india vs not-india - Page 2

India, my country is labeled as an underdeveloped one by the rich nations. We have lots of problems.70% of our population are poor and illiterate. 80% of them are even below the poverty line, who cannot even have the subsistence level of income to live. We, the middle class people work hard to earn our living. We travel by bus ad train. We don't have any car. We don't have any luxuries in life, we just have full meal a day, give our children education and our whole lives go away in these thoughts. There are a few rich people here, who have lots of money in their hands. They have lots of luxuries. Skyscrapers and colonies exist side by side. A rich man's car passes away and a poor man who lives in footpath looks at it. This is India, full of dualities.

              But still, this is my country. I love to be here. i love to work here . I love to be called one of these crores of ordinary Indian people. I love to walk in a rally with slogans against the corrupt system. i love to fight for the rights of millions of workers. i love to go to the basties and tell the illiterate women that they should be united, they should fight against all the tortures of the male members of their houses. I feel myself privileged to get a proper education in this poor country. I love to go to the night colleges and educate the poor and meritorious students. i love to do whatever small thing i can do for my country , for my people. I feel proud to be in India. I feel proud to be one of these people. I hate the mentalities of the people who want to go abroad only to have some luxuries in life and forget their own country and forget that this county has spent crores of rupees to educate them and make them qualified for those foreign jobs. I hate those people who get education from this country and then dump this country and go to abroad for earning more and more money.. I am extremely happy to be here. I am happy with these buses and trains, with these loadsheddings, with all those small problems we face merely to exist. I was, am and always will be one of the millions of ordinary Indians.

 (Sorry if i have hurt anybody's sentiment. because this is only my personal view.)

Beautifully said Rumi. 👏 Your post was definitely chicken soup for my soul!  It was really touching! 😊

You know... many Americans too leave America to go live in India. Believe it or not .... I had this one English teacher who has a sister that lives in India and absolutely loves it there! Every time she comes to visit her family in America she always complains that she wants to go back to INDIA~ immediately!

I also used to know this one art/yoga teacher and her DREAM is to actually live in India and run a Yoga Clinic there. ^.^ She really loves anything that's has to do with India. Even her ex-boyfriend was Indian~!

Y'know America may have many things India doesn't have but one thing is for sure ... AMERICA certainly doesn't have the culture and respect India's people have. You'd be surprised at the amount of people I know that aren't even Indian that say that India is the land of culture and respect and that's the way every place should be.

So, what I'm saying is ... people in India may leave in search for a better life while at the same time~ people from America (who aren't even Indian) wish to leave America and move to India to lead a more peaceful and more spiritual life. They don't care if 70% of the population is poor and illiterate or 80% of them are even below the poverty line. Even with all the bad things India contains they still want to and choose to live there. And that's not an opinion ... that's a fact!

😆! i never said my country provides me everything which i need. but i said,inspite of the fact i will always stay here and fight for solving the problems.i know individuals also spend money for their education but have you ever thought what amount of money our country spends for those educational instituions fro where we get our education?have you ever thought that when these scientiists, engineers,MBA s go to abraoad to live a "decent " lifestyle all these expentidures of our country go wasted,because they do nothing for this country, they serve a foreign country. have you ever heard a word named"braindrain"?

 anyways,it depends on the outlook of individuals.some people may  be happy drivning a car and having some cash in hand in exchange of leaving own country. i never claimed that i am the best. in fact i am a loser like all our ordinary country people. but i said,i am happy the way i am living.i don't want to drive a car.i want to stand beside my poor country people and do what ever i can do for them . i want to stay here in the midst of all the problems. i know my country is not the best.but still i will go on fighting living here. off course you will do what you will think best.i have nothing to do with that.

India vs not india is an issue that has comeup in the lives of all NRIs and profesionally educated individuals in India. india is a country of contradictions, while the economy has fared very well in last few years, the job market is flourishing, almost all developed nations are taking interest in investing in this country, education levels are rising as is the standard of living. you can even see absolutely no difference in lifestyle in metro cities and in an european country. everything points to a very bright future ahead  for this country and its residents.you also have the advantage of a very family oriented society and support systems. on the downside the levels of inflation are on rise. the lifestyle is becoming more and more materialistic which is in turn increasing corruption at all levels (as if we already did not have enough of it already). getting even basic human facilities can be a fight sometimes.the workculture is still quite bad and bossy and is full of politics utterly acking in professionalism(i have worked in india and found that staying late at work and kissing boss's a** is appreciated more than a good throughput). to add to the woes the society is still very judgemental and still hanging between mordernism and traditionalism.women in particular are expected to be great career women who loses all her self actualization when she returns home and is expected to cater to the whims of her husband and in-laws.while india has a lot to offer , there are some inherent troubles too. it becomes a very individual choice.

                   just as bgdesai said while i am proud on my indian roots and wish to return back someday(i feel lonely at times without my big boisterous family around). my daughter's future has stopped me from making that decisions.i know she will get a lot more choices both in her personal and professional life here abroad than she will ever in India.she will never feel tied up and forced to take a certain path because she is a girl or a victim of widespread corruption.and that is all i wish for her.

              rumi's sentiments are very genuine too, i felt the same way some years back , however the picture of abroad painted in india is not right(it is by no standards a perfect society or as comfortable as people often state). however one cannot be expected to not realise his complete potentials because of his patriotism. i agree that braindrain is a big problem, but there is more than just comfortable life that attracts people abroad.while a person gets an opportunity to live up to his potential abroad more than often and is given free rein in doing so , his talent is normally choked  up in politically charged corruption infested beaurecratic system in india.it kills me when i see a cop in india take 100 rupees to let a hit and run case pass by, it is almost impossible to make such a thing vanish abroad(it is not like cops are paid more here or they lead very comfortable lives....what they have is work ethics which is lacking in indians somehow...not that i am very proud of the fact)

              in all both abroad and india have a lot to offer, what one chooses depends largely on ones capabilities, family circumstances, financial backgrounds and many other issues.                        

Well, I definately can say that we have two different ways of looking at things. Since it says your location is in india I'm assuming you have a better say to what india is all about.

I never been to india. I live in america and I'm just writing down what i know from living here. When i said that America hasn't the culture or respect that india has what I meant was that in india at least you can easily call someone "uncle" or "aunty" and address them with at least a level of respect while here in America you'd be caught dead if you'd do something like that. You just look at everyone as complete strangers to a point where you can't even trust your own next door neighbor.

America doesn't have that bond in which India has. Not that I'm saying india is a happy and united nation nor is America okay!

Sure there's a lot of americans who go to make "profits" and what not but thats besides the point. Many go for spiritual reasons too y'know. And I never said Indian Culture is pure or flawless. It has its share of unfair things that result from it.

And I never said Ameirca has no culture. Most of the "culture" America has is deprived from other cultures. So basically you have a bunch of cultures colliding with eachother thus no solid culture is built. Meaning you can get discriminated for being a certain way. Countless Hate crimes occur. In india like you said they throw out their parents/grandparents out of their house while in America its the parents who are throwing out their own children out of their house. So, tell me whats so great about that?

Hi.. well as said this topic is mostly based on how you perceive it. I was born and raised in the US but I am very close to India. I visit there every alternate year (and these are few months long visits) and it is a home to me. Speaking as one who's practically lived in both country (though mostly in US)... there are pros and cons of both places. I am deeply attached to my roots in India and I love the beauty of the nation, not just physically, but culturally as well.

As for how it is perceived, both sides of the fences as amreen had put it, have different pictures painted about the other side. Many think that US has an easy-going, luxurious life as compared to India with everything readily available. However, I have seen my mother's slaving over house chores and her work as well.. believe me it is no where near easy. She says that had she been in India she probably wouldn't work as much as this and get to rest as home like her sister-in-laws do. Now I know it isn't all rest in India because I see the labor my uncles do, but the life isn't so easy here too. America can be said to be the land of opportunities, but sometimes I find many limited. I love the US as well and the abundant educational opportunities I have here, but basically everything isn't as simple as it seems.

Likewise I know many who think India is a land of farms. Much of the land is for agricultural use, but India is rapidly developing on the economic front. Many people invest in India's resources, heck America Online Services (for US people primarily) have call centers based in India. No doubt in my mind India will be a primary global power soon. Some here are misinformed that India is completely an unsanitary place but despite the garbage alongside the road, there are better sanitary measurements  being taken in some places, at least by where by grandparents live, and scraps of paper on the road are hardly a distraction to the beauty of the land there.

Basically what I'm saying is that it all comes down to how you see it personally. There are many, many positive things to be found in both places. Personally, I am happy living in the US, with many social and educational opportunities available to me, but I feel equally fortunate I get to visit India often and experience its rich culture as well.