Not many in the "Desi" or South Asian community in the USA venture out of the typical fields of medical sciences or engineering, but it seems the trend is pretty much going into different directions. Here is a girl with an identity that beckons a career behind the 'tables':
Click here to view the video
Monday, October 16, 2006
Sunday, October 15, 2006
This Week in Bigotry
Since 9/11, an awareness of our surroundings was brought on to our attention by our 'faithful' leadership in DC. That awareness included looking for suspicious people, namely terrorists.
With that being said, a thought of fear and hate has permeated through American society in some circles, especially against minorities. One dressed in non-Western attire, or speaking in different tongues gets a look (Spanish excluded, as it has become a norm nowadays), one too many, and not in a good way, mind you.
An instance of this is from my cousin's recent visit to her daughter's pediatrician in New Jersey. My cousin was telling her 2 year old something in her mother tongue, where upon a man approached her and told her to speak in English with her daughter, as she will be able to speak something everyone will understand. My cousin gave an answer quite sound, telling him to mind his own business, and figure out if he had better English speaking skills than she did. Knowing that my cousin has excellent speaking skills, and went to the top English-based schools in Mumbai, India, and has worked with a couple of international airlines in the recent past, it's safe to say she has a good command over her English, and rightfully made that comment.
I don't understand it, but what is this assumption that everyone in this country should be speaking in English, with whomever and whatever at all times? English is not the national language of this country (and I sure wish it would be), so that fact alone doesn't give anyone any right to challenge who should speak what. Agreed, that the de facto language of everyday life here is English, but as a free country a person can speak in any other tongue with their family or friends.
One other thing is the hatred of the South Asian community, especially Indians, due to IT and customer relations jobs moving over to India. The resentment is strong, and the blame is being given to the wrong group. I have heard many saying that Indians are to blame for the current IT downturn in this country. So, instead of blaming the companies who move these jobs, these people blame the ones who get those jobs.
Well with that, with those who have narrow minds, they lump everyone together regardless if you are from India, or if your origins come from there. Case in point, is what happened to me this past week. This is not the first time I have faced racism, or more like foolishness, but I never imagined it would happen at a job interview.
I received a call for an interview with a company I had applied for some months back, Sanger & Eby, here in Cincinnati, Ohio. So I decided to give it a go, and see what was in store.
The hiring manager who I met, Mike, seemed to be a very nice and honest man. He asked how I had a great American accent, and if I come here as a child. Of course I told him my birth country is the good ol'USA, and have been in Cincinnati all my life, to which he seemed a bit delighted about.
As the interview went on, he asked if he could make a suggestion. Open to the advice, I gave him permission, where upon he told me, "Well I suggest you change your name.....to Andy or something.....It would make it easier for HR people and hiring managers not to skip your resume if it came through the applicants stack...". The comment confused me. What did my name have to do with me getting a job based on my skill sets and basic personality? I asked, "Why?".
The next set of comments upset me the most, "Well see....since a lot of IT jobs are being sent over to India, it's creating a bad impression on people to hire people with foreign names. You know, I had an Indian friend where I used to work at, who told me that Indians are not to be trusted". Either the guy telling him this was a sellout, or the words from Mike's mouth are his own feelings.
I ignored that slight aberration, but more and more I thought about it as the interview went on, I just got restless within. I wanted that interview to end, as soon as possible. The basics of the job description kept me interested, as I questioned Mike on the opportunity, but my gut instinct was telling me it wasn't the right opportunity.
The interview ended, and as I said the typical goodbye with a handshake with the interviewer, Mike, he addressed me by saying, "Well hope we can meet again Mr. Andy Jones!", with a slight chuckle. I gave him a dissatisfied look, and walked away.
It then hit me. I didn't want this job. It wasn't what I wanted, cause maybe I wasn't wanted. Maybe I was brought in to match some equal opportunity numbers to satisfy the government for Sanger & Eby's sake.
Ironically I was called about thirty minutes later to see if I was interested in coming in for meeting another person who Mike somehow forgot to have me meet that very day. I put it off, and told Mike I will let him know next week as I had family coming in that very night, so I had to think about it.
I realized that even if this interest was being shown, and if I got the job, my life at this company would've turned into some utter hell. The manager's idiotic opinions would've driven me out of this place very quickly, and most likely me getting into a shouting match with him.
I politely (however I didn't want to be polite) declined the revisit, and wished them good luck in their search, as one would do in a typical response in pursuit of an opportunity.
I'm sure though that the management at Sanger & Eby would've seen this through in a professional manner, but avoiding a fire when you have been initially stung by flames is much more beneficial.
These two examples of odd behavior, call it bigotry if you wish, really seem to be prevalent in our society nowadays. Me and my cousin aren't the only ones I'm sure seeing the upsurge in such incidents. Even Senator George Allen called out on an Indian-origin journalist at a recent public rally calling him a monkey. And he gets away with an apology??!?!?!?
If our leaders lead with such examples, what do you expect the general population to do?
With that being said, a thought of fear and hate has permeated through American society in some circles, especially against minorities. One dressed in non-Western attire, or speaking in different tongues gets a look (Spanish excluded, as it has become a norm nowadays), one too many, and not in a good way, mind you.
An instance of this is from my cousin's recent visit to her daughter's pediatrician in New Jersey. My cousin was telling her 2 year old something in her mother tongue, where upon a man approached her and told her to speak in English with her daughter, as she will be able to speak something everyone will understand. My cousin gave an answer quite sound, telling him to mind his own business, and figure out if he had better English speaking skills than she did. Knowing that my cousin has excellent speaking skills, and went to the top English-based schools in Mumbai, India, and has worked with a couple of international airlines in the recent past, it's safe to say she has a good command over her English, and rightfully made that comment.
I don't understand it, but what is this assumption that everyone in this country should be speaking in English, with whomever and whatever at all times? English is not the national language of this country (and I sure wish it would be), so that fact alone doesn't give anyone any right to challenge who should speak what. Agreed, that the de facto language of everyday life here is English, but as a free country a person can speak in any other tongue with their family or friends.
One other thing is the hatred of the South Asian community, especially Indians, due to IT and customer relations jobs moving over to India. The resentment is strong, and the blame is being given to the wrong group. I have heard many saying that Indians are to blame for the current IT downturn in this country. So, instead of blaming the companies who move these jobs, these people blame the ones who get those jobs.
Well with that, with those who have narrow minds, they lump everyone together regardless if you are from India, or if your origins come from there. Case in point, is what happened to me this past week. This is not the first time I have faced racism, or more like foolishness, but I never imagined it would happen at a job interview.
I received a call for an interview with a company I had applied for some months back, Sanger & Eby, here in Cincinnati, Ohio. So I decided to give it a go, and see what was in store.
The hiring manager who I met, Mike, seemed to be a very nice and honest man. He asked how I had a great American accent, and if I come here as a child. Of course I told him my birth country is the good ol'USA, and have been in Cincinnati all my life, to which he seemed a bit delighted about.
As the interview went on, he asked if he could make a suggestion. Open to the advice, I gave him permission, where upon he told me, "Well I suggest you change your name.....to Andy or something.....It would make it easier for HR people and hiring managers not to skip your resume if it came through the applicants stack...". The comment confused me. What did my name have to do with me getting a job based on my skill sets and basic personality? I asked, "Why?".
The next set of comments upset me the most, "Well see....since a lot of IT jobs are being sent over to India, it's creating a bad impression on people to hire people with foreign names. You know, I had an Indian friend where I used to work at, who told me that Indians are not to be trusted". Either the guy telling him this was a sellout, or the words from Mike's mouth are his own feelings.
I ignored that slight aberration, but more and more I thought about it as the interview went on, I just got restless within. I wanted that interview to end, as soon as possible. The basics of the job description kept me interested, as I questioned Mike on the opportunity, but my gut instinct was telling me it wasn't the right opportunity.
The interview ended, and as I said the typical goodbye with a handshake with the interviewer, Mike, he addressed me by saying, "Well hope we can meet again Mr. Andy Jones!", with a slight chuckle. I gave him a dissatisfied look, and walked away.
It then hit me. I didn't want this job. It wasn't what I wanted, cause maybe I wasn't wanted. Maybe I was brought in to match some equal opportunity numbers to satisfy the government for Sanger & Eby's sake.
Ironically I was called about thirty minutes later to see if I was interested in coming in for meeting another person who Mike somehow forgot to have me meet that very day. I put it off, and told Mike I will let him know next week as I had family coming in that very night, so I had to think about it.
I realized that even if this interest was being shown, and if I got the job, my life at this company would've turned into some utter hell. The manager's idiotic opinions would've driven me out of this place very quickly, and most likely me getting into a shouting match with him.
I politely (however I didn't want to be polite) declined the revisit, and wished them good luck in their search, as one would do in a typical response in pursuit of an opportunity.
I'm sure though that the management at Sanger & Eby would've seen this through in a professional manner, but avoiding a fire when you have been initially stung by flames is much more beneficial.
These two examples of odd behavior, call it bigotry if you wish, really seem to be prevalent in our society nowadays. Me and my cousin aren't the only ones I'm sure seeing the upsurge in such incidents. Even Senator George Allen called out on an Indian-origin journalist at a recent public rally calling him a monkey. And he gets away with an apology??!?!?!?
If our leaders lead with such examples, what do you expect the general population to do?
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
G.O.P. (Gay Occassional Party) : Foley's Folly
This has to be the most ironic and hypocritical thing I have been seeing about the Republican party. First of all the party has its politics with an anti-gay stance, but at the same time we have Jim Kolbe, an openly gay Republican Congressman.
Then the past 2 weeks we see Mark Foley, another Republican representative, getting caught for sending inappropriate emails to a teenage congressional page, resigning, and then telling everyone that he is gay.
Hmmmm.....I wonder why gay people, when they get caught for lewd behavior, suddenly feel its necessary to tell the world that they are gay (i.e. George Michael).
What's even sickening is that Foley was one of the main congressional leaders who has done work in child protection laws, especially a ban on child pornography on the web. Hypocrisy at its best.
And now more stuff has surfaced that Rep. Jim Kolbe and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert knew about Foley's dealings.
Even former pages said that it was common knowledge in their groups that Foley was to be avoided cause he had a tendency to act inappropriately toward young male pages.
So, the GOP stands to lose some face considerably with such things happening at the wrong time (mid-term elections). And now they are blaming the Dems for trying to take advantage of their unfortunate turn of events. I'm sure they would do the same if the Dems had such an issue brewing as well.
And now the GOP is not knowing what to do. It surely doesn't look good for W's party for the elections in November.
Halloween being just a few weeks away, the nightmare has already started for the GOP. Well then....so what other skeletons do we have in the closet? A hauntingly odd time for the government.....
Then the past 2 weeks we see Mark Foley, another Republican representative, getting caught for sending inappropriate emails to a teenage congressional page, resigning, and then telling everyone that he is gay.
Hmmmm.....I wonder why gay people, when they get caught for lewd behavior, suddenly feel its necessary to tell the world that they are gay (i.e. George Michael).
What's even sickening is that Foley was one of the main congressional leaders who has done work in child protection laws, especially a ban on child pornography on the web. Hypocrisy at its best.
And now more stuff has surfaced that Rep. Jim Kolbe and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert knew about Foley's dealings.
Even former pages said that it was common knowledge in their groups that Foley was to be avoided cause he had a tendency to act inappropriately toward young male pages.
So, the GOP stands to lose some face considerably with such things happening at the wrong time (mid-term elections). And now they are blaming the Dems for trying to take advantage of their unfortunate turn of events. I'm sure they would do the same if the Dems had such an issue brewing as well.
And now the GOP is not knowing what to do. It surely doesn't look good for W's party for the elections in November.
Halloween being just a few weeks away, the nightmare has already started for the GOP. Well then....so what other skeletons do we have in the closet? A hauntingly odd time for the government.....
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Brangelina in India!
Yes, it's been a couple of days since they arrived, but it's still fresh news. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have set up camp in Pune, India for the next few weeks for a movie based on slain journalist Daniel Pearl.
The media frenzy in India for the Brangelina invasion is quite amazing. Following each and every move of the 'first couple' of Hollywood in the land of Bollywood is a special thing you know.
We now know what they ate for their first meal in India:
Chicken biryani, steamed rice, tandoori chicken, dal tadka, mutton rogan josh and bread. Hmmm...as as side point, why is it that the western visitor is always given the typical North Indian style food.....they are currently in the Heartland of Maharashtra, and they should be trying awesome Marathi food. But then again, they will be there for some time.....and that menu mentioned above does still make my mouth water!!!!
And now the news is that instead of staying out of the 5-star plush hotel in Pune, they will be shifting to a bungalow. The bungalow, is spread over 12 acres of lush green land and includes a clubhouse, helipad/hangar, and is also one of the locales for the big budget film.
Well now the family is set to visit the Katraj snake park Sunday along with the children's nanny. Hmmm......may we know when Brangelina will go visit the bathroom as well?
Anyway, I hope Brad and Angelina will have a good time in India while they are there.
Stay tuned to the Read My Mind blog for more Brangelina in India coverage.......
The media frenzy in India for the Brangelina invasion is quite amazing. Following each and every move of the 'first couple' of Hollywood in the land of Bollywood is a special thing you know.
We now know what they ate for their first meal in India:
Chicken biryani, steamed rice, tandoori chicken, dal tadka, mutton rogan josh and bread. Hmmm...as as side point, why is it that the western visitor is always given the typical North Indian style food.....they are currently in the Heartland of Maharashtra, and they should be trying awesome Marathi food. But then again, they will be there for some time.....and that menu mentioned above does still make my mouth water!!!!
And now the news is that instead of staying out of the 5-star plush hotel in Pune, they will be shifting to a bungalow. The bungalow, is spread over 12 acres of lush green land and includes a clubhouse, helipad/hangar, and is also one of the locales for the big budget film.
Well now the family is set to visit the Katraj snake park Sunday along with the children's nanny. Hmmm......may we know when Brangelina will go visit the bathroom as well?
Anyway, I hope Brad and Angelina will have a good time in India while they are there.
Stay tuned to the Read My Mind blog for more Brangelina in India coverage.......
Silly-gone Valley of India....
The southern Indian state of Karnataka, where the tech city of Banglore is, has decided to implement a law that was passed in 1994, but never enforced till now. This law states that primary schools should teach their curriculums in Kannada, and not in English.
The plan is to shut down schools who have not implemented all their curriculums in Kannada.
Naturally this plan is finding opposition, especially when it is being enforced now by politicians who woke up from their comas of 12 years.
Hmmm.....now let me get this straight.....the state which prides itself in having Asia's IT capital, and a major center for IT development internationally, is giving English the boot as a part of school? That is a shame.
I am not saying that Kannada shouldn't be there, but I feel both languages should be taught simultaneously. Heck it seems everyone I know from India, knows more than 2 languages, and that while learning more than one language at a time.
So what is this government in Karnataka thinking? Maybe they are setting themselves up to lose the next election.
The plan is to shut down schools who have not implemented all their curriculums in Kannada.
Naturally this plan is finding opposition, especially when it is being enforced now by politicians who woke up from their comas of 12 years.
Hmmm.....now let me get this straight.....the state which prides itself in having Asia's IT capital, and a major center for IT development internationally, is giving English the boot as a part of school? That is a shame.
I am not saying that Kannada shouldn't be there, but I feel both languages should be taught simultaneously. Heck it seems everyone I know from India, knows more than 2 languages, and that while learning more than one language at a time.
So what is this government in Karnataka thinking? Maybe they are setting themselves up to lose the next election.
We didn't do it......but we did.....then again we didn't.....but maybe we did....
Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States, Mahmud Ali Durrani, made a statement during a lecture at Johns Hopkins University that all too clear points the finger directly at the culprit in the insergency in Kashmir. Well it's not hard to guess who......
"Jihad, insurgency or whatever you want to call it in Kashmir...Yes, Pakistan may have helped the jihad at some time but it was not started by us and now we are trying our best to stop people from crossing."
I just love it when the admission of guilt is filled with the idea of doubt and some wiggle room when you say the word 'but', everybody's favorite 'excuse' conjunction. Here he states that Pakistan had a hand in the insurgency, BUT now is trying to stop it. Well I'm sure you are, after the USA started twisting your leader's arms! Yet arms supply and the continued existence of Pakistani based militant groups in India/Kashmir is still fact.
But when you make such a statement, I don't think you should be returning to Pakistan any time soon with Mush still in power.....he might have your head, Mr Ali Durrani!!!
"Jihad, insurgency or whatever you want to call it in Kashmir...Yes, Pakistan may have helped the jihad at some time but it was not started by us and now we are trying our best to stop people from crossing."
I just love it when the admission of guilt is filled with the idea of doubt and some wiggle room when you say the word 'but', everybody's favorite 'excuse' conjunction. Here he states that Pakistan had a hand in the insurgency, BUT now is trying to stop it. Well I'm sure you are, after the USA started twisting your leader's arms! Yet arms supply and the continued existence of Pakistani based militant groups in India/Kashmir is still fact.
But when you make such a statement, I don't think you should be returning to Pakistan any time soon with Mush still in power.....he might have your head, Mr Ali Durrani!!!
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Who bribes the most?
According to an anti-corruption organization, Transparency International (TI), India and China are the top 2 countries of the top 30 exporting nations when it comes to giving you 'extra dough' under the table.
It comes as no surprise with India, as there is a method to that madness, be it in the lowest levels of society, to the highest. And in China, corruption is something that is there by default when you have Communism as your method of governing your people.
What's even more telling is that there are MNC's in those countries which are willing to pay bribes, even though in their respective countries they have a strict following for their code of ethics.
So who has the lowest corruption? It's Switzerland!!! Yes the Swiss are a desirable lot when it comes to chocolates, watches, places to ski, and place your money. But now we can look up to them as very ethical nation when it comes to bribes.
But one thing for sure you have to look at is when was the last time did the Swiss have a population problem? Moreover, when did the Swiss have a poverty problem? I don't know myself, but I highly doubt there is a 'survival of the fittest' mentality in the great country of the Alps.
Anyway, if you are tired of corruption, you can move to these countries as well: Australia, Austria, Canada, and Sweden.
As for the USA, it came in 9th place tied with the Belgians for the least corrupt. Hmmm.....did the TI group forget about our government?
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Why the ISI prevails.....
Referring to the previous post, the ISI's involvement in the terrorist campaigns, and controlling of the Taleban is quite easily understood when some of your 'public' is kept a certain way for your objective gains. Here's a small anecdote that the BBC's Owen Bennett-Jones had reported about, which gives a good idea on one reason why:
Soon after Pakistan won its independence in 1947 the young government turned its mind to the issue of increasing the disastrously low literacy rate - to this day, by the way, most tribesmen can't read or write.
Educationalists travelled to the most remote corners of the country and one ended up right by the Afghan border in the tribal belt where the local chief, the Nawab, was a huge landowner with political power to match. A man with a really small kingdom.
"I have good news," the civil servant told the Nawab, "the federal government has allocated funds to build a school in your area."
The Nawab's response was brusque. "I don't want one," he snapped." The educationalist looked confused. "Come with me tomorrow morning" said the Nawab, "and I will show you why."
The next day the Nawab gave his guest a gun. "We are going hunting," he said, "for duck." And after a few hours the chief had bagged his fill and the ducks lay dead, many floating on an ice cold pool. Then he whistled.
It was a command. Suddenly tribesmen who had been watching the shoot hurled themselves into the freezing water, thrashing their arms, swimming and retrieving the ducks; then with their salwar-kameezes clinging to their skin they brought them back to the dry land for the Nawab's inspection.
The Nawab turned to his young idealistic visitor. "I am sorry to disappoint you," he said, "but do you really think that these men would be willing to fetch my duck if they had been to school. Just forget it.
The sad fact......this kind of attitude still remains.
Soon after Pakistan won its independence in 1947 the young government turned its mind to the issue of increasing the disastrously low literacy rate - to this day, by the way, most tribesmen can't read or write.
Educationalists travelled to the most remote corners of the country and one ended up right by the Afghan border in the tribal belt where the local chief, the Nawab, was a huge landowner with political power to match. A man with a really small kingdom.
"I have good news," the civil servant told the Nawab, "the federal government has allocated funds to build a school in your area."
The Nawab's response was brusque. "I don't want one," he snapped." The educationalist looked confused. "Come with me tomorrow morning" said the Nawab, "and I will show you why."
The next day the Nawab gave his guest a gun. "We are going hunting," he said, "for duck." And after a few hours the chief had bagged his fill and the ducks lay dead, many floating on an ice cold pool. Then he whistled.
It was a command. Suddenly tribesmen who had been watching the shoot hurled themselves into the freezing water, thrashing their arms, swimming and retrieving the ducks; then with their salwar-kameezes clinging to their skin they brought them back to the dry land for the Nawab's inspection.
The Nawab turned to his young idealistic visitor. "I am sorry to disappoint you," he said, "but do you really think that these men would be willing to fetch my duck if they had been to school. Just forget it.
The sad fact......this kind of attitude still remains.
"Brought to its Knees"
Musharraf was asked by the British media about the ISI (Pakistani Intelligence Agency) link with Al Qaeda and the Taleban. Musharraf countered with a comment, which displays his arrogance in this whole 'war against terror' campaign. He said, "You'll be brought down to your knees if Pakistan doesn't co-operate with you. That is all that I would like to say. Pakistan is the main ally. If we were not with you, you won't manage anything. Let that be clear. And if ISI is not with you, you will fail."
He also claimed that the US and Britain had a historic debt to pay since Pakistan had helped "win the Cold War" for the West.
OK....even though the comments exude arrogance, it is true that the West (or more like the world) cannot win its peace against Islamic terrorists without Pakistan being involved in it directly. Mush isn't wrong, in one way, as the ISI is a integral part in this fight.
The ISI is the primary force behind the formation of the Taleban and the allowance of Al Qaeda to gain a foothold in the northern provinces of Pakistan and into Afghanistan. And as all Indians know, the ISI is involved in plots that involve terrorist activities in Kashmir and most recently the bombings in Mumbai. What scares me is that the ISI is most likely playing with a double-edged sword in this whole 'game' of theirs.
Mush's comments that the West will fail if the ISI isn't with them is very true. As long as the ISI keeps its links with the wayward idealists in Pakistan, the root of the problem will always remain.
You are right Mushy....the ISI isn't with us!
He also claimed that the US and Britain had a historic debt to pay since Pakistan had helped "win the Cold War" for the West.
OK....even though the comments exude arrogance, it is true that the West (or more like the world) cannot win its peace against Islamic terrorists without Pakistan being involved in it directly. Mush isn't wrong, in one way, as the ISI is a integral part in this fight.
The ISI is the primary force behind the formation of the Taleban and the allowance of Al Qaeda to gain a foothold in the northern provinces of Pakistan and into Afghanistan. And as all Indians know, the ISI is involved in plots that involve terrorist activities in Kashmir and most recently the bombings in Mumbai. What scares me is that the ISI is most likely playing with a double-edged sword in this whole 'game' of theirs.
Mush's comments that the West will fail if the ISI isn't with them is very true. As long as the ISI keeps its links with the wayward idealists in Pakistan, the root of the problem will always remain.
You are right Mushy....the ISI isn't with us!
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