All USCs with OCI/PIO - What will you do if there is a war?

HighTorque · Post by **HighTorque** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 7:46 am

World economics change, political interests change, today's friend is tomorrow's enemy, tomorrow's friend was yesterdays enemy and so on.

Let us just for discussion/timepass sake, consider a scenario where war broke out btwn US and India due to some conflicting interests. I dont expect it to happen but here are some questions to ponder about.

- What would you do if you were in india?
- Where will your loyalties be?

cool_r2i · Post by **cool_r2i** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 8:55 am

HighTorque;35555World economics change, political interests change, today's friend is tomorrow's enemy, tomorrow's friend was yesterdays enemy and so on.

Let us just for discussion/timepass sake, consider a scenario where war broke out btwn US and India due to some conflicting interests. I dont expect it to happen but here are some questions to ponder about.

- What would you do if you were in india?
- Where will your loyalties be?[/quote]

Some more questions to add.

- What will happen to OCI/PIO cards? Do you think India can take the extreme step of canceling OCI/PIO and send people to respective countries of citizenship?
- What will happen to hundreds/thousands of minor children who are PIOs?

Jaggudada · Post by **Jaggudada** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 5:57 pm

If the war broke between India and US, NRIs or LIAs will be caught between hard and rock. In this country you will be hated because you were an Indian and when you visit India you will be considered traitor because you lived with enemies. In US, media and people at large will bash India and in India, media and people at large will bash US.

What we(immigrants) have seen so far is the might of greenback, what we have seen so far is how earnings in dollar could buy properties, cars, lifestyle, vacations( all good stuff) etc. We ain't seen the wrath of keeping one leg in one country and other leg in other country. Leaving ones own country and migrating to another country, culture comes at a huge cost is what we are beginning to realize as the time unfolds itself is what me thinks.

skn · Post by **skn** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 6:16 pm

There are immigrants in the US from Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, etc. How do they manage? Their countries have mostly been on the wrong side of US. By and large, I do not see these people being hated in the US. Americans do understand that folks living in the US are for keeps and follow the law.

Of course since Indians have not been in such a situation before, there may be a huge emotional reaction from Indian immigrants in the US and you [in US] may get lumped with them [whether you believe in their cause or not]. Personally, I believe that blind loyalty is detrimental - if I were in the US, I would primarily look for the safety of my family in the US and India.

HighTorque · Post by **HighTorque** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 8:55 pm

Jaggudada;35607
What we(immigrants) have seen so far is the might of greenback, what we have seen so far is how earnings in dollar could buy property, cars, lifestyle, vacations( all good stuff) etc. We ain't seen the wrath of keeping one leg in one country and other leg in other country. Leaving ones own country and migrating to another country, culture comes at a huge cost is what we are beginning to realize as the time unfolds itself is what me thinks.

Yes, we have not seen the other side. May be not our generation but future generation could.

HighTorque · Post by **HighTorque** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 8:57 pm

skn;35612There are immigrants in the US from Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, etc. How do they manage? Their countries have mostly been on the wrong side of US. By and large, I do not see these people being hated in the US. Americans do understand that folks living in the US are for keeps and follow the law.

QUOTE]

May be Iran, Iraq is not a good example but many USC R2Iers retire in India with their families, what is their situation?

restlessdesi · Post by **restlessdesi** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:17 pm

I have wondered about this myself. The scary part is, its not as unlikely a scenario as we might believe if we have a crazy combination of cold war with China, osama and his cronies in kashmir, pakistan under US rule (they are already talking about US now going into Pakistan similar to Afghanistan), and the republicans in the white house.

It might be easy to say we would do this and that, and the indian community/economy has a lot of clout in US. I guess for me, its hard to predict how I would react until I actually go through something like it. I do not have a close iraqi/afghan friend whom I could relate to.

Jaggudada · Post by **Jaggudada** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:52 pm

skn;35612There are immigrants in the US from Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, etc. How do they manage? Their countries have mostly been on the wrong side of US.

This is a valid question and deserves response.

The immigrants from the countries you mentioned typically are in low skilled category such as owning a parking lot, Taxi driver or restaurant etc. There they won't face people's anger as much as you would if you were to live and breath in a society fully. on the streets, Color wise they blend in lot easily than Indian do. Sometimes it is difficult to tell who is from where unless they tell you. Where as you can make out if someone is from South Asia.

Secondly , the population of people from one of these countries is minuscule unlike we Indians, we are large in numbers. It is hard to miss a south Asian anywhere you go. The more they see, the more often you remind them of Jobs outsourcing, and Now War.

India is also competitor to US and many Americans feel that their jobs are outsourced to cheap foreign labor. So you add this factor to their agony and you will see that India going to War with US is not same as US going to war with small middle eastern countries which is often one sided.

ycl1688 · Post by **ycl1688** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 10:27 pm

what if the uncle sam throw us into detention camp just like they did to japanese during world war 2.

and those congress govt idiots put chinese in india at rajasthan during
border war.

at least uncle sam paid compensation to japanese detainees.

indian govt paid nothing. zilch.

history could repeat itself.

RRK · Post by **RRK** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 12:09 am

If there is a war, and if there is a hate crime, you are unsafe in US than in India.
In US people may shoot w/o asking any question. Remember a sikh was shot killed in Phoenix just after 9/11, because some drunk thought sikh are same as turban wearing taliban. The sikh got killed sitting inside his stores and he did not even know what hit him and he died. He was US citizen living in US, and India wasn't fighting with US.

another question:
Forget about PIO/USC.

In this hypothetical situation, what about H1 holders, GC holders ? Dont they have any duty towards the same country that is helping them to achieve your goals, be it career, technical or financial ?