Disclaimer: These are purely personal experiences and comments based on personal liking. Readers might have different experiences or different priorities/value systems, and so their views on the points mentioned below may be different, and therefore are NOT debatable.

Also, these comparisons are based on Canada vis a vis India (those parts that I have lived in). They might not hold good for any other country/ies.

The reason to migrate to any country is mostly on personal choice and sometimes forced upon due to various reasons. The people who are thinking of migrating, or have recently landed in Canada can look forward to various advantages/benefits, some of which are mentioned hereunder:

1. The factor of multiplication is a big benefit - 35 to 1. Due to this factor, a person doing similar job for same no of hours back home can get make roughly 4-5 times the money in Indian Rupee terms.

2. For many, if not all, a social status back home that 'vo to phoren main rahta hai'

3. On landing in Canada, you stand in a carpeted or very clean lobby, with working toilets if someone needs to 'go' and an officer who greets you with 'welcome to canada'

4. After clearing the airport, you find working trolleys, which can take big bags, and not something that looks to be designed for keeping an overnighter.

5. When you come out, whether the first time, or nth time, taxi drivers, hotel reps etc. etc. don't crowd on you to make you feel you wanna go back inside!

6. A very clean air immediately hits you and suddenly you start feeling it was the first time you were breathing.

Life In Canada

1. First and foremost- you have constant supply of electricity and water, and blackouts are rare. You do not have to wake up early in the morning to fill up your buckets, tubs, tankees or take a shower. Similarly, you do not have to sweat in heat or live under candlelight in summers, or be disturbed by the noise and smoke of mini generators.

2. No visible pollution! You breathe better and your shirt collar does not become black by lunchtime. Infact, you can wear one set of clothes for 2-3 days without feeling bad.

3. The roads you travel on are good, infact great and you do not have to be on constant alert that someone might just decide to jump in front of you. In India, you might be driving a Honda or Lancer or Merc, but you have to drive on road full of pits, speed breakers and various sorts of vehicles. Here a motorcycle has right to the same space as a car, and it is illegal to overtake a mobike in the same lane.

4. The buses you commute on are cleaner, air-conditioned and the driver many a times greets you. For disabled persons, the bus lowers down, puts out a ramp on which you can place the wheelchair and lifts it back to sitting level. So a wheelchair bound person can easily commute on most of the routes without any help.

5. The roads have sidewalks so people wanting to walk can do so without worrying for traffic. Similarly, a pedestrian's right of way is given due regard. You don't have to dash to the other side of the road to avoid a car hitting you on pedestrians crossing.

6. Govt offices - the ultimate 'sunvayi' might be better or worse than India but you get to wait in a nice and clean office mostly. And rarely would you find any 'sarkari mulajim' talking to you as if he owned the place and did not have enough sleep at home (exceptions can be there, but rare!)

7. The roads and sidewalks are clean mostly without any garbage on the road. If garbage is there, it is mostly packed in big plastic bags and kept there to be picked up by the municipality truck, sooner rather than later.

8. There are fines for traffic violations and applied too. If it is green light, you can safely speed up, without worrying that another vehicle might come from your right or left beating the red light (sometimes that happens, but unlike India, you do not have to be on the lookout for that!)

9. Coming from Gandhi's land, we actually do what he preached, here in Canada. We do our own dishes, we vacuum our floors and we also clean our toilets ourselves. For those who are idealistic about society and human rights, this has great meaning.

10. We do not work or live in buildings that are smothered with 'paan ki peek' and other types of body wastes lying on floor which are so common in India. Nor do we come across graffiti on staircases/elevators in the office or residential buildings (exceptions are there), or on boundary walls 'Prof Arora's rishte hi rishte'.

11. Eve-teasing in public is absent or rare - I hear there is, though I have not seen it. Buses are safe from that point of view

12. Weather - that is the greatest thing. Summers are absolutely great with everything so lush green, the fields look like thick green carpet and flowers look extremely beautiful. Fall / Autumn is amazingly colourful - it seems some painter has actually painted the trees with wonderful imagination. Winters are harsh, but the snowfall is wonderful to watch and great for children to play. In Delhi, a +1 temperature might be killing with no proper heating but here one can easily survive in -25degrees with proper clothing, and enjoy the snow too. Spring really brings the springs live in you. The temperatures are great and you feel so energetic.

13. For an Indian, all kinds of Indian food is available and at most of the places, in a cleaner surrounding and with better ingredients than in India, because of strict laws. Vegetarians need not fear unlike many other places on the globe where finding vegetarian food is like looking for a needle in bundle of hay, all kinds of veggie food is available and in abundance.

14. I have never seen my phone line go dead even when they were laying new pipelines/cables in the surrounding areas!

The above points about life in Canada makes me live in Canada with all its difficulties because though individually they might be small things, collectively they become the quality of life, and I value them more than other luxuries of life. I do not compare politics and politicians, because they are beyond me and do not directly affect my daily living. Nor does corruption or lack or more of it.

These are just some of the reasons why I feel one should want to migrate to Canada from India, or South Asia but as I said earlier, they are my views and values.

And yes!!!
15. An advantage for being coloured and not good looking - when commuting by bus or train, I get a full seat unless it is difficult for the whites to find a better person to share it with!

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Chandresh

Advice is free – lessons I charge for!!

Is Chandresh (global moderator) the same person as the Chandresh who has written in "My experiences in Canada" that he is leaving Canada in 2003.

No criticism or sarcasm meant. Just want to know what prompted him to change his mind?

Rgds.

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Let's make India a better place !

Guys, why blame chandresh?
He has always given his opinion and i dont see anything negative in it.

I am not defending him but that is true as many people has posted real picture of canada apart from him.(including me).

That doen't mean that we are negative ...and all the members also should not believe that they will be having the same type of struggle or life as i believe, everyone has a different priorities.

Lot of people has got success even after 4-5 years but they have tried and tried till they get it..I know this will again create a controversy for me as I am the person who is going back because of not getting right opportunity after long struggle of 3 years but it is not the only reason as i have some responsibilities and committment to be fulfilled back home...


so , Canada may be not good for me but it may be good for some one else as they may get all they want according to their priorities...

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Do or Die.....

Quote:

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Orginally posted by sahib98

One lesson i have learnt is to be 'one-up' than our conterparts who were born, educated and bred here. We have all the skills, commitment and disciplin and hard work to be successful.

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~ Morning rain

Good question.

However, I feel it is normal characteristic of first generation immigrant to be meticulous and hardworking, and maybe more aggressive, as everything is at stake.

Once you are well settled, you do not need that fire, and in some cases the drive and zeal levels out at that stage.

I see the 'one up' comment in that light.

Morning Rain : The reason I thk we immigrants have to be one up is because we are never looked at being equal when it comes to education or work experience. Thus just to survive we thrive for it.

Well most successful people may not have time to hang out here. Failed specimens, on the other hand, might be cruising net in leisure time (they may have a lot of it, due to the failures), searching for sights to commiserate with other buddies or seeking solace in the comfort of other failed strangers. Also, most humans seem to be magnetized toward the failed and odd, how often you would sit and listen to dull positive stories of success? News media do a meticulous work on negative things; We see and hear about Miley not because her music moved someone, but because she was ready for twerking in lacy nakedness! Even in dating and mating areas, why they say nice guys finish last, and raise the kids left behind by the bad guys? Not much attractive for a jovial energetic girl in the dull nice guy, who may not have the goodies to thrill her?

Now I am lost, what the heck was I going to write? Oh yeah that's right, nothing. Not much to say. At the end of the year, I just count and tally the savings and move into the new year.... and that's that! See ya................. some other time!