Moving to an Alien Land

hi simmi,
it ws good to read your account here, i wish u would continue to contribute more as i m interested in knowing australia from a sensitive viewer`s view. keep it up,
preet

How about those Pakistanis who just want to come home? I am sending the following letter to Mushy:

President General Pervez Musharraf
President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Islamabad, Pakistan

Dear Mr. President:

First let me commend you on how you have brilliantly steered the nation through these treacherous times. I am an American of Pakistani origin and I would like to request your action on a matter of the highest humanitarian importance. While there are many issues concerning Islam in general and Pakistan in particular, that cause my head to bow in shame, nothing is more disturbing and humiliating than the plight of innocent Pakistanis stranded in Bangladesh since 1971.

Several successive Pakistani governments, from Bhutto to your own regime, have ignored this disaster. I understand the cruel pressure on the Pakistani government from indigenous people such as Punjabis and others that have blocked resolution of this rather easy problem. No one is requesting that these Pakistanis be resettled in Punjab - there is plenty of room near Karachi for them. The people of Karachi are prepared to house them, feed them, and provide necessary employment for these brethren. Saudi Arabia, in the past, had offered to fund the transportation for these hundreds of thousands of Pakistani citizens.

You had the courage to remove an inefficient and corrupt Punjabi Prime Minister and send him packing for a permanent Hajj. Once again, you can demonstrate proactive, decisive, and courageous leadership by bringing back these unfortunate Pakistanis. Do it for Allah, do it for Islam, but most of all, do it for Pakistan. I have faith in you. My next action will be to contact my Congressman and Senator, both important Republicans, to provide any help that may be necessary to assist your government in the resettlement effort.

Once this problem is solved, I would like to make suggestions concerning the plight of our Ahmedi brothers and sisters.

I thank you for your prompt attention to my request.

Sincerely yours,



Salim Ahmed Chauhan

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i liked the artikul as it was with the long long sentences without the para breaks so i would request that it be brot back again otherwise this is once more a pruf that pakistanis are subjugating indians to follow queen inglis this is chowk is it a pakistani sight or an indian sight what it is that a indian lady can not come here without getting her artikul broken up did anybody do that to tahmed32 or urstruly or if you do so to romair he will let go sabre jet f16 and 17 and 23 we demand in the name of secularism modi jinnah and topi lal pajama kaala that the original artikul be reinstated with all honour by the way what happen to that che artikul i liked it

Bhai Veer Singh`s verse often keeps buzzing in mind
``seenay khich jinhaan nay khaadhi
oh kar araam naheen behnday
nionh vaalay nainaa de vaangar
dinay-raat paye vehnday
ikko lagan laggi layi jaandi
hai tor anant unhaan di
vaslon uray muqaam na koyi
dinay raat paye kehnday``

drlokraj:
You may have some very good, if subconscious, reasons for migratng... i could name a few off the top of my head, but there are soo many possibilities that there`s really no reason.

What I find strange (and unnecassary, if I may say) is your attempt to explain migratory tendencies with references to examples from the animal kingdom-- even as you admit that man is a much more complex species.

All the examples you cite of animal migratory are (i) born of purely biological necessity (in fact, instinctive) and (ii) temporary. Migration for man is neither-- at least not planned to be either.

I don`t think it is herd instict. There are behaviours in other animals as well as human beings which are still poorly understood...e.g.salmon fish returning back against the water current to lay eggs at its place of birth, some birds comming to commit suicide in some part of north-eastern India,some people renouncing the world and becoming ascetics when they are at peak of their social/occupational position( Swami Ram Tirath,Rahul Sankritayan,Swami Viveka Nand and so many others)

Not everybody leaves his/her country for money

I don`t think it is herd instict. There are behaviours in other animals as well as human beings which are still poorly understood...e.g.salmon fish returning back against the water current to lay eggs at its place of birth, some birds comming to commit suicide in some part of north-eastern India,some people renouncing the world and becoming ascetics when they are at peak of their social/occupational position( Swami Ram Tirath,Rahul Sankritayan,Swami Viveka Nand and so many others)

Not everybody leaves his/her country for money

I don`t think it is herd instict. There are behaviours in other animals as well as human beings which are still poorly understood...e.g.salmon fish returning back against the water current to lay eggs at its place of birth, some birds comming to commit suicide in some part of north-eastern India,some people renouncing the world and becoming ascetics when they are at peak of their social/occupational position( Swami Ram Tirath,Rahul Sankritayan,Swami Viveka Nand and so many others)

Not everybody leaves his/her country for money

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re. drlokraj #9: ``...still I chose to leave my country,I dont exactly know why...``

herd instinct, maybe?

:-)

Hi Simmi,nice to see your articles on chowk.
``TURDE TURDE AA PAHUNCHE HAAN,PATAA NAHEEN KIS THAANWEN
KHAT PAAWANGAY JIS DIN AAPNA TOL SAKE PARCHHAAWAN``
this is what came to my mind few days after arriving in UK.I would often shy away from talking to my close ones back home....why did I come...was it really necessary???...well,I still dont have answers to these questions,though I try to rationalize while talking to others,because I have to defend my decision.I know why birds migrate...it is plain adaptive process of nature but you know it was not entirely applicable to me.I had regular and well paid job,stable family,home,kid going to good school...still I chose to leave my country,I dont exactly know why.Some researchers still donot believe in the simplistic adaptation to be the only cause of migration in birds...sure,there may be other factors and we humans are much more complicated than birds.Some say migration is in blood and I have started believing in that.

My only prayer to God is that he never make anyone leave his country.

Ms Waraich:

Something tells me that what you fear most is that you will imperceptibly slide into an existence of comfortable mediocirty, and forget the madness back home that so kept the blood in your arteries warm and rushing, and put the fire in your belly.

That may or may not be a valid fear. Certainly, from the latter half of the middle paragraph of your #6, it would seem that you have everything to live (and die) for back home in India.

Some advice from someone who has actually followed it: Trust your instincts in this case. But also realize that there is probably something of value-- something you can take back with you-- to be gained from your experience(s) abroad. Treat it like the work vacation is was meant to be. :-)

If by the end of June you find you don`t find the idea of staying on so distasteful, well, don;t be afraid (now or then)-- simply accpet that change -- even to your personality is what life and experiences are all about. Accept that being a different person isn`t necessarily a bad thing.

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thank you chowk editor;)

ana and khamy:
badmash;)

ms. waraich:

No offence taken. I know, I often tend to miss out on the details- I`m not a regular writer, sorry.

...since you did not take any offence i am daring again...if you want to share something with the readers ... then please take a little trouble to see the end result from the reader`s perspective...it is not fair of the writer to expect the chowk editors to fix their writings all the time...the same example i gave earlier...cooking utensil and dinner ware :) ... and again, no offence

rgds

t

No offence taken. I know, I often tend to miss out on the details- I`m not a regular writer, sorry. I wrote it because I`ve always wondered how people go and settle down abroad. I have friends who have been there for years and who still complain about their fast paced lives and lack of contact with families back home. My mother would often throw up her hands in despair on my often anti religion, anti marriage, anti everything comments and say that I would be the ideal candidate for living abroad and should do so. Though I am enjoying the experience here still cannot imagine living here forever. Wouldnt mind moving to Sangla Valley or some such place in India though.So despite the opprobrium that some people are wont to attract in small towns in India, it`s still preferable to be yourself in your land. After all maybe we were born there for a reason. Or maybe no reason at all, still it takes all kinds to make a world and maybe my place is in India.

The main reason why people move is obviously the money, it`s much easier to come by, life is more orderly, things are more streamlined and opportunities better for the kids. Yet I prefer to have my kid grow up in the unsafe parks, with the unhygienic dhobi`s kids. I dont have a problem as some people living in the western world do about kids losing touch with their culture or the fear that they will marry a white or a black- that is their life but i guess i need to be myself in my land without the feeling of having run away and escaped. As my father`s aunt said to me ``Come back soon, we need you here.`` O f course noone needs anyone, yet I often ask if we can up and leave just like that. I like to think I make more of a difference in India- get my uncles` maid`s operation fixed, give the dhobi`s kids lessons and a glass of milk, talk to the old man who used to come and meet me from the other end of town while I saw 25 patients a day. I see four here along with their case managers, psychologists etc. So, sorry Mom, back I come.

But yes , I guess we do suffer from some kind of third world syndrome or post colonial syndrome , it`s good to see so many asians here. Of course a year or two and people get used to the life here and the confusion we see back home seems even more so. So should all the people who can leave for a better life in the west just do that- leave? I dont know.

well now that i see that paragraph breaks have been instituted. . . the last part of my last paragraph seems rather redundant. :) ah, now everyone should be happy, especially the one i predicted would actually say something. . . and did.

and something tells me that khamkhwa is laughing at me, not with me!!! khair. . . .

[ i`m sure that someone will point out to you that it would be best if you broke the last paragraph into separate ones. ]

....HAHAHAHAHAHA......

Thank you.

One thing suddenly struck me, all over again, and the first time I had figured this out was in 1975.

For many of us, other than the ``official`` lot including diplomats / journalists, and other than the ``family/relative`` stream, the first time we meet people from ``the other country`` is usually in some third country where we are already feeling nostalgic about shared values.

This does not happen to people from too many other neighbouring countries.

simmi,

moving anywhere from a place one feels comfortable is angst-ridden. it isn`t always easy to pluck roots and replant them in foreign soil, but it does work.

and i know something of the joy of meeting up with ``brown skins`` . . . the indians, the pakistanis, nepalis and bangladeshis, after a few years of not seeing them around in a strange land. i also know that things disliked seeming somewhat comfortable, would in the course of time become not so comfortable again.

out of curiosity who calls who a wog exactly in sydney? i`m not surprised that greeks and turks would be addressed as such by goras? a friend and former professor of mine who is armenian-czech-american was called a wog when he was in inglestan. it`s the acronym for westernized oriental gentleman, and it`s considered to be a racial slur.

thank you for sharing these thoughts of transition with us. i`m sure that someone will point out to you that it would be best if you broke the last paragraph into separate ones. . but i`ve seen a book where paragraph breaks were few and far between. har ik ka apna apna andaaz hota hai. :)

hope your stay in oz keeps you well!
ana

ms. waraich:

…can i honestly give you some feedback?

…you can write…now…think or act like a reader…is this what you would like to read on a e-magazine?...on the monitor?

…content is okay…but what about presentation…am sure a person of your sensitivity and ability can spare time for a revision…please break this into small well thought of paragraphs…

…think of it this way…one may be an excellent cook… but do we serve biryani or pulao in the degchis or pot they were cooked in or do we care and serve the food in dishes?...

….no offence intended…

lve

t