India-The Motherland

About a year ago I read in Time magazine that East Indian's are a successful minority because of the way they intersperse and intermingle with Western society. Indian's are scattered everywhere, and like many other cultures in the Western world don't necessarily feel the need to glom on to their own kind. Many people take this to mean that Indian's are disconnected from their roots.

Most Indian's in the Western world are actually very connected to their roots and often like most minorities do have a difficult time accepting Western culture. This difficulty can either 1) lead to the point where they have to disown their culture a lot, and fit in to the Western standard a lot before letting go and finding a more peaceful middle ground or 2) Exist as very Un-American. Most immigrants and minorities from other countries will find this is true. And, yes they even have technical names for these like Assimilation and Acculturation, (right now I forget which is which) to describe different levels of "fitting in" with Western society.

So, why do East Indians tend to be so interspersed? Now-a-days there might be a token Indian at the workplace, in your school, or in certain fields there may be even more. There are way more Indian's over here than when I was growing up in the 70's and 80's. I think often because of the higher levels of education in subjects like Engineering (Math) and Medicine coupled with the long distance- New Delhi is the halfway point around the world to San Francisco and considering it's the 2nd most populated country in the world there is a considerably low presence here in the states- Indians are forced to stand on their own and to be independent. Indian's are an independent people, highly educated and often leaving their families behind in India in search of jobs. But because of the distance and the strong Indian roots the rest of the family will never make the trip over here. They have no desire. Because contrary to what most American's think, life is actually very difficult here, lonely and very different. But for years there have been no jobs in India, highly educated people with no work, sitting around twiddling their thumbs, listening to the noise in the streets, inhaling diesel pollution, in a country overrun by poverty. America and Europe have had an open door policy for Indians who want to come and work, make western wages in dollars or pounds, and make a different life for themselves. The difference is that most Indians don't see this as a better life. Why leave the beautiful Motherland to live in a country where your family and culture will be forgotten? Most Indians choose not to.

The ones that do come over here, if they're lucky, go home eventually.