About
This website started back in 2007 as a blog about the lives and times of Indians living abroad. About the things they do, the things that affect their lives, about how they perceive India and their reactions to events happening back home.
India - from the eyes of a non resident outsider, i used to call it back then. You can read the original amreekandesi about page here.
Living away from home gives you a new perspective on the state of affairs. It makes your heart pine for the country. It makes you sad every time you read a report about the latest gruesome murder in Delhi. It makes you feel like you’ve personally been stabbed with every new scam perpetrated on the nation.
It makes you want to do something for the country. It makes you want to change stuff. It makes you responsible. It makes your chest swell with pride every time you hear about that woman who gave up a fancy job to teach poor children in a UP village.
I lived in the US for 5 years, and then moved back to return to where i really belonged. The ‘returning to India’ experience is documented in a few posts i wrote around that time.
There’s a lot of things that need fixing in India. A lot that frustrates you and makes you want to bang your head against the nearest paan stained wall. We may talk about belonging to the security council and lap up flats that cost a crore, but the fact is that politics and corruption have eaten our insides. And ultimately it is the fault of all of us. We will have to change first before we talk about the system.
At the same time, there’s only as many serious pieces you can write before you are labeled a ranting troll, or need to check into a rehab center following a depression induced nervous breakdown. Which brings us to satire.
Satire has been employed since ancient times to vent our frustration about things that bother us, without really calling a spade a spade. Or a corrupt politician a corrupt politician. In simple words, satire is the truth sugar-coated in humor to blunt the impact. Or increase it, depending on how you look at it.
You cant survive in India without a sense of humor. There’s so much craziness that you will just suffocate if you cant lighten up. Most of the posts on this site are satirical in nature. This takes the form of secret diaries, open letters, and fake news among others. Read other posts classified as satire here.
All the posts are just my reaction to events happening in the country. Behind it all there is a heady mix of pain, frustration, desperation, at times even admiration.
It is all meant in good humor. No ill will intended. No malice meant against anyone, well, mostly. Just my way of reacting to current events, and letting off some steam without going Arnold Schwarzenegger on the bad guys.
If you are any of the below, this website may be the wrong place for you.
1. Less than 13 years of age
2. Have strong political views
3. Belong to the Congress party [Ok just kidding. ANY political party]
4. Get easily offended.
5. Dont have a sense of humor
If you’re still reading, here’s a few things you could do.
1. Subscribe to the blog’s RSS feed and get emails in Google reader (or any other RSS client you prefer)
2. Follow @amreekandesi on Twitter.
3. Like the amreekandesi facebook page.
4. Drop me a note: contact at amreekandesi dot com. Trust me, nothing feels better than to hear words of appreciation from people who like your work.
Biggest of all, you can buy my upcoming book Amreekandesi - Masters of America here. It will change your life forever. Especially if you make sure you get 5 people to buy the book, and they convince 5 more people to buy it, and so on.
Welcome, and happy reading!
Interesting tag line…keep going AD
I appeciate your views and sentiments.actualy your posts do provide facts in humorous way,which i adore and so have become fond of your posts. plese keep it up.
lol
I will try to do as you say
Hi Atulya aka Amreekan Desi,
I not only like the title, that also describes me, as I am a resident and passport holder of Amreeka [;-)] and yet 100% Desi. Your about page also describes the pain and the pangs I have felt for almost last 30 years. I have come and ‘settled’ in India for 6 years, but life had its own plans and am back in the land of Milk and Honey since 1999. Yet no one can take India out of this ‘Desi’.
I salute you and all the doers and want to contribute in some way with my own initiatives, one such is http://www.nagpurfirst.org.
May God Bless you. Jai Hind.
hi atulya,
been following your blog :)
so when is your new book out on amazon?
cheers!
I have been looking for this type of a blog for long time and I am happy that I saw one.
Looking forward to comeback and read more posts from this blog.
Glad that I stumbled upon this blog…lots of interesting stuff that I can personally relate to. I had returned to India from US in 2006 after spending 11 years there. Left India again in 2014 so not sure what I would call myself - ex-R2I :-)
I have recently started a blog myself - http://www.thecuriousdesi.com
I’ve bookmarked your blog and am sure it would be occupying many hours in days and weeks to come. All the best.
Cheers
Hi,
Warm greetings of the day!
I must congratulate you first for the excellent work you are doing by publishing awesome blogs and also for the tremendous growth you’ve done with a short span of time.
I would like to introduce myself as a freelancer and hence I am interested in offering you high quality articles (paid content) for publication on your great site. Let me know if you would be interested in this. I’ll let you know the other details.
Looking forward to hear from you soon.
Thanks&Regards
Rajveer Khanna