indian-youthI was recently asked if I was interested in joining any Indian youth group in Kuwait, to which I replied, “What youth groups?” Yes, there are a few sports-related clubs mainly created by Indian schools and there are even a few culture-centric ones, but nothing in between. So why is there such a lack not only of such groups, but pretty much anything catering to the youth of the sub-continent? The main reason for this lies in the simple fact that there aren’t many young Indian workers living here.
Kuwait is no longer drawing large numbers of young middle class, educated Indians as in days past. I come from a long line of Indian migrants who settled in Kuwait. My grandfather came to this country by boat in 1955, and even when there was nothing here but barren desert, he along with the other hundreds of migrants saw something else – opportunity. Fast forward 30 years, my parents met in Kuwait after working in the same office and got married even though they are from two vastly different regions in India. They decided to settle down and start a family here and even came back after the Iraq invasion.
This story rings true for a number of Indian expats whose grandparents came to Kuwait during its early years and whose parents stayed and raised their families here. Families preferred the peace, safety and security of the country and wanted their kids to grow up here. A changing land of opportunity So what has changed in the last 20 years? Why have the Indian youth, most of whom have grown up and finished their schooling here, moved away from their parents’ (and in some cases grandparents’) footsteps? It may not be glaringly obvious but many Indians who have gone and finished their higher education in India are deciding to stay and work there.
The prospects of Kuwait don’t seem to have the same appeal they once had and there are thankfully now many opportunities in booming India. Saniaa is a copywriter working in an advertising agency in Mumbai. She grew up in Kuwait, completed her entire schooling at the Jabriya Indian School and then went to India for her higher education. At the end of her final term, she received an offer in a large ad agency in the heart of Mumbai, and has never looked back. I asked her why she never thought of returning and she said, “Even though I did my schooling in Kuwait, the thought of working there was never really an option.” “I wanted to get into the advertising industry and not only did India have the educational courses to help me pursue my ambitions, it also had the job offers to back them up.
This is not to say that Kuwait doesn’t have those jobs because it does, but I wanted to work for clients that cater more to my demographic,” she explained. I wanted to get another angle on this train of thought, and so I got in touch with Karan. Another student of Kuwait, Karan went to India to get a degree in business management. His dream was to start his own business and after three years of hard work, his self-made publishing house is now making a name for itself. I asked him why he didn’t want to start a business in the country of his youth, and he said, “It’s simple really, sometimes when you settle down in one place, you just don’t want to leave.” “India is growing and there is a ton of opportunity for our generation here. Generation X and millennials make up the majority of an already massive population and the money is here to live well. That was something our parents couldn’t say 30 years ago,” he added. “Now, India is finding its own two feet and many are embracing that.”
