Monday, June 11, 2007
The truth about Indians in the West
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20070604&fname=Italy+%28F%29&sid=1
Recently there was this article in the Outlook about illegal immigrants from India in Italy. I was quite appalled by the tone of the whole thing. It quite happily talked about how some 50,000! illegal Punjabis immigrants are in some little area in Italy and are working as farm workers. While the article quoted locals saying that they liked Indians(whee) I can not believe, based on what i experienced, that locals are happy at the sudden influx of illegals. Like in the US they employ Mexicans and loathe them at the same time.
And set me thinking about the whole Indian immigration thing. I started travelling on work quite late in life, in my twenties. And of course growing up, I did have a fascination with foreign travel and beieved that people who went abroad were sophisticated people who were doing very well. Growing up in the 80s there was very little in the news about Indians abroad. So when I went to London, I was quite stunned by the number of Indians there and how awfully poor and marginalised they all appeared to be. Over the years of reading the UK papers, one realises how much of a "problem" Asians and colored people in general are in that country, and the general feeling today among the natives, is strongly anti immigrant. The foreigners use their resources, expect social security and housing, and free medicare and often are bringing the quality of education down in public schools to the xtent that white people can not send their kids to public school any more and private schools ar so expensive. This may be an exaggeration on their part but this is reality. And somehow I am not sure it is racism, think how we feel about Bangladeshi migrants in India.
And the truth is the majority of Asians in the UK are not doctors and university professors, they are the workers at the bottom of the ladder, living in ghettos, and their culture is more like pakistanis (honour killings anyone?) than middle class urban Indians. A telling point is that the vast majority get their wives and husbands for their children from rural areas of India. And they are seen the way the average rich Delhite looks upon Bihari migrants. From benign indifference at bet to contempt. And yes, the estimate is that about a quarter to half of Indians in the UK went there illegally. And the Indian areas in London and Toronto are truly depressing.
The same is true for most of Europe. I have seen Indian illegals everywhere and they are such a pathetic sight. They work menial jobs, on the run from the police, they can never visit home as they don't have papers. And they spend so much money to make the journey, never knowing how tough life will be.
And so when I read an celebratory article on illegal Indian immigrants in Italy, and how they are perceived to be good agricultural workers(yay!), and they are no doubt paid below the minimum wage and lead pathetic - I am just incensed. The TOI is another paper that regularly runs congratulatory articles that basically say that Indians are taking over the country, because they run corner shops. Corner shops are run by asians because they are open at all hours and no one else wants to run them. Its like saying the paan wallahs are taking over Mumbai.
Even in the US with the largest concentration of successful Indian professionals, its the cab drivers, 7/11 (corner shops again) and motels that are top of mind. Motels that are built on lonely stretches of the highways, that are cheap and the byword for fleas, dirt and dinge.
Plus there are periodically stories of Indian illegals caught in remote places, Albania and Eastern Europe trying to make the crossing, or worse. How many know that hundreds of Punjabis died while crossing the sea to Europe when a ship carrying illegals capsized. It was big news - abroad.
The Indian media is really being criminally irresponsible when it presents life in the west as some glorious destination and encourages illegal immigration. I wonder how many of the young men who spent up to 25 lakhs to get to Italy, expected to be agricultural laboureres for the rest of their lives, as many of them will, a few will acquire corner shops , no doubt.
Recently there was this article in the Outlook about illegal immigrants from India in Italy. I was quite appalled by the tone of the whole thing. It quite happily talked about how some 50,000! illegal Punjabis immigrants are in some little area in Italy and are working as farm workers. While the article quoted locals saying that they liked Indians(whee) I can not believe, based on what i experienced, that locals are happy at the sudden influx of illegals. Like in the US they employ Mexicans and loathe them at the same time.
And set me thinking about the whole Indian immigration thing. I started travelling on work quite late in life, in my twenties. And of course growing up, I did have a fascination with foreign travel and beieved that people who went abroad were sophisticated people who were doing very well. Growing up in the 80s there was very little in the news about Indians abroad. So when I went to London, I was quite stunned by the number of Indians there and how awfully poor and marginalised they all appeared to be. Over the years of reading the UK papers, one realises how much of a "problem" Asians and colored people in general are in that country, and the general feeling today among the natives, is strongly anti immigrant. The foreigners use their resources, expect social security and housing, and free medicare and often are bringing the quality of education down in public schools to the xtent that white people can not send their kids to public school any more and private schools ar so expensive. This may be an exaggeration on their part but this is reality. And somehow I am not sure it is racism, think how we feel about Bangladeshi migrants in India.
And the truth is the majority of Asians in the UK are not doctors and university professors, they are the workers at the bottom of the ladder, living in ghettos, and their culture is more like pakistanis (honour killings anyone?) than middle class urban Indians. A telling point is that the vast majority get their wives and husbands for their children from rural areas of India. And they are seen the way the average rich Delhite looks upon Bihari migrants. From benign indifference at bet to contempt. And yes, the estimate is that about a quarter to half of Indians in the UK went there illegally. And the Indian areas in London and Toronto are truly depressing.
The same is true for most of Europe. I have seen Indian illegals everywhere and they are such a pathetic sight. They work menial jobs, on the run from the police, they can never visit home as they don't have papers. And they spend so much money to make the journey, never knowing how tough life will be.
And so when I read an celebratory article on illegal Indian immigrants in Italy, and how they are perceived to be good agricultural workers(yay!), and they are no doubt paid below the minimum wage and lead pathetic - I am just incensed. The TOI is another paper that regularly runs congratulatory articles that basically say that Indians are taking over the country, because they run corner shops. Corner shops are run by asians because they are open at all hours and no one else wants to run them. Its like saying the paan wallahs are taking over Mumbai.
Even in the US with the largest concentration of successful Indian professionals, its the cab drivers, 7/11 (corner shops again) and motels that are top of mind. Motels that are built on lonely stretches of the highways, that are cheap and the byword for fleas, dirt and dinge.
Plus there are periodically stories of Indian illegals caught in remote places, Albania and Eastern Europe trying to make the crossing, or worse. How many know that hundreds of Punjabis died while crossing the sea to Europe when a ship carrying illegals capsized. It was big news - abroad.
The Indian media is really being criminally irresponsible when it presents life in the west as some glorious destination and encourages illegal immigration. I wonder how many of the young men who spent up to 25 lakhs to get to Italy, expected to be agricultural laboureres for the rest of their lives, as many of them will, a few will acquire corner shops , no doubt.
Comments:
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You are spot on about how the Indian media brazenly glamourizes the lives of Indians abroad. But you would think that with all the Indians working menial jobs in the Middle East and as illegals in Europe word would have filtered down to their acqaintances home that things aren't so rosy.
Or perhaps the very Asian trait of keeping up appearances mean that even the Indians who work the menial jobs never squeak about their miserable lives to folks back home.
Or perhaps the very Asian trait of keeping up appearances mean that even the Indians who work the menial jobs never squeak about their miserable lives to folks back home.
Hey Thalassa,
you are probably right about the social appearance thing. Though, in the Middle East there are very few illegals, there are labourers, poorly paid, who can still remit money home, and visit home occasionally. Having been there I think things are better than reported, with the West, things are much worse than reported.
Plus labour going to the ME know the deal, with EU and North America, no illegal going there for the first time, seems to have a clue.
you are probably right about the social appearance thing. Though, in the Middle East there are very few illegals, there are labourers, poorly paid, who can still remit money home, and visit home occasionally. Having been there I think things are better than reported, with the West, things are much worse than reported.
Plus labour going to the ME know the deal, with EU and North America, no illegal going there for the first time, seems to have a clue.
Nice post. The Indian media really needs to adopt a much more balanced view, whether it be Sunita's homecoming or incidents of kids falling down wells. The hype and hoola in mainstream Indian media reminds you of Fox TV. ;)
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