NRIs Earning Higher – Living Poor ! Really ? How ?

Many Indians fantasize about their life in the United States, and desire to live the American dream, with easy access to money, fast cars, a better quality of life, beautiful malls and unending entertainment but when a comparison is made regarding the life style of Indian middle-class family against non-resident Indian(NRI) living the so called American dream , the reality is always something totally different.

Poor Eating Habits

It is a very common practice that both NRI spouses work, and usually they will cook meals for two or more days at a time , store it in a refrigerator. And then eat those curries, chicken, rice etc by heating it in a microwave oven. It sounds very practical and a majority of Americans live such a life. But there is something more to it.

Also, there are even cases where a family cooks the food during the weekend for upcoming three to four days or an entire week or two weeks , then will pack the food by labeling each day of the week and store it in refrigerator !!

When you ask such NRIs why they are doing so ? Their immediate answer would be that it saves their time and money. And they would advise that everyone should do it ? For those who also believe that just google on benefits of fresh food and you would know right away the importance of fresh food versus refrigerated processed food. Indian readers please don’t be surprised eating such an unhealthy food is very typical in the USA. Please note that not every NRI has such a poor and unhealthy way of eating. However, the community of those fresh food eating NRIs is slowly dwindling due to fast life and hectic schedule.
Remember that there are many states and communities in India where they will not eat any food which has been cooked 24 hours ago. Specially Gujarati people will give such 20+ hour old food to beggars or offer it to street dogs/Cows. Any Gujarati people in India reading this blog.. please do not throw your food away we have a high tech beggars earning high salaries in the USA but their certain lifestyle habits are compromised and inferior to Indian dogs and beggars. .. They will take it.

Race for Money
Unlike India, one simply cannot afford to have a full-time housemaid in the USA unless they are a billionaire, or multi-millionaire. When both husband and wife are working, they need to do all the household work in a team. Husband takes care of the dishes and laundry, while wife vacuums the floor. If they have kids, everything really requires a great team work. Their weekends are usually spent in grocery shopping, and getting other things done. And these types of NRI folks usually complain that life is very busy and hectic here in the USA.

If you review the husband + wife’s combined annual income, it goes well above $150K. It is also a parent’s dedication toward their kids that they want to provide the best possible education, infrastructure, and more money, which naturally provides a huge value there. But it is also a fact that their life revolves only around money. For the money is everything. Money is the supreme God of their life. But how it contradicts with a typical Indian standard of living or parenting? Just read on… Children need not only the love and guidance from their parents, but also the role-modeling necessary to make them strong. Although, working parents in America say with confidence and pride that their children are just fine as long as they are getting good grades in the school. These folks forget that the rewards heavily outweigh the financial sacrifices. It is difficult to put into words how wonderful and special it is to have a strong bond with your children. They are being raised as you see fit. They learn morals and values from their parents who spend quality time teaching them rather than giving XBOX 360 Console and Play Station and let them kill their time. Yes! It is a fact that majority of kids spend their time playing games on iPod Touch, WII, XBOX 360, and PS3 as their parents are busy earning more money so that they (parents) can buy more electronic gadgets and games for them. Some parents will send their new born USA child back to India with their parents for few years so that husband and wife can earn more money! How unfortunate those parents will be of missing a wonderful bond, and a relationship with their child in first few years of their life. They (parents) won’t be there when they( kids) took their first steps and said their first words. They won’t be present to nurse their first cuts and scrapes and shared in their joy of their first accomplishments. They will miss out to celebrate when their son or daughter returns from the school with “A” grades. In India, working parents usually spends quality time with kids, and in the USA they spent quality time taking them out for grocery shopping or asking/bribing them to help lawn moving!! Usually kids buy a lunch from a school cafeteria rather than getting a lunch pack prepared with love and emotions. Although, these NRI parents are proud vegetarian but their kids are non-vegetarian because of external influence.

Kids gone out of Control
If you ask any rich NRI parents whose kids have gone out of control that would you prefer the 1 Million Dollar money in next 1 year or your kids to get back on track. I am dead sure many of them would prefer to have their kids back. Here is a list of few expectations what every NRI parents desperately have from t heir children.

• Kids that won’t say to their parents – ” That’s my life, that is none of your business“.
• Teen-age daughter who won’t tell her Indian dad –“Joe is black guy, so what ? Look at his body, he looks like your “Salman Khan”, I would love to go out with him.”
• Kids that won’t say to their parents –“You are asking too many personal questions.”
• Kids who simply love going to temple/Gurudwara accompanying their parents. And won’t consider it as a waste of time or just freaks out when they put tikka on their forehead.”
• Kids who do not get in to endless arguments like this “You asked me to come with you at the temple, when I asked significance of the murti ( the statue of God) , the clothing on Murti etc.. even you were at loss of words. I am not convinced, sorry I would stay at home, you guys go to the temple , Satnarayan Puja whatever..
• Kids who will not keep attacking the Indian religious beliefs and value by saying something like “I don’t get any clue what they are saying in that Pooja Ceremony and still you want me to seat 2 hours there. This is a torture.“
• Kids who love their parents’ friend/family members and just enjoy talking everything about India and being an Indian or having the Indian friends and will never say something like “Mom & Dad, I hate your friends/family members they just talk everything about India and being an Indian.”

Financially these NRIs would be rich, but mentally broken as they have lots of money but no one actually cares about those hard earned money ! Is it not true that they earn so much for their kids to give them all the comforts by sacrificing all the quality time whey would have spent with their kids, but they treat them like an ATM machine ! They come near to them when they need infrastructure /money otherwise who cares !!
These NRIs can not even admit it publicly because they are the ones who have drawn really rosy picture to their friends in-person and on Facebook virtually !

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