A recent conversation with a friend popped this issue up for discussion….He was going to America and was really excited…and he was recounting a story we all have been fed through and through…He was going to study there and after a few years of working he’ll be back here…
Whoa what BS…I mean do these people really consider us to be idiots just because we didn’t get a score of 1500/1600 in GRE by telling whether or not ¾ is greater than 4/5?
How many people those have gone there for years and years have returned to India?? Forget this how many of them are even Indians?? A lot of the second generation west-Indians consider themselves to be citizens of their adopted country and rightly so. But why do they call themselves Indians?? Just as watching a few American films and listening to a few english songs doesn’t make us American similarly how can these people who are so far away from their culture and who celebrate Indianess on a few days of the year be Indians?
They studied here, they were raised here, they had fun here and yet when the time of giving back came they swiftly flew away under the xcuse that they wanted better prospects and would return with knowledge to improve our nation?
We all now how many satellites did we launch with the help of the NASA returned scientists or how brilliantly we managed to create newer and better IT products with the help of the MITians!
And the biggest culprits of them all are the IIT and IiM graduates…it is like they see no other way other than that of the west.. For most IIT grads America is the only destination. I don’t know what was going on in Pandit Nehrus mind when he dreamed of setting these institutes but if anything these institutes have proven to be a drain on the society. We invest and pay so much just so that America can utilise our graduates…that just gave a whole new meaning to brain farming!!
If these people would have stayed and worked in India then they would help in the social development as well. For each educated person influences a family as a whole and each family in turn influences other families and all these families would pass on their influence to the lower working class the maid/the driver/the sweeper among others. No instead we have an Indian family in America which prides itself in Indian values..ho ho!!
If the situation in our country would have been as hopeless as in some Balkan countries I would have still understood. These people will sit there and say god man India has so many problems…they don’t have work ethos and are so inefficient yet not one of them will return here and try and change that!!
Every one is so happy that Kalpana Chawla flew in space yet no one wonders why couldn’t we do anything about it? Why wasn’t the take off in an Indian ship from Indian soil.
The few like Mr.tharoor who do return to India are always ready to give comments on how and what democracy is all about but when their party does ridiculously idiotic stuff like asking officers to escort ministers to their cars they will keep their mouth shut and do nothing about it!
It’s actually fault of people like us who view the NRI’s as crown jewels….if only a few of us realise they are only shining stars who represent our utter failure to provide our countrymen with the resources to build a great nation..the picture today would be so different…
Oh and another favourite topic with the NRI gang is that Indians are not united…wohaa this coming from a bunch of people who never stand united!! So one week we have the andhra community protesting followed by the punjabi community followed by the bengalis….nd the trail continues until the Indian government is asked to step in and protect the interests of the Indians who are nowhere in India!!
This will not change until we those who stay here do something for our nation….for the root cause of the problem probably aren’t the NRI’s but those of us who choose not to play our part in building this great nation…
Another topic which just pounces out from the realms of thaumaturgy!
ReplyDeleteWhat is with you and despondence? Why are you squeamish about every damn thing you write? Well Maverick, its time you inhaled verity…
First of all, you write about not being an imbecile if you are gullible to the fact that three-quarters is greater or modicum to four-fifths. What sort of graduate (or rather under-grad) are you if you don’t know that answer! Duh! we just turned twenty-one!
India is a country whose ecumenical yet diversified culture is unprecedented. You speak of there not being unity! Have you even been to the United States?! People there love their country as you and I do! We are not following contemporary Jihad that we turn oblivious and nonchalant to our country and despise it in front of White freaks! Are you even aware that Indian factions in the US marshal together every year for each festival however exotic, even more frequently than you and I. They know our history better than you could possibly extemporize in any of your sleazy debates! Don’t be in this cynic world repleted with bourgeois credence, my friend because it only shows that your ken is outmoded, if not quixotic! If you abhor the Occident, stop listening to “The Eye of the Tiger” but don’t annotate on something which is ludicrously erroneous!
You say that people run away to the US! It’s execrable but expedient. If we were a superpower, I vouch people would migrate to our country. Forget about the economic slowdown of the US and its dissolution or us emerging as a successful nation as one of the BRIC countries, you’re speaking of education, so we’ll adhere to it. Give me another country who gives you better acumen in what you want to do. I quote from your passage, “they wanted better prospects”. You eulogize NASA, and you want a spaceship from ISRO to fly to space? What just happened to the imminent space shuttle which went into space? It has lost all radio-contact with ground control proving yet again that we need something more potent. Our infrastructure has a long way to go. (Don’t come up to me saying that the space ship completed 95% of its work-load as that’s not the point I’m trying to make here.) Our own PM went to Cambridge University to complete what he couldn’t get here AFTER he was accoutered with an economic major degree…pragmatic cognizance! Every man is a little selfish and fancies a good life ahead of him. If you want to be another Gandhi, I’m your biggest aficionado!
Your last paragraph sounds gobbledygook-ish! As I have already stated, a ghetto on a defected land will always be coalesced. If you think that a Bengali and a Punjabi would fight in the US, you’ve not done your home-work before inditing this blog! It’s the West which has 50 states and purportedly calls itself United. Indians will be united till the day we are divested of our credo. That day is an eon, my friend. Cheers to the Maverick!
Well man to start off indians are doing quite well in terms of scores... Let it be thats not the main point... The point being why ppl dont come back after MS... well this is the question which has quite evident answers.. first n the foremost reason being the bucks... its just like if i offer u a black forest icecream on one hand n vanilla on other then its quite natural of person to pick the first one... the second being the work culture which is quite efficient as well as employee friendly which totally diff from the scenario in here... third but not so imp one but the standard of living which some extents entices ppl n which is quite natural for a person as an youngster...
ReplyDeleteAlso what is wrong being financially stable at a younger age, though in here we do have some... One most imp thing being in here is if somebody tries to do some good initially he has go through too much resistance from ppl who wud gather to pull the person down rather helping him and then has slog for the finan.assistance which is quite reverse in der...
Its abt the wrong attitude with which ppl works which leads to miseries as well der are no of external hinderances that stop u from moving forward speedily n smoothly... n abt brain farming u said is just homologous to "agar tijori khulli rakhoge toh chor to choori karega hi na"... its bcoz of conditions here those ppl are stealing brains from here...
N ppl outside India are united maybe more than in here... they carry out each other festivals wid same enthu as in india...
Well ppl who want to play der part are being denied from carrying out the role... there are many flaws in each n every country but we ppl try to safeguard the flaws rather than to finish it from grassroot level...
But Good one man...
A word of appreciation to yu...very precise nd clear wid yur point yu're...
ReplyDeleteWell...yes everybdy strives for wealth nd success...nd i guess ther's plenty of scope abroad...da main reason being da difference betwn currency values...but at da same tym ppl turn back here wen dey need help(like it happened during da recent economic crisis).This shows dat we're still walking while da bigger countries r falling down.ther's no denying at oll dat we're studying to earn money ultimately... its tym sum1 takes initiative nd stands up selflessly to da welfare of our country.
nd da infrastructure part...yes...Rome was not built in a day...lets jst hope dat we're called a daveloped nation in da near future...
kp up da gud work... :)
KJ,
ReplyDeleteNice post! But I do not agree with a point.
You are saying why do people go to America when they owe to their motherland. There could be several reasons. I am studying in US. My observation is majority of students who come here are Middle class or higher middle class. Ofcourse most of us come here for money but there are so many reason that add to that decison and where Indian system is at fault.
Main fault in the system is 'Reservation' and to be specific redundant reservation for vote bank politics. I do support reservation when it comes to strictly 'economy based' for example people below certain annual income( Currently 5 lakhs for OBC) even if it means for specific casts and not open. Now this would help everyone since we would have more seats on merit and more opportunities for all which is a motication factor you agree or not. For instance I cane here not because I wanted to but because I had not other option worth enough. I did my Bachelors in Pharmacy and I hated it for most part. Passing GATE (for average person like me) and obove that getting admission for open category seemed absolutely impossible. ( You may call it pessimistic approch but trust me it is impossible for me considering my knowledge and interest)Now MBA was an option but to get in a good college with the reservation factor was not going to happen. On the other hand GRE was equally tough I guess in which I scored less but got admitted based on merit (I respect it and its worth enough to try for since you always have a chance)
Now do you still want me to keep trying for admission in India and leave this opportunity? Most friends I have had same concern (ofcource money too) which motivated them for GRE.
Now you decide who is at fault? and why should I pay my money to get into a crappy and biased system that we have just and leave the personal success opportunity that completely supports merit and where you are sure that hard work will give you justice.
I would suggest every person to try for this option having same problem. Its truly worth the money and talent you have.( not the same in India)
I love my country and have full intenstions to come back (Which every person would say but I truely have my plans ready)
To add to it: I would have never tried to get admission in India with the circumstances I had just to lose my valuable money and time and short life just to show my patriotism. And also People staying in India are no where close to being patriaotic either. Being in India is not patriotism. There is lot more to it which is beyond the scope of this post. I love my country and will give back what I owe to her in a way I chose and which I think is the wisest way to do it.
ReplyDelete@Sagar Aloni
ReplyDeletewelcome aboard dude!
first things first 'm not against going and studying abroad...'m against them staying there 4ver...
agreed the system is faulty here...why don't u do the repairing part huh? I guess we all like to hide behind the excuse what difference can i make...'ll work with the invisible hand of capitalism so to say!!
i never said staying here qualified you to be a patriot but being a leech does make you unpatriotic...wouldn't u agree??
see the thing is....there are so many NRI's who do help country financially(in community)....there are so many people who play a part where it is really needed...ofcouse they don't pay tax money which is anyways used inappropriately in infrastructure and appropriately in the pockets of corrupt politicians.....
ReplyDeleteThing is we are developing on paper and may be financially but on ground we are no less than a third world nation....
so my view is we need people very badly to help develop underprivileged people which could be done staying abroad (if there is no option of coming back).....
Basically staying in india is not going to make a difference is whats happening....
why do you think people cannot create change by staying abroad? The problem I am talking about could be solved by dialogue and public awareness which do not require a person to stay in country....
First things first, another smashing blog post where u take a stand on a topic that you feel a lot for. Now here is the trivial thing, there has always been this battle where people had to choose between personal aspirations or working for the common good, say building an egalitarian society. It has been given myriad names in the political circles in history- capitalism vs communism being the flag bearers.
ReplyDeleteNow,I've a pretty neutral stance on this topic. I believe it is every person's prerogative to choose the kind of life he/she wants to lead, especially when the choice is provided. We cant compel people to choose a specific lifestyle based on our whims just to make sure jingoism persists. The creme de la creme( if one may call them so) of the country's academic gems turn their backs and move to other countries in pursuit of higher education and then better job prospects. Now if their work is better valued there, both monetarily and ingeniously, i see nothing wrong in the endeavor they pursue. The only loss one feels is that this blind pursuit has killed or atleast victimized the entrepreneurial bug that some of them might have had. Talking especially of the IITians and IIM grads, the inevitable career path leads towards west. But the idea was to promulgate knowledge and expertise and apply it where it is required the most, wasnt it? That spirit is lost. But this entire fad has been going on for more than a decade now, and the way I see it the country has learnt not only to deal without them, but also to perform spectalurly well so as to provide a congenial platform for the trend to change in the future.
Now i dont expect everyone to jump into the bandwagon to cleansen the society as the ability is there in the chosen few, and the ones who have it are already on the job. So i see no reason to worry if few who never really bothered about it, indulge in the exodus. If you belong to the coterie of the chosen few, you'll do the job of ameliorating the society, and if you're not meant for the job you'll get into something you're good at and then try to help.
Now you were slightly too critical over the contributions NRI's make. A slightly deeper insight would let you know that the entire VIbrant Gujarat endeavor of Narendra Modi and the inception of TIE( the Indus Entrepreneurs) are extremely potent tools that have helped Indian growth story tremendously. So lets not be cynical about the contribution they make .We got to rise above the parochial outlook of only incarcerated avenues of helping one's people.
So to put it all in a nutshell, this is a completely subjective issue where everyone gets to decide what suits them the most. Let's not generalize virtue and patriotism and lets not define it in only specific realms.
Another polemical thought provoking post, though slightly extreme in expression style but i guess that's the reflection of how much you feel for the topic. the GRE example exuded venom for sure :D :P
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