I left India because as a Brahmin I was being discriminated against - I was deprived of my MBA seat which was given to a lesser qualified person purely based on caste. I also saw people getting jobs based on reservation more and more. While I never actually suffered too much because of these I was quite disgusted at the trend of people getting false certificates to get admissions and jobs. The same politician who preaches against Brahmins is only too willing to issue a false SC/ST certificate to the same Brahmin for money.
Since that time corruption has only become multi-fold worse in India to the point very very few people even think it is out of the ordinary. Fairness and equal treatment has become the exception.
There is really no reason for the country to be this dirty or the people to be this corrupt. The public are wantonly not using their brains and prefer to waste most of their time watching movies, celebrating movie star's birthdays and fighting with each other on behalf of their favorite politician.
I used to think the older generations were unavoidably stuck with the remnants of colonial slavery mindset and that is still true. The younger generations certainly are more liberated in their outlook and certainly a significant proportion of them WANT to break the vicious cycle of slave mind set, poverty, hero worship and corruption. However politics and movie stars are holding them back, at least a majority of the youngsters. And it is quite disgusting to see a portion of them aping the worst of cheap and vulgar western habits - in how they speak, move, dress and communicate.
It is of course impossible to feel fully Indian unless one lives there. I have a lot complaints against India but still marvel at how in spite of these 'disgusting' aspects, such population density, such poverty and such stupidity, the country keeps turning out great performance year after year - whether it be science, technology, economics, art, literature ....As an NRI when I hear of a brilliant Indian kid winning something, that makes me prouder than when I hear of ssuch accomplishment by an American kid of Indian origin.
I also do not think NRIs do any great favor to India when they send money - they, like me, send money to their own families. I wouldn't call that service or philanthropy. But those NRIs who devote their time and expertise to improve India, they are indeed the good ones.
I think that latter group (a subset of medical professionals, academicians and some businessmen) that set of NRIs are people that Indians in India should really respect and be thankful for.
