[Assam] Bye Bye NRI - TOI

[Ram Sarangapani]

Usually CR comes up with god write-ups. This particular article -  I am at a
loss of words. From the last few trips to India, my experience has been less
than fascinating, but nothing like what CR says here.
--Ram


*Bye Bye NRI
*17 Feb 2008, 0028 hrs IST,Chidanand Rajghatta

SMS NEWS to 58888 for latest updates
   It's all over for the NRIs, folks; long live the RNIs! If you are not
familiar with the latter acronym, better get up to speed, because it could
apply to you. It stands for Resident Non-Indians, a term manufactured by the
now deposed and embittered NRIs to describe those they say are residents of
India only in name, but who don't show the slightest sign of being Indian —
which to nostalgia-stricken NRIs means listening to Mohd Rafi and Lata
Mangeshkar of circa 1970 while driving to work on the Beltway; not the
Bollywood Rap the RNI types are soaking up while stuck in traffic jams in
India.

The tidings about the demise of the NRI cachet and the rise of the RNI
legend was brought recently to America, the largest hangout for NRIs, by a
crestfallen member of the long-hyped tribe. He had returned from India
rather shell-shocked. It's not just that the dollar had sunk below Rs 40 and
touts at Taj Mahal were using greenbacks to blow their kids' noses, he
sniffed; it was the way he was treated at home.

When he sat down for breakfast expecting to be served pohua and idli, he was
fed Post's Banana Nut Crunch. Olive oil had replaced asli ghee in the making
of parathas. When they went out to dinner — Tex-Mex, no less — friends
whipped out their wallets faster than Clint Eastwood drew his six-shooter in
For a Few Dollars More, and didn't allow him to pay. His Amex card returned
to the US unmolested.

There's just no respect anymore for NRIs, he moaned. What happened to the
good old days when nephews and nieces begged him for Levi's and Nikes, for
Chanel No 1 and Poison? Why, as recently as a couple of years ago, snotty
little brats were pleading with him for playstations and iPods.

But now all these were available in India, as were the latest laptops and
cellphones. Having gone from Non-Returning Indian to a Non-Resident Indian,
he had now been demoted to Not Required Indian.

So, here's the scoop. Apparently, our bharat mahaan is rolling in so much
lolly, and such is the attention being lavished on it by the world, that
NRIs are being told to take their depreciating dollar and dafa ho jao.
Dirhams and euros are still okay, but the dollar is definitely in the
doghouse. Heck, even the Taj — the hotel, not the monument — is reportedly
telling folks they would rather be paid in pesos.

People, it's Pox Americana time, and the American NRI is bearing the brunt.

As a long-suffering itinerant who straddles the world of NRIs, RNIs, IRNs
etc, i can attest to the hardship the poor NRI is going through with my
$0.02 of insight, the equivalent naya paisa being too unaffordable. It's a
terrible chore these days to shop in the US for the family in India. For
one, there is hardly anything that is 'Made in USA'; and what is available
is already outdated in India.

The horrible moment of truth laughed me in the face when i handed out a nice
T-shirt i had bought for a brat, only to be thanked with "Chee! It's
Made-in-Bangladesh." The sneakers, it turned out, were made in Thailand, and
the baseball cap in Vietnam. The nadir came when the gang espied my
cellphone, a model that was apparently discarded in India in the 20th
century.

So, where does that leave the NRI? Word is that they are pressing for a
change in nomenclature. They'd now like to be known as INRs — Indian
Non-Residents