To All The Desi's - Where are We ?

I was sitting in my patio and thinking about the Desi Dream in the USA , Was it that we just followed the herd or did we plan it all the way .How many of us did know any history about the school's we came in for our Higher Education. All we cared was the I20's and the Financial Assistance ( I am writing this in general) . Whenever I heard about USA - The Land of opportunity i thought that its the freedom to do what you like is important.

BUT DO YOU THINK WE ARE REALLY FREE ? First the H1B , then the green card process , by the time you are settled in our legal status's we already have kids and start thinking about their college funds , mortgages, etc .. and the fire and passion to do what we really like is gone . So now tell me where did it all start going wrong . When I was in college for my MS , there was a student in my class , A 45 Year man worked in a Oil company for 20 years then got bored left the job and joined the Masters Program , that was my perception of "Land Of Opportunities" and not working for a employer or an organization just so that they file your green card .Sometimes I feel the complacency will get us through this , and all these thoughts will be expunged automatically .

When was the last time we took an day off from work and did what we like the most , I speak to lot of Desi's on this issue and most of them have told me that they check their e-mails at least 3 times on their holiday's ( and I mean weekdays and not weekends) , I feel guilty when i take a day off to relax and unwind , i think this attitude is in·grained in us from our childhood seeing our parents work for 20 years doing their mundane jobs without cribbing about it . I never saw my mother taking a day off and do nothing " just a day off to unwind" in all her 30 years of her carrer.

Back to square one -- to all the desi's outside India -- Where are We ?

Cruise Control

"Cruise Control " that's what i define my life is on these days , I have seen most of us are in that mode . Let me justify , first of all when i say most of us i mean Indians in US and i bet its the same situation with most of the Indian immigrants all across the globe of course with subtle differences. And there is nothing stopping from applying my hypothesis to people settled in India ,the only difference is that they will not be cognizant of driving a car on a long drive specially on cruise control.
Cruise control is best enjoyed when we take a vacation and go on a long drive, and cruise control is good as far as the driving goes,now for the analogy in CC mode the road is less crowded and you are aware of the final destination and are not bothered by the immediate stops or unplanned breaks. Same is the situation with the lives of some , they know where they are headed so there i go with knowing the final destination part .Now as far as the stops in the journey go we usually take these in our long drives and the best part is that as soon as there is a requirement to stop we take the first available exit and are off the highway so why not take life as a journey and set it on cruise control , the beauty of cruise control is that you move away from mundane jobs in life and concentrate in more important jobs ( you all must be in agreement that this just a analogy and we really don't set our cars in cruise control to do more important things like check our email or watch a movie.

Just as we set our control speed in the car and relax the foot, take it away from the gas pedal and enjoy the scenery ,be less stressed ,why cannot we do the same with our lives and move away from the mundane activities , i am not saying not do them but do them with less and less effort and find some way of doing them as we do with driving on cruise control.