When I warned in April that Indian immigrants must adapt, not resist, I sensed resentment quietly growing. Today, it has spilled into the open. Tens of thousands marched in Australia this week accusing Indians of “replacement.” (The Hindu, CNN) Canada may not be far behind. And the ones who will pay the price are our youngsters—those who left home after their parents spent lakhs, dreaming of a better future, but who risk ending up rejected instead of respected.
I had written earlier: adaptation isn’t assimilation—it’s respect. (link at the bottom)
Nobody asks you to abandon your faith or language. But adaptation is not optional. Speak the local language fluently. Respect hygiene and civic spaces. Dress according to context. Celebrate religion and culture in your homes, halls, and temples—not on highways and shopping plazas. Do not expect your host country to conform to you. When religion, culture, or language dominate public behavior, it signals that you believe your traditions are superior to local norms. That is not integration—it is arrogance. Or sometimes, it is insecurity.
End April 2025, President Trump signed an executive order mandating English fluency for commercial drivers, arguing it was about public safety. Sikh groups opposed it. Soon after a single incident—a Sikh driver’s wrong U-turn in Florida that killed three—becomes a national debate about truckers, English proficiency, and immigrant safety.
And yet, I fear we are handing more ammunition to those already angry. Too many of our youth abroad remain locked in Desi bubbles—mini-Bramptons, mini-Sydneys, mini-Surreys—speaking only Punjabi, living only among each other, proudly showing they will not change. They treat their new land like a hostel, not a home. Worse, some take a misplaced pride in being “Desi.” There is even a Punjabi word—tichar—for the rude habit of passing comments on strangers. How many times have groups of boys laughed and done tichar at “Goras” in malls or on buses? What to you feels like harmless fun or bravado is, to locals, a sign of disrespect. Such behavior builds quiet hatred in the majority community.
The problem worsens when youngsters go abroad right after 12th grade. Suddenly, they taste freedom with no parental discipline. Many go socially haywire—late-night drinking, reckless driving, public misbehavior. They lose the basic etiquettes their parents tried to instill. Into this vacuum step the local “handlers”—hardliners waiting to brainwash raw, confused minds. They know exactly what buttons to press.
They give these youths a false sense of identity: “Don’t integrate, stay Desi, wave our flags, oppose India.” In their loneliness and immaturity, many fall into this trap. Radicalization becomes easy. Anti-India sentiment is injected drip by drip, and what began as a study visa soon turns into a political mission these youngsters don’t fully understand.
Most of them are not extremists; they are simply confused, caught between proving to parents that they are still rooted in Punjab and proving to themselves that they belong in Canada or Australia. In the process, they belong nowhere. Their refusal to adapt keeps them outsiders forever.
Meanwhile, a small minority’s bad behavior spoils the name of all: gangsterism, drug trafficking, rowdy parades, flag wars between Khalistani and Indian groups. These become the public face of the diaspora, while the hardworking student or quiet nurse disappears in the background. Public perception is shaped not by the silent majority but by the loud few.
Canada is already shifting. Immigration targets that once promised 500,000 new residents in 2025 are being cut to 395,000 in 2025, 380,000 in 2026, and 365,000 in 2027. Student visas and temporary permits are also capped. Why? Because Canadians now believe immigration is too high, housing is too costly, and public services are strained. For the first time in decades, a majority says immigration levels are excessive. The door is closing.
In this Canadian mess, the government itself cannot be absolved. Ottawa removed all filters on immigration, taking in everybody without proportionately expanding infrastructure, building houses, or developing new areas. During Covid, it poured money into direct populist payments, stoking inflation to record highs. Then came sharp interest rate hikes, pushing the housing industry into a tailspin stall. The worst is yet to come. Rising unemployment and youth joblessness only sharpen resentment, and immigrants are an easy scapegoat.
That is why the message to our youth is urgent: adapt or be rejected. Religion is sacred—keep it in your homes and gurdwaras, not on highways. Few days back a Sikh was performing “gatka” on roads and was shot by the US police. Pride in our religion is good—but arrogance and throwing over it is fatal. Show that you are educated, disciplined, respectful. Don’t throw the weight of being Desi on everyone. Don’t ridicule locals with tichar. Don’t let handlers hijack your loneliness.
I grieve for this generation. Parents make sacrifices so their children can belong. But without adaptation, those children will remain outsiders in the very countries they dreamt of calling home. Governments can condemn hate rallies, but no law can repair an image soured by arrogance and misbehavior. Perception matters—and right now, perception is slipping away.
Australia has already erupted. Canada is trembling. If our youth do not wake up, the storm will only grow. The choice is clear: adapt with humility and be accepted—or resist, and face rejection.
Adapt—Don't Resist: Why Indian Immigrants Must Embrace Public Norms in the West
Western countries have long been generous hosts, offering Indian immigrants prosperity, safety, and freedom. But this generosity is now being tested—not just by economics or legality, but by behaviour. The core issue is simple yet profound: a failure to keep religion and culture private rather than public. When cultural practices spill into the public s…