mad-pursuit-of-dreams-that-end-up-in-nightmares

Dreaming to be in the promised land and landing back handcuffed in the same land you left is indeed a tragic irony. But is the US really the ‘Promised Land’ that people literally die to go to? And those who manage to defeat death and despair and land up there have all the risks of being thrown out and put in the return flight.

 

It is a paradox. Most of the recent deportees, who landed at Amritsar, belong to the affluent states of Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab. All of them have spent between Rs 20 lakh to Rs 1 crore each, to manage to land in the US. Land they did, but only to be caught at the border or found out inside the US and then bundled into a military plane to fly back home, handcuffed. There is some consolation that all of them were deported to India and not imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay.

 

What does one really get in a country like the US, Canada, Australia or other European countries that people are dying to go there? First-hand experience and a wide range of interviews, with people having gone to these countries, settled or unsettled, reveal that it is a proverbial example of the grass looking greener on the farther side of the continent and across the seas.

 

Take the example of Canada, which, so far, has been the most “immigrant-friendly” country, offering permanent residency comparatively quite easily. Students land in universities after paying hefty fees. They manage part-time jobs to partially finance their studies and boarding lodging. Once they complete the studies, they manage to get the work-permit and then jobs followed by the PR, as “permanent residency” is called.

 

Also read: Elusive dream of a 'better life': It's more serious than handcuffing

 

Once they get the PR, they buy a vehicle if they have not already bought one during the student days. Then comes a house. All this comes for substantial EMIs (Equal Monthly Installments). Thus begins the “vicious circle”. They have to keep on working to pay the EMIs, plus taxes at a very high rate. At the end of their working life they end up with a house of their “own” and an assured monthly pension after the age of 65.

 

Probably most of those who leave their homes in India already have these facilities and amenities in the places they leave from and leave behind. But by the time they realise it, it is too late as their lives are “settled” there.

 

And this “settlement” comes at a heavy cost that is unimaginable for others. Only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches. There are some people who decide to return back even after spending a lifetime there. There are others who buy residences in India and shuttle between the two countries.

 

But for those living back home and observing the lives of the “NRIs” from here, their (NRIs’) life looks “amazing”. Seeing them wearing expensive clothes, shoes, watches, jewellery and bragging about the “quality of life” there (abroad), a number of people get seduced to the idea of “emigration”.

 

The much exaggerated quality of life in these countries is such that an appointment with a doctor for a serious illness like cardiac problem takes weeks to materialise. Education and medical treatment come at a heavy price. These are costlier than the most expensive facilities in India.

 

Thus starts the mad pursuit which begins with a visit to the “immigration agents”, who dot every nook and corner of states like Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat. The immigration agents promise the moon. The “dream” becomes an obsessive ambition. And such obsessions, like all obsessions, come at a heavy price; sometimes as heavy as the handcuffs on your wrists and shackles around your feet.

 

There needs to be a proper plan and policy to counter and create awareness about the “immigration paranoia”.

 

It is as serious as drug addiction. It is a syndrome that needs to be treated. Families are so obsessed about sending their children abroad that they sell off their silver. A number of families end up in penury in the exaggerated optimism of their kids making it big on foreign shores and redeeming everything they put at stake for the purpose. And not everyone, rather not many, are lucky enough to redeem anything, leave aside everything.

 

India is not a country which lacks opportunities. India offers better “quality of life” on multiple parameters. Health and education, banking services and food affordability in India are among the best in the world. Even mobile and Internet services, the lifelines of social and economic activity, are the best and the cheapest. Yes, the roads are crowded. Places are crowded. There is much competition for opportunities. Yet there is work for everyone.

 

It is again an irony, what is scorned here as a “menial” job like that of a cab driver or a delivery person is grabbed abroad by the same people with pride. Even qualified professionals like doctors, lawyers and engineers drive cabs in foreign countries to make both ends meet.

 

India needs to rethink. Particularly states like Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat need to tackle the scourge and the syndrome of “foreign” obsession on priority. It is not to discourage people from seeking opportunities abroad, but not to do it desperately.

 

There needs to be a credible assurance that generates confidence that the country has enough resources to take care of you and provide you the SAME “quality of life” that you are seeking abroad.

 

For countries like Somalia it may be okay to see their people being deported back in a humiliating way, but for countries like India it is killing. It hurts the dignity when our sons and daughters are handcuffed and shackled and packed and thrown back at us. It is the worst kind of a sinking feeling. It hurts the same way like our child has been caught doing something seriously wrong which s/he really did not need to do.

 

Are such dreams worth chasing when there is more likelihood of their ending up in nightmares?