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From: rajeev@sftri.UUCP (S.Rajeev)
Newsgroups: net.nlang.india
Subject: Re: indians in the US
Message-ID: <376@sftri.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 13-Mar-85 10:41:17 EST
Article-I.D.: sftri.376
Posted: Wed Mar 13 10:41:17 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 14-Mar-85 06:44:15 EST
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Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Summit N.J.
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> It occurs to me that our attitudes may very roughly be grouped into three
> categories (or in some cases, even three stages).  These seem manifest most 
> clearly in our attitudes to the media coverage of India.
> 
> I:      Anger at negative coverage.  More common among Indians who have spent 
.....
> II:     "Indifference" to negative coverage:  More common among people who have
....
> III:    "Acceptance" of negative coverage:  Another way of coping with

If you add one more stage, that of complete resignation (this is when one says,
"You know, I'm not from India: I'm from Bangladesh"), you would have an analogy
with the four stages of classical life: kaumara, yauvana, garhasthya and 
sannyasa. :-)

I agree with your characterizations, though: in fact I have witnessed the
metamorphoses of my friends through the various stages. And I agree that the
period of time spent abroad is a major parameter. Others are 'rootedness'
(e.g., being well-read in an Indian language, because I believe that language
is not only a communication medium, but you also absorb an ethos and a world-
view peculiar to a group) and of course, individual differences (some people
being more adaptible and detached than others). I also think that people in
certain communities generally tend to be more open to absorbing the cultures 
of their adopted homes and loosening ties with the motherland, whereas people
in others tend to always go home to retire.
The latter tend to care more, obviously, about events back home.
-- 
...ihnp4!attunix!rajeev   -- usenet
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Sri Rajeev, SF 1-342, Bell Labs, Summit, NJ 07901. (201)-522-6330.