Hostility towards Asian Indians in NJ Contd (credit, houses)
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I was trying to post to Hostility towards Asian Indians in NJ
But the thread was closed. Since I typed all this stuff already, I had to post it 'somewhere!' :-). So creating a new thread, but is essentially a continuation of that old thread. Hope some of the members of the old thread look at this.
IDK if this thread is still actively read, but I hope it is :-). I landed on this page by accident, and found it interesting due to the many mature opinions (not just ranting), curiosity to understand this on some people's part, and the desire for many people to be fair.
Many Indians exhibit some irritating behavior - things as simple as not stepping aside for another person to enter the train first or being very price conscious. Many who live in central jersey are not the best drivers either. I am first generation indian, and I state this as a statistical fact (of course per my judgement). There are reasons for all of these things though. The India we grew up in was a survival country. You HAD to push, haggle on prices, watch out for yourself ALL THE TIME to survive. The 'system' did not really take care of you like the united states does. And I am NOT talking about healthcare or Social Security, but about things like well-labeled exit signs on highways, toys for kids that 'don't' have sharp edges, or very strict heigeine standards mandated for restaurants. Everyone was pretty much on their own to stay safe, well, and to get ahead (if you were ambitious). When these people moved from that setup to a land of plenty, it takes them a while to digest the fact that you don't HAVE to jump into the train - you could be the last person to get in, and you still will find a seat. In pre-boom India, you HAD to save every penny to buy things you wanted to. Credit was almost impossible to get. Again that mentality is hard for an adult who migrated to the US at 30 yrs of age to change overnight. An Indian would spend tons of money on a house, but would not splurge a few $$$ for a fancy dinner in a 4star restaurant. The middle class indian in India finds it against his conscious to 'treat' himself to a good time. They were brought up to spend on essentials, and save everywhere else, to ensure enough savings to survive in that land.
Fast forward 20 years, India now is booming. My relations in India now have boyfriends, girlfriends, pre-marital sex is ok, there are a lot of opportunities, and people are spending a lot more on having a good time than they ever did in the past. There is general euphoria, and regardless, people just feel more secure.
India is a HUGE country (population), but more interestingly, it is a composition of many very different kinds of people. People from different states speak different languages, have different scripts, different beliefs and eating habits. Indians in central jersey tend to be from certain social/economic bands in India. Indians who live in NYC, for instance often tend to be from a different band from India, and behave very differently. The Indian middle class lives very differently from the upper class, people from the south tend to be very different from people from the north, and so on. Many from pre-boom India find the western culture VERY different, and don't really understand it well at all. Most have kissed, had sex with and married one girl in their entire life, and have never gone out on a date. To them, not taking care of their old parents is unimaginable. (I am not taking a position on the things they do, but just saying they have a set of beliefs, some good/some bad) They hang out with their kind, who they understand well, and who understand them back.
And for the lady who was talking about why come here/go back to your country stuff - why Indians just like many other immigrants are here is for better opportunities - and yes, for the larger houses, the better lifestyle the indians can achieve here, in return for the work they put in.
DO keep in mind, that they are not living off charity - they work hard for their living. Most of them on Visas working with computers pay 30% taxes, and do not get to vote, or get unemployment if they loose their jobs.
These people also constitute the largest portion of the US IT workforce. From the iphone, to the XBOX to the windows that we all use, a LOT of this has been written by indians working in software companies here.
Working with computers is hard, painful, shunned by a lot of americans, and therefore the Indians do it, and the country lets them come in. It is a SYMBIOSIS!
And the driving - a lot of them who moved here in their 30s, owned their first cars at that age, and drove for the first time on US roads. They would drive much better if they were driving when in school.
And the curry smells wierd to some, and BBQing pork outdoors to some others :-). We just need to be able to see beyond that.
One things you will find with most Indians is that they are well meaning, and will generally never intentionally hurt anybody.
Hope this helps :-)
Last edited by passerby12; 10-13-2011 at 12:28 PM..
I take no issue with Asian-Indians. In fact I work with a bunch of really nice guys in the IT industry at work and in general I find the group to be exceedingly polite and happy to get along.
I didn't read the whole topic, but I'll just add, and I'm american born Indian....
Many Indians (not all) come from the ignorant 3rd world culture where corruption is a part of life. Where someone is always trying to pull something over the other person and the only way to protect yourself is to become an ass like them. And then some are just straight asses who landed in America.
In India the trains are extremely crouded and everyone has the mentality "every man for himself".
Many African immigrants are also like this. They live in America as if they're still in their own country where there are no standards to live by.
This is the same for many other immigrants like El Salvador where the country is pretty much ran by gangsters and every citizen there is also part of that gangster culture. Don't hesitate to educate them or one day they will cross the wrong American and be in trouble.
My personal experience with Indians in NJ was wonderful. I found them to be warm and hospitable. I tasted my first tandoori chicken at the home of one Indian friend, and never forgot how wonderful it was.
I might or might not agree with the OP's remarks.
However, when someone does not have the courtesy to break up a long post into paragraphs (remember those?), I just pass it by and do not attempt to read it.
OP--If you are still able to edit your post, I urge you to do so if you want a decent number of responses. And, if it is too late for you to edit, you can request the forum's moderator to do what is necessary in order to make your post reader-friendly.
These people also constitute the largest portion of the US IT workforce. From the iphone, to the XBOX to the windows that we all use, a LOT of this has been written by indians working in software companies here.
Working with computers is hard, painful, shunned by a lot of americans, and therefore the Indians do it, and the country lets them come in. It is a SYMBIOSIS!
Working with computers may be hard, but it's not painful. And the visa issue is a lot more complex than the work being "shunned by a lot of Americans"; there's a lot of out-of-work Americans in the field who feel other things are going on, from hiring inexpensive visa-holders who can't quit if they are mistreated, to cronyism where people from certain ethnic groups will only hire other people from the same ethnic group.
I'm not sure what was the point in revisiting this topic as the other thread was closed for a reason.
As it was already stated, you need to edit to post to make it more readable. You also need to do a better job in organizing your thoughts, you did some rambling in your post.
If you really wanted to see hostility, you should've been around in the 80's.
I'm not sure what was the point in revisiting this topic as the other thread was closed for a reason.
As it was already stated, you need to edit to post to make it more readable. You also need to do a better job in organizing your thoughts, you did some rambling in your post.
If you really wanted to see hostility, you should've been around in the 80's.
Hello,
Sorry, this is the first time I have posted to any forum in years - don't know how all of this works. Would edit my posting, but it won't let me. The earlier thread was closed because it reached the limit of # of postings - I presumed. And my comments were intended to be a quick response to comments in an earlier thread....
In this era of everybody getting to take a harder and closer look at everything we believed in, I think I am in place to continue this uncomfortable discussion. Indians are everywhere in the united states, and talking about them/things about them that bother other people is ok I think.
Hello,
Sorry, this is the first time I have posted to any forum in years - don't know how all of this works. Would edit my posting, but it won't let me. The earlier thread was closed because it reached the limit of # of postings - I presumed. And my comments were intended to be a quick response to comments in an earlier thread....
In this era of everybody getting to take a harder and closer look at everything we believed in, I think I am in place to continue this uncomfortable discussion. Indians are everywhere in the united states, and talking about them/things about them that bother other people is ok I think.
Ohh, and here is the original thread. I thought it was an interesting discussion
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