5) Europe, including London, is unfortunately doomed over the long haul, without any economic hope or future, short of economic stagnation, given the antiquated economic and stagnant demographic structure. If you have any intelligence, you will escape out of there and get back home to the (clichéd) good old USA – but that is clearly your prerogative, not mine.

To commenter DT (above this one) –
1) First of all, don’t tell me what “I know” — thanks.
2) You conveniently and selectively neglected to mention Edison, which in the NYC area is a bigger Indian neighborhood than (New York’s) Jackson Heights and (London’s) Southall combined.
3) Also, New York is CURRENTLY, in 2013, continuing to receive 10 to 15 thousand fresh Indian immigrants AND 25 to 30 thousand new Chinese immigrants ANNUALLY. What Indian ever migrates to the UK or Europe anymore? None. In fact, they are fleeing the UK and Europe to the U.S. in droves (with the possible exception of yourself and a few others who’ve chosen to take the backward route).
4) You really seem to exhibit racist overtones – in one fell swoop, you’ve insulted Puerto Ricans, Ecuadoreans, Canadians, Mexicans, Jews, Italians, Polish, Irish, and yes, even British people, all of whom constitute part of the wonderful kaleidoscopic fabric of New York.
5) Europe, including London, is unfortunately doomed over the long haul, without any hope or future. If you have any intelligence, you will escape out of there and get back home to the (clichéd) good old USA – but that is clearly your prerogative, not mine.
6) If you combine Hong Kong and London together, yes, you just MIGHT get the heft of New York. So your relatives in New York do indeed seem to be possessing a good deal of wisdom themselves.

Cheerio!

I’m Indian American and disagree with you. I was born and raised in the U.S. and also feel that NYC is overrated.

I have relatives who live there, so understand how the frog can sometimes think that the well is all there is in the world. They think that everything revolves around NYC. I think they should stop watching so much television.

NYC, like all very large and populated cities, does have a lot to do, but here is what I don’t like (kind of representative of the U.S. as a whole):

1) Bad attitudes demonstrated by people on the street. Spend more than 3 seconds looking at someone (even if you did not intend to, but are just lost in thought), you get a resounding ‘WHAT YA LOOKIN AT??!’ There is more stratification in the U.S., more division between rich and poor. 25%+ people lack healthcare and many are struggling just to survive. Combine that with a huge number of absentee fathers/parents and you have a recipe for a thug in 15+ years.

2) Gluttony. Yes, we Americans are gluttonous. We are a WalMart (quantity vs. quality) culture. We cuss out Indian tech support and curse Chinese companies, but then happily go to buy a $299 Dell laptop and $5 pair of shoes from Payless. Genetically modified foods, raping of our environment, and utter disregard for are planet and others is what we are about. We consume something like 25% of the worlds resources. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the free coke refills at fastfood joints whereas in Europe they ration it.

3) Desi scene. Seriously. No contest between the two and you know it. Indian culture has been absorbed to a certain degree by British culture. Everywhere you go there are curry houses, I went shopping in London and heard bhangra music on the PA. Spend the weekend in Southall if you ever get homesick of India. Jackson heights does not compare. Much smaller and right next to little Puerto Rico/Ecuador.

4) U.S. Gun culture. Sandy hook. Columbine. Arora. Nuff said. You know it.

5) Stye. Despite NYC being a fashion capital, NYCers (save those that shop exclusively designer on 5th/7th avenue) are not as stylish as Londoners (or Europeans in general). Gotta love that accent as well. A LOT better than some crazy hybrid italian/jewish/rough accent you get in NY.

6) Go to the Bronx at night. Find one place like that in London. Again, easy access to guns in the U.S. is a terrible thing.

7) Proximity to the rest of the world. Except for being close to Canada…. yeh? or Mexico, the U.S. is not nearly as centrally located as London. London + train tickets = Paris, Spain, Italy. 8 hours and you are in Delhi. 8 hours to NYC. In an increasingly globalized world, this is becoming an increasingly important factor.

8) Traditions. I saw the marriage of Prince William. I was so impressed with the age old traditions they maintained. In the U.S., there are very few preserved traditions. Its a cluster F*CK of mixed europeans. Ask my white friends about their ancestery and many won’t know of it. They are “1/4 Irish, 1/8th Cherokee, 1/8 Polish, 1/2 British” or something like that. Hence no real tradition.