Emigration to El Dorado

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Emigration to El Dorado

An imaginary place of great wealth and opportunity attracts a person. Similarly, the Indians migrate to Western or Gulf countries to earn huge amount of money. But one factor always remain common among the migrants �� the love for the mother country.

CJ: Dayanand Edappally

Sat, May 24, 2008 17:09:40 IST

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Asian Immigrants UK :

DURING THE millennium celebrations when I met a Bengali doctor in Birmingham, United Kingdom (UK), he expressed his dire need to return to India to live and work among his country-folks. He had been working in England for nearly 10 years then; he had bought a posh house and a BMW car; he was earning a decent salary and educating his kids in classy schools. Yet, he was dissatisfied. He wanted to return home. He was always terribly homesick.

Last November I again met him there, but he hadn’t lost yearning to go home in India. I asked him why. “Even if your mother is poor and ugly, you still love her, don’t you?” he replied. “India is my mother and I love her despite her poverty and shortcomings,” the doctor added with a wisp of angst.

This yearning to return to one’s roots gnaws at the heart of all expatriates. Even after spending several decades abroad, they wish to come back and relish the good old times of their pre-Diasporic days. About three million Indian experts live in the Arabian Gulf. They hop back to their homes once in a while; they feel they have been missing some essential element of their personality while in the Gulf. They may be earning good money there but they are still dissatisfied.

The situation in the UK is no different. From the New Commonwealth of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, large numbers of Asians keep immigrating to the UK in the hope of finding a better living. The strength of the British pound far outweighs the purchasing power of their local currencies. The equivalent of a pound or two in their home-countries will suffice for one’s needs for a day.

The vain hope of making more money abroad drives people to face any risks and dangers in their quest of El Dorado. They are prepared to suffer in silence the indignities heaped on them for the colour of their skin and the awkward way they speak English. The racism found in workplaces and public utilities is not always subtle. Harassment can come from unexpected quarters. All these and more are tolerated for the sake of a better quality of life, which more often than not eludes them.

Recently I attended the funeral of a friend in a neighbouring village. He had been living in the United States of America (USA) for over 20 years along with his wife and daughter. While the latter took American citizenship, he maintained his Indian passport all the time; he had been hoping to return and live among his people in his sunset years. But he suffered a massive heart attack and passed away within a few hours. He was only 57. Whatever money he could spare, he had given to all his relatives in India. He died poor and received a poor man’s burial in his home parish.

Most of the Asian immigrants living in Britain are the direct descendants of pre-Independence Indian and Pakistani labour force who went there to do domestic chores for the English gentry. The Gujaratis and Pakistanis, practically all Muslims, grew in numbers in no time and settled down like colonies in some nooks of prominent British cities. Their numbers have today become a force to reckon with. Several white English people have sold their property and moved out of such Pakistani-dominated centres. A good number have immigrated to Turkey whose sunny weather and sandy beaches keep attracting well-heeled white investors from abroad.

While the Brits and Europeans in general immigrate to America and Australia, Asians keep going to Britain despite the government’s tight control over their movement. The harsh British climate is no deterrent to them. What attracts them to the British Isles is the possibility of finding the Eldorado of their dreams.

This dream often becomes a nightmare and an elusive mirage. Having experienced a thorough disillusionment sooner or later, a few take the flight back home. Large numbers still cling on to their tenuous hopes and spend the evenings of their lives in utter misery and loneliness in a foreign land.

The Gulf scenario is slightly different, though. There, expatriates have no right to settle down or claim citizenship. They only are allowed to work and go back home. Hence the disillusionment is far less shocking than in other places.

While wanderlust may be the driving force behind the emigration of some British people, the same cannot be said of the Indians or Pakistanis in Britain. They are there to stay, come what may. It is a struggle for survival for the vast majority. It’s a conundrum.

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