I read Joegoauk' somewhat amusing account of money grabbing Asians and make
some observations below.
Yes, there are perhaps many money obsessed Asians in the UK. Their business
acumen is sometimes legendary, especially within the business minded
Gujarati people whose status within the community is often determined by the
wealth they generate. Many were in businesses in East Africa before opening
corner shops etc in the UK and progressing from there to supermarkets, hotel
chains, pharmacies etc. In East Africa, such Asians were often called, in
Swahili, "Wabenzi" (people of the Mercedes) by the Africans because they
drove expensive Mercedes cars! Interestingly however, the children of these
hardworking entrepreneurs in the UK often gravitate towards the professions
like law, medicine and finance and latterly in the media, just as the
children of Jewish small shopkeepers did in earlier generations. Indeed the
attributes and parallels between the East African Indians (in particular)
and the Jews in the UK are deemed to be very similar.
However, there are many Asians who are not that successful nor strongly
committed to long working hours in businesses. While it is true that the
attraction of owning additional homes for rent in the UK and also abroad, is
compelling to some and the papers had once splashed news about a particular
politician who had acquired some 10 properties whilst being on a fixed state
income, many Asians, I think, overlook the 40% which will be taken by the
State on death, of all ownings. I am simplifying the law here but attempts
to hold funds in trusts to avoid the tax man are not really all that
successful and will get even less so with a Mr Brown or any other Chancellor
in charge.
There are nevertheless many Asians who do not own a bean and definitely not
a roof over their heads. They believe that all the hassle of ownership of
property is not worth it and continue to rent property for years on end when
the rents (excluding the initial deposit) are sometimes less than the
monthly payment for property ownership. The picture in short, is thus rather
varied in my view.
I now go to another story which appeared in the last Sunday Observer quality
newspaper in the UK . It featured the numbers of Indian women making a
beeline for India to have female foetuses aborted because such provision is
not available on the National Health Service here. I can truthfully say that
I was physically sick when I read the details of such gruesome practice and
especially when some women recounted the normality of this practice among
many Asians. They wanted a boy at all costs and there is, in my view, a
grotesque obscenity in routinley aborting unborn females.
I am aware of such occurrence in China and other places to the point where
there is now a shortage of girls for men to marry. As for the Indians, how
on earth might it possible to get people out of absurd mindsets which see
girls as a burden even in affluent Britain? With so many other social
pathologies among people of Indian origin (and excluding for now, some
terrible practices on females among other groups of ethnic Brits) there must
be ways to educate people to become more enlightened in this day and age.
Can Goanetters come up with suggestions to help progressively eliminate the
awful reality described above?
Cornel DaCosta,
London, UK.
----- Original Message -----
From: "JoeGoaUk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <goanet@goanet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2006 12:40 AM
Subject: [Goanet] Money grabbing Asians- are we?
Money grabbing Asians- are we?
We Asians (abroad) often called 'money grabbers'. (mainly
applies to UK and perhaps EU, US etc)
Yes, we work very hard- long hours, over time and even doing
additional small jobs.
This has become very habitual to most of us, i.e. once started there no
end to it.
Whether we are young, middle aged or retiring age we simply cannot do away
with our 'money
grabbing' habits. We don't even care about our health, we think our
children will look after us
once we are old and sick (they are the reason we work hard anyway). In
reality, do our children
really look after us?
I asked a lady (in her late 50s) who worked under me, why are you
working so hard (long hours) even now when your only son and daughter
(both married) earning
£40,000 each, and that you have two properties/houses on rent, she said 'I
have to save for my
grandchildren too' (in UK, on av., two houses are worth £400k
Approx.Rs.320,00,000 or Rs.32 millions).
Another lady, who is also old, always appears sick and weak, also
having two additional houses, with a son 30 and daughter 26 both
working. How can their children allow their sick parents to work?
Poor lady, always talk high about her son and that he is the reason she
work very hard. One day I
happen to meet her son at somebody's birthday party. He didn't know that
his mother work under me.
I said to him, 'you got a nice car' to that he said 'oh! this is nothing,
you wait till my mother
die, I will buy one Mercedes or one BMW' (This is offcourse, by selling
one house).
What a lovely son!!
I remember, my colleagues telling me about a very wealthy Indian old lady
who worked for British
Airways Catering for 35 years and when her turn comes up to retire, she
pleaded with the
management for extension which she got for her good records & hardwork. 18
months later she
collapsed and died at work place.
Above are the facts (this is happening mainly amongst the Asians
including Goans. I work as a supervisor for 10 years many men &
women worked under me. I have seen, heard and been there).
Some of us don't even know how much wealth we have accumulated over a
period of time (but our
children know very well), we continue working very hard. Sometimes, we do
long hours simply
because others do (competition). All we do work, work work or money,money,
money.
When asked, when was the last time they visited their home land, they say
10/15 years ago (reason:
they cant afford it) despite getting 90% concession in air fare to India
and GOA.
In an another case, two Goans both Husband and wife working. Husband
earning £30,000 & wife
£18,000. They too have one extra house which is given on rent fetching
about £1200 per month. They
have one child the only son (14). Last year they were asking me for any
cheaper Goa Flight during
Xmas Season (SFX Expo) as their son never been to Goa. First I said £599
for 2 weeks they say 'too
expensive'. Two weeks later I managed to offer for £399 at a bargain price
to this their answer
was 'still can't afford it' In the end they never visited Goa nearly 15
years now.
Yet, there was another case, where another elder Goan working for London
Underground (Baker's
Street), who was so trifty (conjus Marwaddi) giving me tips, when I first
come into this country,
as to how to save money.
One of tips was saving money on Gas or electricity bills during the
winter. He says, during
winter, they switch off all central heating at night and keep a flat
rubber bottle* filled with
hot water underneath them (in bed) which keep them warm whole night.
Would you believe this ??
Sadly, he died few years ago. I knew them as they come from a bhatkars'
family from my place (they
came UK from Africa).
I am writing this hoping, some of the aged workers would at least
make some efforts to look again into their ways of life and bring in some
changes at least for
their health sake and offcouse for their family sake. Remember, money is
not every thing.
We, as their grown up children, should do something about our
parents, they worked hard all their life long. Don't they deserve a break
now? or 'slow down' at
least ? I know some of our parents are simply stubborn and very difficult
to deal with but that
should not be an excuse stopping us changing their lives, lets keep trying
and they will listen to
us one day (we are the reason they live or work any way). They have earned
so much for us (we
don't even have to pay for the house we are living in).
Let us not be selfish as in BMW case above.
Thanks for your time,
joegoauk
*We too had that Rubber water bottle at home Goa my dad brought from
Tarvar. But we used to give
'xek' on peoples back like 'gorom udka humdesao-vam or shek'
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