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India...a perspective from an Indian

I am an NRI. Thats what they call Non Resident Indians. But the last time I had a friendly verbal exchange with the Indian scholars in VJC, they were quick to suggest that it also meant Non Returning Indians.

But thats not true. No matter where we are , India is always on the back of our mind. Thats party why I try to conquer India when I play the board game RISK. But thats besides the point. It is dirty, crowded, not organised...but still we keep going back. There is this attraction for our mother land.

Those who reside in India hardly want to migrate out. Even Shah Rukh Khan. He lives in Mumbai...despite the fact he could easily stay in other bigger cities. He once said,"Why be a slave elsewhere, when I can be the king here." Thats the thing. The rich are rich and the poor are really poor. And they live in perfect harmony. You see the beggars outside the homes of the rich. You see the rich travelling thru the slums to get to a certain destination.

The Indians know that their country is dirty. They dont deny that. Someone once jokingly told me that Singapore is so clean, that when the Indians come over, they fall sick. He also added that if you dont litter in India, the police will fine you. They find ways to weave around comments regarding their country.

Corruption is everywhere. Not doubt this is bad and should not be condoned, we need to put overselves into their shoes. For example, the police officers would let you off if you paid them a sum of money. First of all their salary sucks and there is a crap amount of paper work.

I dont know about other races but the key to a foreign Indians survival holds a simple theory. Behave as Indian as possible. Behave as if although you have been staying out from India, you still have the tradition and what not. Know your Gods well because they always make good ice breakers with the shop owners and the auto taxis.

I am going Bangalore soon for 2 months. I am looking forward to it in many aspects apart from holidaying. I have never been to the South of India before. North and South is vastly different. They even have their own movie industry spoof called Kollywood. I have always been to India with my parents. I have observed how they interact with people and i want to put that into practice. From the bargaining of taxi fares... to rejecting badly cooked food.

till the next time,
pinakin

posted by LKY @ 12:32 pm