visas were issued. In 2004-05 the figure is estimated to jump to around 340,000.
The travel bug bit Indians and they willingly succumbed to its heady chemistry. The exodus started in the 60s and picked up pace thereafter.
What is making India chase dreams of global success?
Among the topmost reasons are, of course, that there are not enough economic opportunities on offer. At least not the ones that offer mouthwatering sums. The Indians, in the habit of changing dollar-pay packets into Indian rupees, see themselves becoming millionaires in less than a quarter the time that it will take them back home. Even an annual 30K annual salary (low-end) will translate into a huge Rs 1,350,000 ($=Rs 45).
However, that is the amount that a worker would get for a job that will not be very challenging, being at the lower end of the economic spectrum.
Considering that an Indian is generally well educated (having at least a college education) the starting salary for US-bound Indian would be in the region of $50k.
Add into the equation the fact that a highly educated Indian, who comes to US for even better education, gets a job there to earn somewhere in the region of 100k and you got the making of The Reason why Indians are West-bound.
They may not spend much on increasing the US entertainment and hobby industries, they won’t enrich the US travel industry either, their Saturdays and Sundays may well be restricted to their homes, but the Indian works hard. He saves a lot. He will buy a car and a home (because owning homes and a mode of transport are ingrained into their very genes). All right, so the car is a luxury. But, house is something an Indian will give an arm and leg to own.
After realising the American Dream. The interest, the desire, the drive and the thrill is gone. The NRI has everything he wanted. His dreams have come true – each and every one of them. He is rich beyond measure. In his industry, he is a man in demand. His success story is complete.
But then a U-turn. As the Indian sees his bank balance rising into many crores, and fed up with being bossed around on the job, he thinks of all the fun and games he could have enjoyed back home, as well as what a premium his skills will command there.
But, ever careful the returnee will first case out the Indian economy, go into minute details about his chance of success, as well as identify a niche for himself and his knowledge that will sell like samosas. Then and only then will the NRI pack his bags and land in the heat and dust of India.
He loves it!
India charms its NRIs back with a mixture of nostalgia and economic opportunity that again revitalises him, his desire and hunger to succeed. He is reborn. He doesn’t mind the constant harassment from street urchins, the red tape of the Indian bureaucracy that forces him to hand out bribes, the unstoppable flow of perspiration, the go-slow approach and obduracy of the common Indian, the and many other irritants. What they are looking at is another chance to pit their minds into making a new India, and India of their dreams.
They are today, what the English, the Dutch, the Portuguese and the French were who went and established empires
In ways, yes. But lets not downplay the role of culture in influencing a person's behaviour.
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