Being sent on an assignment to this part of the world you are a part of the growing Non Resident Indian population here in U.K. which forms nearly 3% and approximately half a million of the total population and that does not include people of mixed Indian and other ancestry.  A promise of ‘Sterling’ value of life is definite a good enough reason for the overworked and maybe under-paid minds to migrate to the land loving the most popular and multiracial sport –‘football’.  So you kick start your new journey embracing the cold, the rain, the brilliant summer, the fish and chips, the football and the underground clearly identifying yourself somewhat different from the ‘coconut Indian’ after all you are fully well done and a ‘brown’ variety who can impugn in silence yet cleverly defend aloud the on-going corruption and struggle back home. This makes it more difficult for this cosmopolitan yet very Indian species who constantly juggle with the question and in sardonic introspection- ‘Are you going to be temporary British or permanently Indian?’

This question becomes pertinent as 2012 sets in, the various austerity measures set by the government- no tax cuts, lower interest rates and the Euro crisis may set the recession into double dip. So, the like of us ‘well suited’ nervous sheep one in the massive herd move along precariously grazing on the so called green pastures.  The inflation a little over 4.8% compared to the soaring graph back home is some consolation but again the average annual pay increase of mere 2% does little to boost more spending by anyone leave alone the wise Indian. So at the end of the month after paying off the national insurance contribution which is a healthy 11% of the salary over and above the tax contribution which could be anywhere between 22% to 40% one is only left with a ‘pounding’ heart whilst clearing all the bills and some luxuries that the bargain promised.

For an average Indian professional settled in UK, life is, ‘Waking up and smelling the coffee and then making one too’! A typical day begins with cereal and fruit and a quick sprint to board the train or bus to work whilst dropping off the toddlers to an expensive day care. After a long hard day’s work, the family comes back home to eat some home cooked food or a take away or quick canned food whatever is easier to quickly fuel the overworked body and emotionally starved soul. The necessary rituals of washing cleaning and changing amidst watching some telly completes another uneventful day of surviving in the race. The weekends are far from relaxing it starts with preparing and stocking up the household for the coming week to long phone calls back home assuring loved ones of the ‘happy’ existence. As an intrinsic part of the British society, you do rejoice and celebrate all the Indian festivities only at the weekends once again being reminded that the national bank holidays here are only five and not twenty five.

So the Indians here become ‘penny wise and pound wiser’ as the unemployment figures continue to soar at 2.6 M in UK, there are 23 job applications for every job in U.K. The public sector is cutting jobs whereas the private sector is supposed to pick up the slack but the reality is that for every 13 jobs lost in the public sector there is only one made available in the private. So amidst spending squeeze, no raises and uncertainties life is nervously moving in first gear.

However, the positives too are many, it is a fact that a stint away from India and the huge support system that the Indian society offers, can make any moron an expert in planning, multitasking and completely self –reliant and relatively richer and maybe a little alcoholic after all you are living in a nation that enjoys two things football and alcohol. One does need the grace of bottled spirit to lift one’s damp spirits and infuse some sort of chaos in a perfectly sorted life.  

Whereas, back home, survival itself is challenging, the basics come with a price very few can afford and the sandwiched middle class is constantly caught up in the daily struggle just to stay afloat- the power cuts, the never ending queues, the soaring prices, the corruption, the failing infrastructure and this very simply put is life in India, however amidst all the chaos it is true optimism that reigns in the people.

It is 3am here in London, and I am on my second glass of wine, overworked, missing home and maybe a little bored with the deafening silence but am happy, there are many reasons to smile and be thankful for what life has offered. After all, ‘It’s a choice that one has to make: To Breathe Fresh or Breathe Easy, to live a perfect balanced life or a chaotic yet soulful existence. All I can say from experience today, the grass on the home turf may actually be greener.

This question becomes pertinent as 2012 sets in, the various austerity measures set by the government- no tax cuts, lower interest rates and the Euro crisis may set the recession into double dip. So, the like of us ‘well suited’ nervous sheep one in the massive herd move along precariously grazing on the so called green pastures.  The inflation a little over 4.8% compared to the soaring graph back home is some consolation but again the average annual pay increase of mere 2% does little to boost more spending by anyone leave alone the wise Indian. So at the end of the month after paying off the national insurance contribution which is a healthy 11% of the salary over and above the tax contribution which could be anywhere between 22% to 40% one is only left with a ‘pounding’ heart whilst clearing all the bills and some luxuries that the bargain promised.

For an average Indian professional settled in UK, life is, ‘Waking up and smelling the coffee and then making one too’! A typical day begins with cereal and fruit and a quick sprint to board the train or bus to work whilst dropping off the toddlers to an expensive day care. After a long hard day’s work, the family comes back home to eat some home cooked food or a take away or quick canned food whatever is easier to quickly fuel the overworked body and emotionally starved soul. The necessary rituals of washing cleaning and changing amidst watching some telly completes another uneventful day of surviving in the race. The weekends are far from relaxing it starts with preparing and stocking up the household for the coming week to long phone calls back home assuring loved ones of the ‘happy’ existence. As an intrinsic part of the British society, you do rejoice and celebrate all the Indian festivities only at the weekends once again being reminded that the national bank holidays here are only five and not twenty five.

So the Indians here become ‘penny wise and pound wiser’ as the unemployment figures continue to soar at 2.6 M in UK, there are 23 job applications for every job in U.K. The public sector is cutting jobs whereas the private sector is supposed to pick up the slack but the reality is that for every 13 jobs lost in the public sector there is only one made available in the private. So amidst spending squeeze, no raises and uncertainties life is nervously moving in first gear.

However, the positives too are many, it is a fact that a stint away from India and the huge support system that the Indian society offers, can make any moron an expert in planning, multitasking and completely self –reliant and relatively richer and maybe a little alcoholic after all you are living in a nation that enjoys two things football and alcohol. One does need the grace of bottled spirit to lift one’s damp spirits and infuse some sort of chaos in a perfectly sorted life.  

Whereas, back home, survival itself is challenging, the basics come with a price very few can afford and the sandwiched middle class is constantly caught up in the daily struggle just to stay afloat- the power cuts, the never ending queues, the soaring prices, the corruption, the failing infrastructure and this very simply put is life in India, however amidst all the chaos it is true optimism that reigns in the people.

It is 3am here in London, and I am on my second glass of wine, overworked, missing home and maybe a little bored with the deafening silence but am happy, there are many reasons to smile and be thankful for what life has offered. After all, ‘It’s a choice that one has to make: To Breathe Fresh or Breathe Easy, to live a perfect balanced life or a chaotic yet soulful existence. All I can say from experience today, the grass on the home turf may actually be greener.

Grass is always greener on the other side, this is true especially for the new professional breed, because of the multiple choices their work life offers, it gives them the power to select, negotiate and bargain for a ‘better life’. Every professional struggles, seeks, pursues and aspires to be superbly well off. The aspiration to indulge in an exotic organic spread on the dinner table and occasional rose champagne not forgetting driving the nth series of the fancy XMW car is such a strong driving force that a possibility of an overseas assignment is like a dream come true.

Being sent on an assignment to this part of the world you are a part of the growing Non Resident Indian population here in U.K. which forms nearly 3% and approximately half a million of the total population and that does not include people of mixed Indian and other ancestry.  A promise of ‘Sterling’ value of life is definite a good enough reason for the overworked and maybe under-paid minds to migrate to the land loving the most popular and multiracial sport –‘football’.  So you kick start your new journey embracing the cold, the rain, the brilliant summer, the fish and chips, the football and the underground clearly identifying yourself somewhat different from the ‘coconut Indian’ after all you are fully well done and a ‘brown’ variety who can impugn in silence yet cleverly defend aloud the on-going corruption and struggle back home. This makes it more difficult for this cosmopolitan yet very Indian species who constantly juggle with the question and in sardonic introspection- ‘Are you going to be temporary British or permanently Indian?’

This question becomes pertinent as 2012 sets in, the various austerity measures set by the government- no tax cuts, lower interest rates and the Euro crisis may set the recession into double dip. So, the like of us ‘well suited’ nervous sheep one in the massive herd move along precariously grazing on the so called green pastures.  The inflation a little over 4.8% compared to the soaring graph back home is some consolation but again the average annual pay increase of mere 2% does little to boost more spending by anyone leave alone the wise Indian. So at the end of the month after paying off the national insurance contribution which is a healthy 11% of the salary over and above the tax contribution which could be anywhere between 22% to 40% one is only left with a ‘pounding’ heart whilst clearing all the bills and some luxuries that the bargain promised.

For an average Indian professional settled in UK, life is, ‘Waking up and smelling the coffee and then making one too’! A typical day begins with cereal and fruit and a quick sprint to board the train or bus to work whilst dropping off the toddlers to an expensive day care. After a long hard day’s work, the family comes back home to eat some home cooked food or a take away or quick canned food whatever is easier to quickly fuel the overworked body and emotionally starved soul. The necessary rituals of washing cleaning and changing amidst watching some telly completes another uneventful day of surviving in the race. The weekends are far from relaxing it starts with preparing and stocking up the household for the coming week to long phone calls back home assuring loved ones of the ‘happy’ existence. As an intrinsic part of the British society, you do rejoice and celebrate all the Indian festivities only at the weekends once again being reminded that the national bank holidays here are only five and not twenty five.

So the Indians here become ‘penny wise and pound wiser’ as the unemployment figures continue to soar at 2.6 M in UK, there are 23 job applications for every job in U.K. The public sector is cutting jobs whereas the private sector is supposed to pick up the slack but the reality is that for every 13 jobs lost in the public sector there is only one made available in the private. So amidst spending squeeze, no raises and uncertainties life is nervously moving in first gear.

However, the positives too are many, it is a fact that a stint away from India and the huge support system that the Indian society offers, can make any moron an expert in planning, multitasking and completely self –reliant and relatively richer and maybe a little alcoholic after all you are living in a nation that enjoys two things football and alcohol. One does need the grace of bottled spirit to lift one’s damp spirits and infuse some sort of chaos in a perfectly sorted life.  

Whereas, back home, survival itself is challenging, the basics come with a price very few can afford and the sandwiched middle class is constantly caught up in the daily struggle just to stay afloat- the power cuts, the never ending queues, the soaring prices, the corruption, the failing infrastructure and this very simply put is life in India, however amidst all the chaos it is true optimism that reigns in the people.

It is 3am here in London, and I am on my second glass of wine, overworked, missing home and maybe a little bored with the deafening silence but am happy, there are many reasons to smile and be thankful for what life has offered. After all, ‘It’s a choice that one has to make: To Breathe Fresh or Breathe Easy, to live a perfect balanced life or a chaotic yet soulful existence. All I can say from experience today, the grass on the home turf may actually be greener.