The Reason

Why do we live abroad? This is something I’ve always wondered about even after being in the U.S. of A for well over a year. Back home we have everything - our families and friends, good jobs, amazing food, the luxuries of having domestic help and the list goes on. What drives us in hordes to an alien country where we need to drive miles to buy basic amenities, where we do not even know who our neighbors are, and where if you are spotted dancing in the rain someone might actually dial 911 thinking you are mad! Do we leave our beautiful, hot, tropical land only to experience how we fare at trudging through harsh winters? Or is it just the moolah that we make as the crème-de-la crème?

Well, we might be the envious layer that has a good credit history (apart from a Toyota Camry), we own homes that the average Joe can only dream of and we are also a blessed lot that has a lot of other things going in its favor. But there is one thing that we lack and we lack it seriously and that is (drum roll please) POLISH.We are doctors, professors, software gurus of the highest ranking but good manners, politeness, courtesy and anything that is concerned with the etiquettes of civilized living escape us. How? That is a million dollar question.

It was just yesterday that I was talking to an Indian travel agent. It was my second call to confirm my itinerary. Having given her my credit card number the first time itself, I called her up to confirm whether she had received my money. And the way she reacted was worth putting up on youtube.
“I got it NO !!” was her annoyed reply.
Gauging her already boiling temperament I enquired even more politely as to when I will receive my ticket to which her retort was worth a million francs considering the fact that it was I who was paying her the bucks.

Were I back home this incident might not have been so jarring. It is expected that people who service you are rude PERIOD. This is the exact opposite of something you will get from a non Desi. I remember calling up a customer care unit to find out about a delayed courier, my call being transferred from one department to the other I heard a million apologies and consoling words coupled with prompt action as opposed to the Indian call centres where I was rudely shoved from one department to the other without achieving anything substantial towards the end.

Another example is the omnipresent symbol of the survival of the Indian in America- the Desi grocery store. Now this is one place that really resembles the stereotypical market even though the fish or the stench may not be all pervading. Here you will find us clamoring for the best bhindi or any such perishable, (many a time breathing down each other’s neck) like it were an important tournament, the victory of which was important for survival. If this were an American store it would display a statutory warning “Tread with care. Any action of yours might be hazardous to health for which the Store will not be held responsible”. To top the jostle, many of my friends have related to me the all too familiar story of the overtly friendly shopper who wanted to involve you in some sort of business scheme despite your apparent uninterest.

Now to add another feather, I know a certain consultant making $150.00 an hour (despite the fact that he spends time reading trivia online, which really is none of my business, but I too am a desi my dear and old habits die hard!). Now this guy is the penultimate example of being uncouth. Forget the fact that he suffers from brohmidrosis, he has another blemish, he cannot accept the fact that women have breasts! Is it a miracle? Is it a deformity? Or is it a sheer coincidence that the entire female homosapien clan has breasts that too of different sizes??? I presume that the aforementioned questions are those arising in his dubious mind every single time he sees a female! As ridiculous as that sounds it is a rather unpleasant reality that his coworkers have to face day in and day out as he just cannot take his eyes off the human anatomy.

And the examples continue…….
Of course, there are us who are well mannered, polite and even chivalrous but the fact remains most of us lack it.

The bottom line is simple I just like polite people and that’s my raison d'être.

So, what is your reason for sticking around?

DISCLAIMER: Neither do I worship the land of milk and honey nor do I disdain fellow desimen. I am only an observer.