I have a problem with it. We had to sell and move from our last house because of our next door Indian or Paki neighbors. They do NOT assimilate.
They have no clue what water is for, their lawn and all the landscaping died. There were about 10 of them living in a 4 bedroom house, mostly adult males. They drank like fish and then would walk out their front door and pee on their wall in the front yard. They began "investing in ice cream trucks which they then drove parked on their front lawn by the front door (3 of them).
They made my life a living hell. When we began looking for another house to buy I drove all the neighborhoods and made sure there were none living there before I would even look at a house.
There really are reasons people do not want to live by them.
That has nothing to do with immigration status.. hell drive into any back woods community around the country and you'll see people whose family has been here for generations act worse than that. I know of one old lady a block a way from me in probably a 500k house that almost describes the family you had to live next to.
The odor of their cultural food on the stove nauseates me.
I'm sorry, but I think you just got bad luck with neighbors, and that can happen no matter what their background. I grew up in an area with a heavy South Asian immigrant population, and one which drew from many classes of society and not just the educated elite. The parents assimilate as well as any immigrants do (it's never a complete process) and the kids assimilate totally. South Asian immigrants are a credit to the country and are going to help America keep its competitive edge.
At my place, there is a lot of talk among the Indian guys about lawnmowers and snowblowers.
Of course, these are guys who have bought a $600K house for a family of 4.
"There really are reasons people do not want to live by them."
WOW........did they eat babies too? Here are a few pointers for you:
"Indian or Paki neighbors"
Indians and Pakis are not the same people (the difference is Islam). The British bombings, the first WTC bombing, terrorists in Afghanistan, etc are all Paki creations. You'll never find Indians revolting against the country they live in....Pakis, on the other hand, do this all the time.
Second, the fact that Indians don't assimilate is pure slander and is based on your stereotyped impressions of one neighbour (whose antecendents you are not even aware of). So much for your opinions.
Go back, do some research, and you'll find out that there are no India Towns in nthe US (unlike China towns). I'll post official USG statistics that show the sucess and assimilation of Indians in US society but I don't think the truth is going to change your mind.
Here is one lesson that you can take out of this post: Indians and Pakis (and Arabs) are NOT the same. Repeat after me....
Didn't that town have any codes? And you lived next to them long enough for all this to go on and don't even know if they were Indian or Pakis?
Must have been Pakistanis, as opposed to Indians. Most of the Indians I know are faily well assimilated, most of them are even rabid Dallas Cowboys fans.
Pakistanis and Indians are very, very different.
Warning, generalizations ahead.
I would bet that your next door neighbors were Pakistani.
Britian has had a lot of trouble with them, as have other European countries. Pakistan is a troubled, violent, backwards country, and most of the people are militant Muslim (which is another disadvantage when it comes to assimilation). Google Pakistan sometime in the news, and you'll see items about how to "divorce" an unsatisfactory wife by throwing acid on her, abductions of Christian girls, church burnings, blasphemy trials, gang rapes, it is a very depressing and dysfunctional place.
Indians (mostly Hindu), on the other hand, tend to be great immigrants. Hard working, smart. I work with an Indian immigrant who came here with only a few dollars in his pocket, put himself through school, and is now quite successful. They are having problems in Kashmir, with Pakistani militants attacking and abusing the civilian Hindu population.
They usually don't assimilate for the older generations, but their younger generations will. Hard to convince them to do arrange marriage, for example, which is still the dominant form of marriage in India.
They have no clue what water is for, their lawn and all the landscaping died. There were about 10 of them living in a 4 bedroom house, mostly adult males. They drank like fish and then would walk out their front door and pee on their wall in the front yard. They began "investing in ice cream trucks which they then drove parked on their front lawn by the front door (3 of them).
They made my life a living hell. When we began looking for another house to buy I drove all the neighborhoods and made sure there were none living there before I would even look at a house.
There really are reasons people do not want to live by them.
Wow...sounds like you have more problems than just your neighbors.
Sheana, my guess is that they were Paki.
Try working for one!!! If you're a white female of intelligence, you're screwed. I have been horribly discriminated against, both by Indian males with degrees from the University of Bombay. about 30 years difference in their age too, but both of them were the most sexist chauvinist pigs that I ever had to work for. Until my last job (but that was my coworkers, not my boss!)
I'm surprised you actually managed to sell your house :) I sure as hell woudln't buy a house that has 3 ice cream truck parked as a neighbor if i see the trucks.
Sounds like Paki's to me. While not all Indians assimilate quickly, they do better than most who come as families, and not as spouses of Americans (IE. "War Brides" or "Mail order brides") With any immigrant group it has historically been the kids who do the assimilating, not the immigrants themselves, unless of course they were kids when they immigrated.