This and that... about Indians abroad.

Let me admit to certain ineradicable facts: I left this country in 1990 to make a better future for myself and my kids (the fact that I must be, perhaps, the only person in the whole, wide world who didn't make pots of money in the Middle East, in fact lost money, puts me in a league of my own!)has made me, much against my will, an NRI. Whatever I say that is the faintest bit negative about 'shining' India is taken to be pseudo, patronizing, condescending, looking-down-my-nose at patriotic Indians, NRI attitude.
In this blog, I am going to turn the tables and aim at Indians abroad. My fellow travellers who moved West - but have never really left the East.
So, I am going to pose a few conundrums...
Why move West and then spend your entire time there living in Indian ghettos?
If the idea was to go and make a name, place, space for yourself in a world that is modern, forward looking, with better work ethos and far better opportunities - than why close yourself into a space that is a re-creation of your 'mohalla' back home - with the same age-old prejudices, biases, behaviour patterns and outmoded customs?
When you put your kids into the local schools so they can learn and benefit from an education system that offers more while learning to blend into a society that is ready to welcome them, then why build barriers around them that force them into negative religious beliefs, forced arranged marriages and social practices that should have been long buried.
But then again, some of of these NRI travellers are so keen to blend (superficailly at least) that they unthinkingly adopt an accent that grates on the ears - Indian pronunciations overlaid with the most horrible twang, drawl or what have you - and a dress code that attempts to be western on a wide hipped, buxom Indian figure. Think stretch pants and cropped tops with tummy bulging out!!! This I have seen on many a young lady!!!
But the most obnoxious feature I have seen and experienced has been the way Indian entrepreneurs treat their employees - as indentured slaves and servants who are at their beck and call just because they are paid a salary! It doesn't matter how qualified they are, what skills and expertise they bring to the business.
The attitude is "I pay your salary so you have to jump every time I crack the whip because I say so!" And this applies across the board - from small mom and pop stores to large scale organisations. There is no question of caring for the employees problems, no question of considering anything from the employee's point of view. And no question of abiding by commitments made and promises given. The only promises and commitments that should be kept are the employee's - not the employers. People are enticed abroad, leaving home, hearth and security and left high and dry once they are in the employer's greedy clutches. and most of them don't have a choice. They are dependent for their visas on the employer, have loans to pay back and families to support. Should one be brave enough to leave, the employer is bewildered and can't understand the effrontery of the employee's in daring to leave. How dare the 'servant' hold the employer responsible for any dues not paid and promises not kept! Did he not understand that a servant just doesn't do that?
In the 17 years I have lived abroad I have seen how the Italians treat their fellow Italian employees; the way the Greeks, Chinese, Koreans and Hispanics treat their fellow immigrants. But we Indians are in a class of our own! It's very, very sad but very, very true - I speak from personal experience and the experience members of my family have suffered.
So I ask, again, why? Why are we so selfish, so money grubbing, so hypocritical and so uncaring of those we should care about the most?