United States of America - Currency - Dollar; 1 Dollar = 42 Rupees; Land of freedom; Land to earn money; Land to spend money;
I learnt that Indian people take some or the other paths to come to this land. Thousands of students come here to pursue their masters. Most of the students are from engineering back ground. They write GRE/TOEFL and get admission into some or the other universities, apply for an F1 visa, keep a vow to God to make 108 pradakshanams to get the visa stamped and finally come here with home made pickles, powders, and lots of wishes from friends and relatives in the airport.Due to inadequate or almost no funding, most of them (almost 95% of them) work to earn for their living apart from paying the fees for the college. They work in malls, marts, coffee shops, hotels, gas stations, etc.to get 10 - 20$ hourly. Since they also have to attend the college, they end up working for 40-50hrs per week on an average. This meagre amount would be just sufficient to sustain theirliving and make phone calls to India back home. Car, here is a necessity. So they take rental cars or purchase second hand cars, payment for which they make through credit cards issued by manybanks here. Each person would have atleast 2 credit cards from different banks. 2 years of graduation studies happen this way. By the end of the graduation, each student who has not receivedfinancial aid in any form in any of the semesters, would have a min. of 15K$ credit. 2 years of nostalgia would make them visit back home once. They go to India with lots of gifts for friends andrelatives just to see them happy although they are in debts. They have to return to the US atleast to clear the debts and to earn a little.
This is one path that students choose to come to the US and make a living.
The other path is to complete some graduation (preferably in IT) in India, apply for a H1 through an Indian consultant here, make a vow to God to make 108 pradakshinams to get the visa stamped and come here. Students who complete their MS here also join the same consultancy. The consultant places them into some projects for some clients in some state in some technology, which he trains them on. There might be a single consulant or a chain of consultants between the client and the consultant who pays them. After a series of deductions by the chain of consultants, the candidate, famously called as Contractor, gets the payment. Some consultants deduct the amount for H1 and training on a monthly basis. In this way, the so called graduate contractors work for various clients on varioustechnologies in various states in a span of 2-4 years with or without visiting back home. Finally after clearing all the debts (which is an ideal case and hence never happens), they plan to earn some moneyfor savings or constructing a house back home. Due to the inflation rate IT has brought in India, a mediocre 800sft 2 bed room apartment in any city would cost not less than 15-20 lakhs. Based on the interests, tastes andfeasibility, people stay here to earn some amount while spending some of it to see the places here in the US like Niagara Falls, Los Angles, Pittsburgh, Smokies, Disney, etc.So the so called savings would take a lot of time to get accumulated. In the meanwhile, since their age would be incresing in terms of numbers (say 27-35), the people back home would be pressurizingto get them married. After a series of matrimonial hits, they decide to get married to an IT graduate and bring along with them to the US.
Marriage in India..Lots of sweets, varieties of food, desi band, desi dresses, dance, all the friends and relatives at a single place and time...really fun.They come back again to the US with spouse and shift the apartment from shared accomodation to a 1 or 2 BHK flat. Instead of going to Sub Ways, Mc Dondalds or Burger King as they previously used to do,now they go more to the Indian Stores and Desi hotels. If the spouse gets bored at home and/or has a gradution in IT done, they would join them into some consultancy and get a job in some place, preferably the same place.In case if luck turns bad, she has to move to a different place. On road if it takes 5-8 hrs, weekly once they meet. If the distance is more than that, they take a flight once in 2 weeks to meet each other.Both of them earn for their commmon savings, common interests and expenditure. Both miss each other and always plan to get a job in the same place. After a couple of years or more, since the parents back home pressurise them tohave a child, they meticulosuly plan their future to have a child delivered in the US. His/Her parent(s) would come for about 3-6 months during the time of labor to take care of the child and the family.If the couple feel that both have to continue working and hence it would be difficult to raise their child, and if their parents are willing to take care of their grand child, they send the child to India so thatthe prospective US Citizen would get trained in Indian heritage and culture from his/her grand parents, which he would miss otherwise.If parents are too old, there are many child cretches here who take care of children.
Time moves on and one day they have to hear the news about the bedridden state of either of their parents. The couple has still not yet accumulated money to purchase a flat in India and more over they are still in debts.To and From charges to India through the cheapest deal would cost around 1200$ which apperas to be very costly compared to the 1500$ spent for Las Vegas trip or the Orlando trip. More over they would not get leaves approved formore than a week for which they have to forgo the money apart from the additional expenditure for India visit. Any how since they have to see their parents at the last stages, one of them goes to India to see the parents and wish that they coulddie instead of the suffering so that they need not come again to India for this purpose. Fortunately, if the old die, these people perform the ritauls and come back again. If they have siblings back home to take care of the still-alive other parent,these people need not worry. But if that is not the case, they either plan to bring the parent here so that he/she could take care of their only child in the US or go back to India, which they cannot because the main purpose of survival here would be lost.
Life moves on in this way until their child grows up and lives on his own independently. If the couple really pine to come back to India, they might do so. But after having stayed here for so many years, it becomes difficult to leave this land and go back to their native land.
DONT STOP WITH THIS...READ PART - 2
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