Waking up to alarm and not mother calling,grabbing a beagle or sandwich along with espresso or cafe Americana from a Star bucks joint instead of idli,sambar & tea in an Udipi hotel.Calling a taxi and just taking it instead of bargaining the price over meter.Then you definitely are an N.R.I.!Away from India!A non Residential Indian!
However the initial N.R.I. days are most interesting ones trying to understand the place and culture.You are stuck in between the Desi & Videshi customs.
The travelling & exploring around is the fun part.Its always exciting to know a new city.
The best part of shifting to a new city is to see around the place & meet new people of different nationalities.And the worst part being the long & boring days spent either searching for jobs or waiting for that admission in University for higher education.
A limited budget,travelling with little knowledge of the city and the impromptu process of meeting new people.
Making new friends is the best part of moving to a new city,you get to meet so many different type of people,the gossiping the shopping sprees the varied fashion,the crazy outfits,the new slang,the sudden exposure to a free culture.Where all genders and sexes are treated as equal. Where there is no domination or discrimination of one sex or race over the other.There isn't a caste system and people of all race work in an environment where they aren't judged based on their background.
There are women with more male friends than female ones and aren't considered as sluts and yet when two male friends bond they are surprisingly considered as Gay!
A hilariously true fact!
The West has always inspired us Indians.Tough there are many positive factors of the western culture,but how much is good? We Indians seem to love to ape the west.
The anti caste system,The equality of genders the preference based on one's potentiality are the pro's,But there are also high divorce rates,Teen pregnancies,Late marriages,High stress rates & serious Health issues,Low reproduction rates etc.
People are more attached to their cell phones than Family.The deploying faith in marriages & making families.
The cons of the developed culture is to such an extent that the West is starting to take a U- turn into vernacular ways.They have started going back to Yoga,Believing in marriages & having families,We Indians on the other hand are repeating the mistakes despite knowing the fact where it will lead to.
There are so many good things that could be incorporated from the other cultures into our system.Like the hard working Nature,the individuality Being self dependent in an early age.Gender and race inequalities.Strict punishments for sexual harassment,Rapes,murders & other hideous crimes.
Often the culture differences seem to shock many leading to a dilemma.But in such cases standing strong to your roots often proves better.
From what I've experienced the Non Indians are more interested in our culture than in someone aping them.
They seem to have keen interest in Indian food,History & mythology,culture, the rituals,the beautiful weddings,& the celebrations .
They seem to enjoy it and hold high regard for the Indians as well as the Culture. We on the other hand are ruining it by aping almost everything right from the lifestyle to the movies.
Everything seems to have been inspired by the west.It may seem wonderful in a modern scenario but Are we not losing originality?
When People of different nationalities come together for work They seem to create
a picture of a Nation from an individual of that Nation.They believe A Nation is what
the Individual represents to them.
And In this scenario We as N.R.I.'s have even bigger responsibility towards our Country to represent our Nation in whichever Country we reside.
