When we moved to Canada, we were made to feel as if we have finally reached the promised land. And then we were expected to start the process of settling down, ie, buy a house, car, have a baby, start our retirement savings and start the next quest of becoming a citizen. All was going according to plan for a couple of years but then you all have read about the reverse brain drain and so many techies coming back to India because that is where the opportunity lies... blah blah blah.
We are one of those couples who have moved back to India. The look on some people's face on hearing the news was...amusing. Some thought we had gone crazy. Who leaves Kanada and goes back to the original motherland? What about the system back there? the pollution? the chaos? Darling, we are a product of that chaos and I can bet you that people born here and living abroad are far more competent that the children of migrated Indians. India instills a competitive and a fighter spirit. There is value is the numbers. A small(if only) gift of our large population.
Back to the Canadian story. This comes from the Bramrey.
We have the hard working ex-illegal immigrant who came to the promised land decades ago and worked his *** off to scarpe a living for his family. I salute you. It takes courage to leave everything behind without knowing where you are going and to pull off all that you have done.
We have the reasonably comfortable Aunties of Bramrey who gossip and watch soap operas and every now and then takes over like the local police force in enforcing dress codes at the local Gurudwara(suit paa ke aana si...aaj kal di kudiyan). They also have strict opinions on who should marry whom and any digression from the norm must be blamed on the culture of the new motherland.(note: new motherland is lovely for living and making people envious back home, but not for the culture. For that you must rely on good old Punjabi sanskaar of the 60s).
And every now and then one bumps into a K*stan supporter! I am not going to talk about them as they fill me up with disgust!
Bramrey has its own radio and television channels. Also, they manage to superimpose local advertisements on the Indian soap opera channel and the result is hilarious. So we have a real estate agent borrowing the "Jassi jaisa koi nahi" tune. The most hilarious ones are the insurance ads. You have to see them to believe them.
I think the desi population in Canada also has a very different fashion sense. They are almost always dressed in the most shimmering/shining gaudy outfits that one can find. It has to have Gota and Sitaras and its not good enough till there is enough golden stuff in your clothes to make anyone go blind with the reflected sunlight!
The pyramid uncle exists here too but Arnab has written aptly about them, so I don't wish to elaborate.
We too have the CBCDs. But they are getting smart. They seem to be losing their confusion a little bit and leading a very different life(one that their parents are not aware of) in school and college.
Overall, majority of the NRICs are a group of people who hold the old motherland in disdain, adopt selectively some aspects of the new motherland and move around with a feeling of having "arrived" while quite obviously something is always missing in their life.
My husband and I chose another route. We have a fairly mixed set of friends and I got very inspired from my Canadian friends. I love Canada but not the NRICs.
For some humour search for "living in a brown fam" and videos uploaded by ||superwoman|| on youtube.
