Friday, December 27, 2013

Surprises about America: Nice Post,Thank You BI!

Before reading this blog post, this post in Business Insider should be read with out fail. It talks about surprises in America from an International Indian student. It is suggested to have both the pages side by side for reference.

Before I go on with the outrage and point by point rebuttal of fallacies in this article, let me explain why I am doing it?

It is just because, I respect Business Insider. I wouldn't have given a second thought or bothered with it, if it wasn't BI. It is perfectly okay for some one to have their very own opinion, write it in a blog.

My point of concern is BI publishing it in a tone as though it is from an expert authority. It really doesnt goes well with me to see all such sweeping generalizations appearing in BI! It is totally unfair to its readers. What if, a student in a far away corner in India, reads and takes it on face value and believes that to be a true state of reality. What will an American reading about this, think about India?

Hey, Who am I to comment on this?

I spent much of my childhood and formative years in a small Indian town, studied(spent time) in one of the best and the cosmopolitan colleges in India, worked in USA for more than few months, have been outside India for quite some time. Just making it clear, i have seen my share of the world outside India, interacted, worked and studied with more than one nationality and culture.

Grades:There are schools which have a grade no disclosure policy. There are companies which want near perfect grades. Still, should we believer that nobody talks about grades in US!

Private and no flaunting: Oh Yeah, all Indians do is nothing but trumpet their success and no one is humble. By the way, what the hell is that "their performance alone" and "share their accomplishments with everyone else"

Retail experience is nice in India! personal shopper! Many NRI's have opined that people follow you in these retails keeping an eye on you as though you have come to steal. What about WalMart,even there was no one to help out in shopping. Hmm, never know the American malls are so boring. [To be fair, I would Indian malls are good as malls abroad!]

Tech world: Well, they graciously offered to take your work off, cause the work has to be done and there cannot be delay due to one person's incompetence. I have seen people who are rude, offering help, passing the blame and infighting both in India and US.

Competition and Ethics: If students collobarate in US, it is difficult and hence they learn from each other in study groups. If students in India, colloborate, it is called cheating. [I am reminded of a Tamil comedy where if something red comes out of my head, it is blood, if it is coming of your head,it must be Tomato sauce] So, there are no group studies in India, no one helps the other guy. In US, every one is a good samaritan, and marines who leaves no one behind. Let us accept and understand that education system is different in India and US.

Thin Rich and Respect: Cheap food is fatty and home cooked food is expensive! really? I am really not sure, why i am still not fat!! In that one paragraph, where thin people are respected, the entire America is being made to look like the most shallow people on the earth. "Thin and tall but not as much"I cant recall any gal telling she likes her men short! (why am i generalizing in a post which is totally against generalization!) what does that "made me drinks with more care/love" means! If only that was true, For the way, I look and weigh, Starbuck baristas should be only making love to me! So starbucks treats customers differently based on their looks but not on being a regular. Hmm. Why is Starbucks havent sued yet?

Girls are not promiscuous. Oh finally, something right, but contrary to hollywood films. Yeah, even in India, people don't dance with 50 people in background  in rain, when they fall in love contrary to bollywood films. (Sarcasm Intended)

African Americans aren't given enough opportunity, broken families. Hmm, who is the POTUS now? There are no broken families in other communities.

Not qualified to make comment on brick houses, though there is something on the comment section of the article.

Anywhere, buying bulk is cheaper. Hence the wholesale is cheaper. Americans waste food. Yeah, most of the Indian marriages and festivals don't ever waste food.(Sarcasm Intended)

Obsession with Coffee:Coffee was not consumed as much as it is consumed now in US, before Howard Schultz built Starbucks. Section of South Indians are not coffee addicts and can start their without coffee (Sarcasm Intended)

Split familes are not seen differently but when it comes to African American families it is probably a factual reason, that there is a dearth of them in technical fields. (Sarcasm Intended)

Support towards LGBT: Hmm, Why did Tyler Clementi of Rutgers committed suicide? Oh wait, One of the accused in the case was a Indian. All Indians meekly accepted and hailed the verdict when an Indian court criminalized gays and homosexuals! (Sarcasm Intended)

Smoking weed is same as smoking cigarattes. What really? I guess, I am surely smoking weed when i was reading and writing this! Too bad, Washington and Colorado passed laws legalizing Marijuana contrary to the federal law!

I thought, at least the excerpt from Quora was okay and more factual or US 101 until i read the 'almost-classless' soceity! Service professionals own iPhones cause it is on contract. So there are no poor bums in US! There is no haves and have not's.

The bottom line or conclusion is this: One usually goes to abroad looking for a different experience, how things are different, to see the other side of the world.I guess, after seeing the other side, one could still realize that though there is difference, it is not that different. There are good people, bad people, smart ones, dumb ones, hard workers, slackers in all communities. Every human being, culture, country is unique in certain aspects. Yet, one cannot and should not really stereotype or genaralize and put people or things in to boxes. There are norms, but always there are exceptions and that is the norm.

Nice and Informative Post. Thanks to BI.

p.s
I am also being more cynical and nitpicking cause i feel the article just deserves it



 

2 comments:

Ramesh said...

Hey; what got your goat with that article. Its just a kid mouthing his personal experience; that's all.

By the way, you have committed a serious, glaring, atrocious, unacceptable, gargantuan, abominable, etc etc error in your response.

There IS not a single sane South Indian who can start the day without the filter coffee :):):)

Appu said...

ha ha the entire article got my goat ;) ;)
Yep, so true, agree that its a kid about his personal experience and his perspective. As I said, if it was not for BI, I would not even have bothered to read, even if read it, would have done a considered it a good time pass and left it at that ;)

for a moment, when I was reading your comment, I was wondering what error did I commit!