Thoughts on America

Life in the US is very similar to a nuclear family in India where it has become so mechanical & routine that sometimes you need to improvise in several ways to bring excitement into your lives. One of the things you can most certainly do is to take a break, couple of times a year which will energize not only yourselves but also your relationships and this keeps you from getting tired or rather bored of life. The second thing that can help is to be part of an association, which brings together people from the same cultural background as you - this will improve not only your social circle but the warmth that you feel away from home helps you to think that you are no longer alone and coming together to celebrate festivities that you would do back home, brings happiness back into your lives.

A fact that I have noticed which is so prominent among immigrants here are that they are never content with their lives – everyone is in some sort of a race to improve something or the other, it could be a better job, better quality of life or to just be better than others. Everyone is so entangled in this race that they forget to live and somewhere in between, they even forget the meaning of their lives or the value of their relationships which is human nature to get bored of everything including ones own lives. But if you pause for a second and think about all the things you have accomplished so far, then this race does not make any sense – it makes more sense to just enjoy life the way it comes, it surprises you in beautiful ways some good and others bad many of which you never anticipated. Don’t waste your lives thinking of all the futile opportunities that you have missed in life, in turn be positive and keep an open mind – you will be surprised by all the positive signs around you and sometimes you feel the presence of some divine force around you, in the form of a person who brought something positive into your life which was a pleasant surprise to you and brought a smile to your face.

I know immigration to the United States has been very touchy topic lately due to the reforms here in Arizona. But I think if you are a resident alien then the GC process would have been something that touched your lives at some point. It probably did increase your blood pressure, several times and the uncertainty associated to the process which includes the indefinite wait for your priority date to be current. According to my personal experience, we do enjoy a higher quality of life in the United States or Canada when compared to India, and no question about that what so ever. Also, personally I prefer staying in the United States when compared to Canada, but the only thing that worries me is that after all the years of waiting, “is there any guarantee that you would finally get your EAD, or could it get denied in the end due to some reason.” Well, if you are looking for a backup plan in such scenarios, then it might be a good idea to apply for immigration to another country where you would be able to enjoy similar quality of life, standard of living as well as similar work environments. Immigration to Canada for some reason is a much faster process and if you are already in the United States then that is considered as an advantage. If you are employed in the skilled worker category then you definitely have a higher chance of getting the same. Also, recently I read an article on the Canadians giving a lot of importance to higher education and investing in education to build a brighter future for the next generation, which I feel is a step in the right direction.

It is definitely true that no one knows for sure what the future has kept in store for us. But to do nothing, and wait for the GC process to take its own sweet time is sometimes difficult to understand and you really don’t know if you should settle down here with the fear that your visa may not get renewed or the GC could get rejected since most people do like some sort of certainty in their lives to live happily. It is hence crucial for ones own survival to find a system that processes applications for PR faster as well as qualifies to your expectations, including embracing immigrants like us with open arms and let us contribute to the GDP.

Lifestyle here in the US had hit us pretty hard, especially the health aspect and the shocking statement from a doctor mentioning that many packaged foods have very little nutrients that are actually healthy. So we have made it a point to look closely at the nutrient information before purchasing any product for that matter. Rice has always been an important part of our day to day lives, especially for Indians like us until recently but we forced ourselves to switch to brown rice instead of white, and reduced consumption in lower quantities over the week instead of avoiding it entirely which would be very hard.  The premise for all these changes was due to the results from a “CPR blood test” which indicates inflammation in blood and risk for developing heart disease. A very useful test, but at the same time if the results are high then that would indicate “poor diet,” though you think that you have been eating pretty healthy, though not entirely. So back tracking the diet for the past couple of months indicated a lot of soda, a small can everyday during summer months, eating white rice, white flour products and several other packaged food items. Also, trying to make a switch from white products to whole wheat, fruits and vegetables is pretty difficult for us but possible.

In addition to these changes, working out is another thing that we Indians need to add to our schedules, at least a couple of times during the week. Joining a fitness center and getting a trainer would be ideal if you are willing to spend some money to get you back on track, which I would highly recommend in order to understand weight trainings in more detail and getting better results for the time spend. We have been eating a lot of fruits both fresh and dried, which includes mostly berries (strawberry, blue berry, black berry etc), which I read in some health magazine as being nutrient rich. Also a couple of interesting things that I have noticed, while reading up online and in magazines includes, eating free range eggs which are supposed to be lower in cholesterol than regular eggs (based on some study), citrus fruits, beets, celery, chili peppers, pumpkin and their seeds, fresh turmeric, purslane and kale are all supposed to be good, although I haven’t really found purslane or kale at any of the grocery stores I usually shop.

I have never really been sarcastic about things in life, nor do i have the ability to catch the sarcasm that people throw at you or regarding someone else that you commonly happen to know. I think that it is really funny, are they afraid to tell things in a straight forward manner, or incapable of doing so, or are they worried about tarnishing their image in front of other people, i wonder. Again, i am not sure of the reasons for its popularity here, but i am certain that it is very popular among the people you see around everyday, or among the people you hardly know, the stranger who shops in the same store that you are in or is watching the same movie like you etc. This is just something i can hardly relate to, since I have always been pretty straight forward for the past years of my life or at least that’s what i think, nor have i had the privilege to mingle with people who are capable of doing so, until now. It seems so difficult for me to assimilate this fact, as at times it is really unpleasant to the ears at least some of them that i manage to catch, and it makes me wonder, are they joking or trying to make a point. Well, if it is to make a point to me, then it probably didn’t serve the purpose, which is sad for them. But lately, i am able to understand its and bits, probably 2% of all that gets thrown around in conversations, but sincerely hope that i would be blessed with some resistance so as to not imbibe these unique skill sets which may come handy in many cases, but those that i wish not to have.

People are really unique, every one of them vary with country or region, so many different cultures, dynamic behavioral patterns, social life, etc or in general every aspect of life differs, only the variance among some seems to be shorter than few others, based on whether they come from similar backgrounds or not and ultimately everything boils down to the only one common factor that we are all human beings. Though this is a known fact to everyone, it amazes me, the intricacies of human behavior and the ways by which different people react to the same stimuli.

I have been pondering for some time on what i should blog about – should i write about my interests or activities that i am involved in, maybe make this a technical blog on BusinessObjects as well as CRM with tips to use these tools efficiently.

But, NO that’s not what i want to do. With the help of one of my friends at work, I was able to identify a very interesting aspect of my life that i would love to blog about. Guess what, it is “America through the eyes of an Indian.”

A very interesting topic, though i may not be an expert in any of these areas, i would be able to explain the things i feel, see and understand from a human perspective. Hope it turns out to be interesting.