The newly introduced H1b visa fee hike to mindboggling $100,000 per applicant could in fact be a blessing in disguise for India.
Think of the past: America refused super computer to India in 1980s. Our own scientists soon developed it and the nation was in the forefront of IT revolution in the 90s.
America and Russia refused cyrogenic engines to India. India developed her own and it was ISRO that landed first on the dark side of the moon, not NASA.
So every curse can be turned into a blessing if we put our heart into it.
Besides, H1b is the internal policy of America. Frankly, we have no say on such matters. An onion seller has every right to sell his onions for 100 rs per kg or even 10,000 rs per kg. Whether to buy or not is up to us. We cannot be asking him to lower his price even if we think that the pricing is unfair. If we find it beyond our means, we have to move on that’s all.
There is no doubt that the American corporates are going to bleed heavily now. India never benefited from the H1b. The incomes and investments went to the US. Marginal loss is probable. We have been trying to factor in job loss from AI for years now. Sooner or later even the H1b legislation was expected. Not quite a shocker. Now we can be looking at a golden opportunity of the silicon valley shifting massively to India. Cannot rule out the possibility. Americans also must get a chance to realize what they took for granted for decades: the sincerity and dedication and more than all the cultural input and harmless presence of Indians who have contributed immensely to the growth of America. Sometimes, only our absence can teach people our value. One of the best and law abiding global citizens, brainiest, disciplined population is the Indian expat community. If they have to leave America, its America’s loss entirely. Thank you Trump ji, thanks to you Indian brains shall now work for INDIA rather than America for peanuts. Just like the chinese sweatshops cannot be worked with American labour, the deadline-chasing round the clock software industry cannot be staffed with Americans who may not have the mental makeup to follow stricter work culture. Indian American medico friends in the US used to say, they are put on back to back duties whereas the white doctors take it easy. They cannot survive the Indian kind of harshest schedules. I think this is also an eye opener for thankless Indians who talk bad about mother country India. See who you have to come back to now. But mother never rejects her children, does she?
Whether it is about tariff or about H1b, that is how I feel about Trump’s policies. We have to respect their internal decisions even if we cannot agree with them and even if they may hurt us. But here is what America must do as well: RESPECT INDIA’S CHOICES. We buy what we can afford. We run our nation how it suits us. 1.4 billion is simply too big a number. We have to feed that many mouths. We have zillions of automobiles. Hundreds of airports. We choose to economize. Its not for Russia, its not for Iran. We do everything FOR US, FOR INDIA. Just like you do with America. Nobody can dictate terms to India. We are not here for 10,000 years going by the same name Bharat for nothing. Who wrote Artha Shastra, the political treatise taught even in ivy league universities in America, and when. Neither are we the occupiers. WE ARE NATIVES, THE ORIGINALS. We know how to run our economy, run our country. To even advise others, you must last 1000 years as a single entity (nation), saving most of your territory and gene pool. India, China, Russia, Japan have done just that. We are all NATIVES, SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE SOIL. If Koreans or Filipinos or Indians migrate (only) to America or Canada or Australia, it is because these are immigrant nations whose doors have been thrown open by colonists/occupiers. UK is different because they occupied India, Africa etc., for centuries in a visa free period. Now they are being paid back with interest that’s all.
What about today’s migrants? Today’s migrants are not engaged in violent ethnic cleansing operations of natives. They are not taking over native settlements and building six bedroom villas. They are not slave traders and exploiters. They have not bankrupted gold mine and diamond mine nations hunting down species of wildlife to extinction, making blood money. They are not raising nations over cemetery of locals. Today’s immigrants are merely and honestly looking for better livelihood and safe havens. Some are political asylum seekers. Today’s immigration is really legal and justifiable than what happened over centuries to Asia and North and South Americas and Canada and Australia. Immigration in the 21st century is the way really immigration must happen : for right reasons.
H1b visa hike could be a big blessing to India. A blessing in disguise. It can retain talent and can plug the braindrain from India to the US. It can help our children RETAIN OUR HINDU CULTURE without dilution. It can save generations of Indians from drugs, overt materialism, liquor addictions, mental issues etc., that are rampant in America. Its time we Indians too do our homework. What is there in America except for malls and highways. Of course as I tourist I loved American forest reserves. Nature is at its best element in the United States. Other than that America may be lacking something: THE SOUL . Everything is not about materialism, money, money, money, glamour, glitz, malls, shopping, partying, plastics, etc. In India we spend hours a day in pursuit of our spiritual goals. We still cook in our kitchens. We have happy families. Outings are not to theme parks but ancient temples that are thousands of years old where our forefathers had walked. So it really makes me happy that at last, future generations of bright young Indian minds WONT BE BUILDING AMERICA but will be building India instead. Trump has saved generations of Hindus getting lost in meaningless pursuit of materialism, in my words. There is a limit to chasing money. I would rather want our younger people to spend more time enjoying the classical Indian arts and learning our spiritual ways, living life the way how our ancestors lived: holistically. That is the big quality difference between America and India. They are bhogis. We are Yogis. India to me is class act that can come only with good breeding.
See, nobody is going to be here permanently. Many of us don’t want to think that even within next few years our house, our car, our clothes, our jewelry everything will belong to others. Hundred years later or even far earlier, nobody will know us or remember us. There will be no mention of our name. The next minute we pass away, we won’t be referred to by our name: we become THE BODY. That is what we sum up to finally. May we go with more pluses than minuses. May we go with grace. May someone miserable and poor weep for us because we lent them a helping hand. May someone miss us the good human.
As a Hindu, I believe strongly in rebirth. Our next rebirth will be whatever we despise intensely. We all have our lessons to learn. Being compassionate is not just about showing others consideration or mercy. It is also about doing something good to our own soul and saving it from future trauma in rebirths to follow. No doubt the Abrahamics will think I am a fool. But that is precisely the difference between Hindus and them. These guys think man writes history. No, the pen and the ink in the pen are from Mother Goddess Herself. She scripts nations’ destinies, not just individuals. Its Her wish. If She thinks now that enough is enough, that India has given enough talent and wealth to America and pulls the plug, then so be it. I am writing this on the first day of Navratri, celebrated throughout India in awe of the sacred feminine. Trump is not signing any document. Mother holds his pen. Its Her wish. Its Her thought that its time India starts helping self. With that I round off this post. Direction comes from up above. Why do humans credit themselves with so much power? Even Mother leaves a few pages blank for us to fill on our freewill. That is what decides our Karma. What do we want to fill up those few pages with?
Believe me Modi ji, what is happening is for the best. May Mother Goddess, our universal Divine Mother, always be with India. No need to become the richest nation on earth. Let us be the most humanitarian nation on earth. Jai Maa Kaali! Happy Navratri! Happy Dusshera! God bless India! God bless America! And belated birthday wishes to our beloved Prime Minister! You are the best.
vijiravindran's 