Desi life in Videsh

This post is more of a continuation of my older post,  The melting pot that is America , this post deals with how majority of desis live in the US, and what life we have there .
I my earlier post, I focused mostly on desis interaction with Americans, in this post I shall talk about how desis in US interact with other desis.
The Indian American community in US has grown quite a bit, especially in the last decade, since outsourcing took off in a big way, as a result in most big cities in US, there usually is a pretty good size desi population present.
How easy it is, to find other desis to hang out with varies from place to place, IMO, the best places when it comes to this are most of the east coast like the tri state are, Philadelphia, NC, DC and surrounding areas, etc, then bay area most definitely, it has a vibrant asian scene overall, but also has huge desi presence, mostly due to silicon valley proximity, Chicago also has decent sized population, TX is another huge desi hub, Houston, Dallas, Austin, all places have sizeable presence of desi population, and if you're a desi who happens to live in any of these areas, then you'd have no problems finding desis to hang out with, and chances are that within a month of moving to any of these places, you'd  have your weekends filled with socializing activities, and could actually want a breather from them .

The melting pot that is America

It is often said that America is one big melting pot, and I've often wondered what that means ?

Does it mean that as in a melting pot, everything must lose it's original shape/form.color etc, and become one, likewise those who choose to come here/live here, must lose their uniqueness, or cultural identity, in order to become one with the rest of the country .

I also grew up in a country with a lot of diversity, yes it wasn't people from different countries per se, but anyone who knows how India was formed after independence knows that most of the states now, were actually separate kingdom's or regions all together, so there was a lot of difference among them, this is one of the reason, why Indians still don't always identify themselves as one block (they do so politically, but on a micro level, among themselves, not quite).
If one Indians meets another, (especially if they are out of India) they are almost certain to ask the question which part of India are you from ? There's quite a bit of cultural diversity between different regions, also there are people practicing a whole variety of religions, Hinduism being the main one, but apart from that Christianity, Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, etc. So diversity is nothing new to me .So I thought that America wouldn't be all that different for me to adjust to either, it'll be diverse, just on a more widespread level .

Nostalgia

Came across this video on youtube, and thought I'd share it here :

So what makes an Ideal Indian wife, anyway ?

There's a famous sanskrit shloka , presumably from one of the vedas (presumably, coz I have zero knowledge of the vedas), it lists the qualities an ideal Indian wife should possess, and goes like this :

" Karyeshu Dasi, Karaneshu Manthri,
  Bhojeshu Mata, Shayaneshu Rambha,
  Roopeshu Lakshmi, Kshamayeshu Dharitri,
  Satkarma Nari, Kuladharma Patni "

Allow me to elaborate on it's meaning, for your enlightenment :)

When mother's turn monsters

They say " Because god couldn't be everywhere, he made mothers " . Motherhood is a very important part of most women's life . I know women who say that they were put on this earth to be mothers. I too feel like one of them, the day the doctors handed that tiny little delicate darling in my hands is the most memorable day of my life, I was changed in an instant, never to go back to what I was before that moment . Everything inside me felt like protecting this vulnerable, defenseless little baby in my hands, the world was a bad place, and only I could keep her safe . I imagine, this is close to what other mothers feel as well, it's part of being a new mother, part oxytocin gushing through your brain doing it's job .

Money, Indian parents and a sense of entitlement

" Na biwi na baccha na baap bada na bhaiyya,
   The whole thing is that ,
   Ke bhaiyya sabse bada rupaiyya"
Translation : 'Nor your wife, kid, father or brother, is as important as money' !!
Wait a minute, this isn't some new age philosophy I'm spitting out, it's a famous bollywood song from the 70's.
It's a satirical song which describes how money is taking precedence over relationships in modern times .

To be or not to be?

Not discussing Shakespeare here, I'm taking about whether to remain a stay at home mom (SAHM) or not ?

A little background first. I'm a post-graduate, with a professional qualification . I worked briefly in India for a leading bank. Then moved to US, luckily was on a visa type at first that allowed me to work, even though I was on a dependent visa. Got a job within 2 months of landing, I worked for roughly 3-4 years on that visa, in couple of different banks in US . Can't say I really prospered in my career, because even though, I got superb feedback from my employers and was offered more responsibility and higher positions in almost every job, but I couldn't really accept the promotions, due to us moving all the time, I didn't wanna in good faith, accept a promotion, knowing that a few months down the line, I'm gonna be quitting that job, to move to a different city .

Home is where the heart is ?

I was listening to this lovely song by 'Michael Buble' the other day called 'Home', and it got me thinking, does home as a concept stay constant in our minds, or is it ever evolving, ever changing or is it some fixated notion in our minds, which we keep going back too ? People jump through a lot of hoops to make a home , home-ownership remains an important step in a couple's life . If a couple happens to get a divorce, then who gets the home is also usually an important issue . In the current era of home foreclosures and such, it brings even more focus to the concept of home and what it means to different people .

Hello blog land

A big hello to all in blog land.
I'm here to join the ranks with all of you who love to write/read blogs and exchange ideas and opinions back and forth.
I hope this blog will allow me to connect with many of you out there, who are in a similar situation to me ( living in a different culture and trying to adapt to it, while staying true to your own)  or anyone who's trying to balance different cultural influences in their lives, and make some new friends in the process .
A little about me :
I was born and raised in Mumbai, India, moved to US around 7-8 years ago, mainly due to hubby's work, have recently moved to Canada, let's see how this new adventure in our lives turns out .
See you all soon .