India Arriving--Chapter 11

Chapter 11: The ABCD, NRI, & Other Species: Indians Living in America

This chapter was quite interesting. It described the five different "waves" of Indians in American. The author describes who they were and why they came to America. While many Indians once came to America for a way to get ahead, today India has changed. The author says that "It's wealth is catching up with richer countries and the opportunities at home are as good as abroad."

The first wave of Indians in America, nearly 2 million American NRI's (non resident Indians) have arrived. Once they were in the United states, many worked as farm hands, loggers, steelworkers, etc. Then they slowly moved into businesses they were more familiar with such as farming. The second wave occurred during the 1960's. Many of India's technically skilled people began coming to the United States such as doctors. Medical doctors came and found themselves mostly in larger cities. The third wave of Indians came during the 1970's. Doctors were joined by students graduating from some of the best Indian undergraduate engineering institutions. These that came were much younger and cared less about India. They were much more willing to embrace the American culture and experience more liberal politics. Following this group came many less educated, underprivileged Indians in search of a decent living. This wave occurred during the 1980's. Many came as tourists without necessary documentation (sound familiar?). Because of their backgrounds and reasons for coming, these people were more conservative and found themselves living in Southern states because they shared many of the same values as these people. The final wave (according to the author) includes trained engineers. These men and women were trained and had jobs with IT firms in India before arriving in the United States. They were sent by Indian employers to undertake software projects for their firms' US clients. These clients were the first to come that had already economically benefited themselves, and this is why the author believes this is the final wave of Indian movement to the United States.