Price of Migrating to US/Europe/Canada/Australia
What will happen to ABCDs – American Born Confused Desis

It is easy to graduate from a decent college from India (using parents’ hard earned money) and migrate to US or other Western countries with the hope of having a stable affluent life. In the last forty years, millions of South Asians have migrated and settled in these countries. They enjoy very affluent living and well above average income. NRIs are hot commodity in India. They have the money and are relatively naïve for tricky investments and scams in the streets of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata. Government of India cannot resist to providing them dual citizenship since they are one of the biggest source of foreign exchange reserve. Investment firms and Life Insurance Agents cannot resist the temptation of grabbing their dollars or euro or pounds. These NRIs are finding innumerable social problems. Every one of them dreamed that they will go back to mother India/South Asia with a bag full of foreign exchange and live a happy life. They miscalculated one serious fall out. The ABCD syndrome of their children. The generation of Indians born in these Western countries are called ABCDs – American Born Confused Desis. They themselves call them American Born Cool Desis. No matter what they are – they suffer from the tug of war of two cultures. Soon they realize that they are the third class citizens of the country of their birth and at the same time suffer from superiority complex on their parents. Seldom ABCDs learn and use their parents’ native language. They always feel they are different and the parents are somewhat lower in the scale of Western classism – after all they are immigrants – the nearest nomenclature legally allowed these days for slaves. Some South Asian couples realize this problem way early in life and try to get back to India or their country of origins. When they land in their own country, for the first time they realize how poor they are. The thousands of dollars they brought in disappeared in no time with way inferior standard of living. 97% of these NRIs return back to the Western countries and never try to venture back into their country of origin again. Now comes the real problem. Their children – the ABCDs – they have grown up from teenage to manhood or womanhood. They like to date and be part of the “cool” society they belong to. NRI Parents fall from their chairs, resist in every way – one in ten finally become successful. They try to run around South Asia with their childrens’ hands to find a suitable match for marriage. 90% of these efforts fail and most of marriages end up in divorce. Depression among NRIs in the age group of 45 and above is rampant. Many think and try to commit suicide. They cannot see their children go socially ashtray. While they have earned the respect and money to a great extent – they pay the ultimate price. 

What will finally happen to these generation of ABCDs? No body knows. As the Western economies finally falter in the next ten to fifteen years and India-China prosper, hopefully many of these ABCDs will find a new home in South Asia. Those who stay back in the Western countries will face not only economic problems but also social dilemma. Their children – second generation ABCDs will loose touch with South Asia and be part of the rapidly growing group of people in the West called “People with Lost Identity”. 

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