x+1
Syndrome
When an Indian
professional becomes a 'Non-Resident Indian' in the United States, he soon
starts suffering from a strange disease. The symptoms are a fixture of
restlessness, anxiety, hope and nostalgia. The virus is a deep inner need to get
back home. Like Shakespeare said, "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."
The medical world has not coined a word for this malady. Strange as it is, it
could go by a stranger name, the "X + 1" syndrome.
To understand this disease better,
consider the background.
Typically middle-class, the would be
migrant's sole ambition through school is to secure admission into one of those
heavily government subsidised institutions - the IITs. With the full backing of
a doting family and a good deal of effort, he acheives his goal. Looking for
fresh worlds to conquer, his sights rest on the new world. Like lemmings to the
sea, hordes of IIT graduates descend on the four US consulates to seek the
holiest of holy grails - the F-1 (student) stamp on the passport.
After crossing the visa hurdle and tearful
farewell, our hero departs for the Mecca of higher learning, promising himself
and his family that he will return some day - soon The family proudly informs
their relatives of each milestone - his G.P.A., his first car (twenty years
old), his trip to Niagara Falls (photographs), his first winter (parkas,
gloves). The two years roll by and he graduates at the top of his class. Now
begins the 'great hunt' for a company that will not only give him a job but also
sponsor him for that 3" X 3" grey plastic, otherwise known as the Green Card. A
US company sensing a good bargain offers him a job. Naturally, with all the
excitement of seeing his first pay check in four digit dollars, thoughts of
returning to India are far away. His immediate objective of getting the Green
Card is reached within a year.
Meanwhile, his family back home worry
about the strange American influences (and more particularly, AIDS). Through
contacts they line up a list of eligble girls from eligible families and wait
for the great one's first trip home. Return he does, at the first available
oppurtunity, with gifts for the family and mouth-watering tales of prosperity
beyond imagination. After interviewing the girls, he picks the most likely
(lucky) one to be Americanised. Since the major reason for the alliance is his
long-term stay abroad, the question of his immediate return does not arise. Any
doubts are set aside by the 'backwardnes' of working life, long train travel,
lack of phones, inadequate oppurtunities for someone with hi-tech
qualifications, and so on.
The newly-weds return to America with the
groom having to explain the system of arranged marriages to the Americans. Most
of them regard it as barbaric and on the same lines as communism. The
tongue-tied bride is cajoled into explaining the bindi and saree. Looking for
something homely, the couple plunges into the frenetic expatriate week-end
social scene compromising dinners, videos of Hindi/regional films, shopping at
Indian stores, and bhajans.
Initially, the wife misses the warmth of
her family, but the presence of washing machines, vacuum cleaners, daytime soap
operas and the absence of a domineering mother-in-law helps. Bits of news
filtering through from India, mostly from returning Indians, is eagerly lapped
up.
In discussions with friends, the topic of
returning to India arises frequently but is brushed aside by the lord and master
who is now rising in the corporate world and has fast moved into a two garage
home - thus fulfilling the great American Dream. The impending arrival of the
first born fulfills the great Indian Dream. The mother-in-law arrives in time:
after all,no right thinking parent would want their off-spring to be born in
India if offered the American alternative.
With all material comforts that money can
bring, begins the first signs of un-easiness - a feeling that somehow things are
not what they should be. The craze for exotic electronic goods, cars and
vacations have been satiated. The week-end gatherings are becoming routine.
Faced with a mid-life crisis, the upwardly mobile Indian's career graph
plateau's out. Younger and more aggressive Americans are promoted. With one of
the periodic mini recessions in the economy and the threat of a hostile
take-over, the job itself seems far from secure.
Unable or unwilling to socialize with the
Americans, the Indian retreats into a cocoon. At the home front,the children
have grown up and along with American accents have imbibed American habits
(cartoons,hamburgers) and values(dating). They respond to their parents'
exhortation of leading a clean Indian way of life by asking endless questions.
The generation gap combines with the cultural chasm. Not surprisingly, the first
serious thoughts of returning to India occur at this stage.
Taking advantage of his vacation time, the
Indian returns home to 'explore' possibilities. Ignoring the underpaid and
beaurocratic government sector, he is bewildered by the 'primitive' state of the
private sector. Clearly overqualified even to be a managing director/chairman he
stumbles upon the idea of being an entrepreneur.
In the seventies, his search for an arena
to display his buisness skills normally ended in poultry farming. In the
eighties, electronics is the name of the game. Undaunted by horror stories about
government red tape and corruption he is determined to overcome the odds - with
one catch. He has a few things to settle in the United States. After all, you
can't just throw away a lifetime's work. And there are things like taxation and
customs regulations to be taken note of. Pressed for a firm date, he says
confidently 'next year' and therein lies our story.
The next years come and go but there is no
sign of our McCarthian friend. About 40 years later our, by now, a old friend
dies of a scheduled heart-attack and it so happens that his last wish was that
he be laid to rest in the city he was born in India. So our friend at last
returns to India for good. But by now the people who were so looking forward to
see him return to his homeland are no more.
In other words if 'X' is the current year,
then the objective is to return in the 'X + 1' year. Since 'X' is a changing
variable, the objective is never reached. Unable to truly melt in the 'Great
Melting Pot', chained to his cultural moorings and haunted by an abject fear of
giving up an accustomed standard of living, the Non-Resident Indian vacillates
and oscillates between two worlds in a twilight zone.
Strangely, this malady appears to affect
only the Indians - all of our Asian brethren from Japan, Korea and even Pakistan
- seem immune to it.
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