I am in Ottawa now--a days. It is small and beautiful place with a very low density of people. After US , I find here a lot of difference in surroundings and even people. Here Indians are plenty and practically one gets everything here, there are 48 Indian restaurants here, though its a small place. One thing which i found very endearing when my sister told me is...that here Canadian parents have changed a little after watching that India children are doing well in studies, they are getting more involved with their children's studies and careers. Now its not a must for Indian children to live independently after 16 and so is for some of them:)
One more thing which I liked here is that all the students do a lot of volunteering in charity events and that work is given weightage in their applications for University admissions. This way they get a lot of inter personal skills and exposure. My nephew did it for dragon boat competition for 3 days, we also went there to see it......its a beautiful place....Mooney's bay, and then we saw that unique bridge on the Douse Lake..where whenevr a high clearance boat or ship comes that whole road shifts to one side..its a sight to see.
We went through Sussex drive.. and saw from outside prime minister's house, parliament, governor's house and then went to Reido' centre....its the biggest mall in Ottawa. On the way we tried Gulabjamun and two types of samosas from a shop and they were delicious, i couldnt believe that I am in Ottawa and eating those typically Indian and so tasty dishes. Sweets were available in NJ US also , but they were tasteless.
Here in a party I met many Indians settled here and was a little shocked to see what they thought about Indian girls.....they are scared of marrying their son to a girl born and brought up in India , as they found them to be very manipulating, as they show in TV serials, whereas the children brought up here in Indian households are..SEEDHA.....what it says about us?
Even many of the young crowd is so Indianised here, whereas in India we are going western completely..be it the dress or food or sensibilities or lifestyle..dont know where will it take us. None of the female crowd came to the party in western wear, all of them were wearing either saree or salwar kameez....and each one of them was well educated, holding good posts, working, and I felt so akin to them and happy to see.
And friends I am not finding time to read your blogs, so bear with me for another month:), and then I will be regular. This weekend we are planning to see Niagra, and Toranto etc, wuill give you a update in my next post.
One more thing which I liked here is that all the students do a lot of volunteering in charity events and that work is given weightage in their applications for University admissions. This way they get a lot of inter personal skills and exposure. My nephew did it for dragon boat competition for 3 days, we also went there to see it......its a beautiful place....Mooney's bay, and then we saw that unique bridge on the Douse Lake..where whenevr a high clearance boat or ship comes that whole road shifts to one side..its a sight to see.
We went through Sussex drive.. and saw from outside prime minister's house, parliament, governor's house and then went to Reido' centre....its the biggest mall in Ottawa. On the way we tried Gulabjamun and two types of samosas from a shop and they were delicious, i couldnt believe that I am in Ottawa and eating those typically Indian and so tasty dishes. Sweets were available in NJ US also , but they were tasteless.
Here in a party I met many Indians settled here and was a little shocked to see what they thought about Indian girls.....they are scared of marrying their son to a girl born and brought up in India , as they found them to be very manipulating, as they show in TV serials, whereas the children brought up here in Indian households are..SEEDHA.....what it says about us?
Even many of the young crowd is so Indianised here, whereas in India we are going western completely..be it the dress or food or sensibilities or lifestyle..dont know where will it take us. None of the female crowd came to the party in western wear, all of them were wearing either saree or salwar kameez....and each one of them was well educated, holding good posts, working, and I felt so akin to them and happy to see.
And friends I am not finding time to read your blogs, so bear with me for another month:), and then I will be regular. This weekend we are planning to see Niagra, and Toranto etc, wuill give you a update in my next post.
18 comments:
OMG! Wen r u coming back? been really really long :(
have a wonderful time :)
and Indians are the best! Indian gurls r beautiful..they r amazing and they r well brought up :P
:) great to see you having so much fun! Do post pictures of Niagara. Its beautiful and you`ll love it!! :):)
how many states in US so far and how many countries in the globe so far? i have lost count now... of your travel escapades..
Wow ! have fun !
Renu ... Kya maze ,kahaan ghoom rahe hain? Been out of touch..and I see ki aap bade maze kar rahi hain...fabulous...enjoy ur trip..and we too get to be armchair travellers..
as fr girls dressing in ndian wear well videsh mein apne desh ki har cheez pyaari lagti hain plus they don`t wera indian clothes on a day to day basis...so on outings they enjoy wearing indian garments...
Renu-Enjoy to the fullest and dont worry about not being able to catch up with us. We are not going anywhere :D
i've realized that when one lives outside India, one craves and long for indian things more. it's happened to me and i've seen the longing for all things indian among so many of my indian friends here.
Actually most NRI's think the same.....I wont say 'manipulative' but yes most Indian kids are street smart...which again if we take it positively I wd say this is the edge they have over others to reach their goals but on the negetive side its not always liked by people.
"many of the young crowd is so Indianised here, whereas in India we are going western completely..be it the dress or food or sensibilities or lifestyle.."
Agree with this completely coz I wonder when we'll realise tht dressing up in western clothes or eating pasta is not going change anything. Its our mentality we have to change.
Glad u r having a good time Renu, ENJOY:-))!!!!!!!!!!
whoa.. Hope you're having a gala time :)
Visiting your blog after a long time. How are you doing? :)
Even I think ppl who live as expats or out of their country, make a whole lot of effort to stay true to their roots. Been there, done that and seen it all makes us want to hold on to our culture more. It ain't surprising for me to read that, I see that a lot in Dubai too.
Have a cool trip to Niagara Renu, and put up some pics for us :)
Good to read that you are making the most of your trip. Ottawa is a beautiful city in summers. Having lived a few years in Canada, I am of the opinion that if there is another country in this world that celebrates diversity like India does, then it definitely has to be Canada. They don't try to systematically make a melting pot of individuals and cultures. Canadian people take the best of all cultures and yet retain their basic good values of fairness, hard work, politeness, dignity of labour, just to name a few good ones that I saw there.
Yes, Ottawa is a small town and has only educated Indian parents, unlike other big cities. I too found the Indian kids there are more Indian than most Indian kids in India. Enjoy your Canadian vacation - this is the best time of the year to do so.
Glad to know that the people settled there turning indianised in every day life. It's really scary that our 'sass bahu' serials giving a generalised wrong picture of girls brought up in india...
great to know you had sweets and samosas similar to our taste
Chriz: Oh:)...I have really ben to many places this time, but earlier also I have seen whole of the Europe.
Bedazzled: yeah sure:)
My Space;Yeah Aarti , I am really enjoying this phase of life:)
I feel bad about the way girls in India are defying evrything Indian..we must always retain our identity, and I have always seen that its the young girls who havent achieved much, they only go western all the way, but the women who are achievers..they are so Indian at heaart and outwardly also
Reflections: Nancy I see here so many good things like..people working hard,always following rules , so many systems are honour based, people are honest in their dealings in day to day life,....and feel sad when none of these good things are followed by Indians, instead they go for ..drinking wines, defying their elders, wearing skimpy dresses etc etc.
JP Joshi: yeah I see here that most of the Indians are highly educated and so are their children.As I ahve written in comment to Nancy ...I see many finer qualities here and wish we imbibe some of them.
They are so finicky about cleanliness.
Sundar: Yes, It was really yheartening to see the Indian crowd here.
And you really got my point ...our serials are sending such a wrong signal to others amd making our girls also a little haughty.
The stuff one gets in Toranto is really amazing..its a mini India.
Amrita: Thanx SAmrita for being so nice-)..I really loved that.
Just Call me A; May be when we are out of the country, then only we realise the value of our traditions and culture otherwise we take them for granted.
Piper: Oh yes, I am going to put some pictures once I reach Zurich.
Swats; Yes Indian girls are best.if they retain their values:)
BNow my trip is slowly coming to end:), will be back in Aug end.
I was looking forward to see more photographs here!
I too agree with you that people who are outside India, are particular to follow Indian culture....celebrating festivals with full vigour, wearing Indian dresses (maybe they are not able to wear our dresses on normal days) during get- togethers, etc. And they are friendlier with each other too.
I went to an Indian restaurant in New Jersey which was run by a Punjabi and their samosas and cutlets were superb. Service also was good. It was not like that in London. Maybe we landed up in a correct place in NJ and wrong place in the UK!
I am waiting for the Nayagara photos! Enjoy!
I am so late in commenting here :( Had been busy. Looks like you are having a lovely time there :)
As for NRIs being more 'Indian' - I think it is true of most NRIs - who have been outside India for a considerable amount of time..
Sandhya; I am going to put all the photos at a go in next week.
Food was excellent in Canada, almost everywhere.
Smnitha: Even I am very late in replying, Been jetting around so much:)
Initially one tries everything and then we come back to our roots.
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