Living in US and India

I wrote this article in October of 2007 and was published in The Hindu newspaper in India. This was a year after moving back to India. It was written in response to an op-ed article titled "Do we need Green Card" which mocked those who were desperate for Green Cards in US. 

I wrote this in haste just before leaving for US and did not expect it to be published (it was my first time to write to a newspaper in India) and even if it was published I thought it would be heavily edited and published in 'Letters to the Editor".

As I reached US I received a call from my father about the publication. Anyway, I meant to tell you to bear with mistakes in this article as it was a hastily written one. The original article may be read at this link. I am pasting the same here.

Life in India, U.S.

SUDHEER MARISETTI

This is in response to the article “Do we need Green Card?” (Open Page, September 23). I am a 41 year old Indian, who lived in the United States for 18 years and returned with my family to live in Hyderabad one and a half years ago. Based on this background I wish to highlight what is good about living in India and the U.S.

The U.S. is not as difficult a place to live in after 9/11 as portrayed in the article. Even though people in New York do live a little in apprehension (I lived and worked for 15 years in the New York metro area), they are as resilient and tough as Indians in Mumbai and Hyderabad after the regular bomb blasts that we encounter here in India.

Regarding the writer’s reference to school children killing their classmates, we see a constant stream of juvenile crime in India more often than in the U.S. I see constant news about young children kidnapping other kids for ransom in India and eventually killing their victims, I see students committing suicides over ragging (hazing), examinations, relationships.

The tragedy of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans was indeed a black spot in the history of U.S. public administration, so are the atrocities of America overseas such as in Vietnam (My Lai massacre), Iraq, Chile (Allende), Iran (Shah and Mossadeh), and other incidents. But I found that country learning from its mistakes. We see equally tragic and shameful events here such as the recent collapse of a flyover in Hyderabad, the constant barrage of news of corruption, rapes of tribal women by the police in Andhra Pradesh, and many more to add.

It is true that most Indians crave for U.S. permanent residency (Green Card) but for very good reasons. Here are some:

• People respect law and order. You cannot jump red lights, cheat on legal agreements, hold money from tax authorities (black money) as we do in India.
• You are left alone irrespective of what ethnic group you belong to or what colour your skin is as long as you are a law abiding citizen.
• You are respected for what you are, not for what community you belong to in the U.S.
• You play by the rules and your life is easy, and without hassles.
• You don’t have to bribe to get simple things done.
• You get uninterrupted power, clean water, roads without potholes, high-speed internet services as long you pay your taxes and bills on time.

I returned to India and believe India to be a good place to live in for different reasons from what the writer has listed. Here are a few of them:

• An Indian is always an alien within a foreign culture irrespective of how many years he lives there.
• The love and affection we get from our people is touching. It does not mean Americans don’t have such feelings. They do but they show them differently. I am used to Indian display of emotions.
• We are very accommodative. Recently I had to travel on a train without a berth and only a ticket for seating. The passengers made it easy for me to do that without problems.
• We may be poor, disorganised but we are a country that will survive. We know how to survive without power, water, roads, police. If ever there is a collapse of human civilisation, it will be countries like India that will survive, not the developed western world.

India is a better place for Indians with education, connections, belonging to the right community, and money. It is still a struggle for many lower-middle and lower classes. For those of us who belonged to these sections, America gave us a break and lifted us to upper strata and now we return to enjoy the newly found status. India has a long way to go before there are equal opportunities for every one. Till then Indians should travel abroad, develop themselves economically and intellectually. Even if a small fraction of them returns to India, it is going to benefit us all.