The inscrutable American’s - A Journey and all That..........

The inscrutable American’s is not a hate tale of conspiracy against America or a biography of a lost soul in an unfamiliar territory. It’s a story of a hilarious outtake on an Indian's experiences in the US.

It’s a journey which every Indian must have taken as a student and can relate to some of the cultural shocks that the character experiences. This book will have you in splits and wits. An interesting read which will make you think about some of your personal experiences as an alien student in this strange foreign land of dreams.

Although, it was written in 1991 at the time when India was a third world country and some of the descriptions seems to be really outdated for today’s times when India is modern, emerging and at the forefront of the world (I just read today India is going to be 3rd Largest economy by 2020). Unlike 1991 if someone comes today from India, there not much of a difference in living standards. Anurag Mathur, the writer has done an amazing job of describing the journey of Gopal physically, mentally and emotionally over a period of one year. A journey which can be described with the old-cliché, a journey of self-discovery, realization, acceptance and separation. The humor, the Indian English and the author's depiction of Gopal is what makes this book an excellent read and I am sure you won’t put it down as every next page is more intriguing read then the previous one. I couldn't stop laughing at the Gopalisms, which are direct translation from his native language to English.

This book although fiction raises some good points and propels with a lot of issues and gives us the prospective of both the good and the bad of America. It talks about the cultural and ethnic values of India and how a person who has never stepped out of his protective surroundings finds it hard to shed those values and mix them with the unfriendly western culture. It talks about the social acceptance of new people, cultures and even food. It shows us what goes on in the mind of a new immigrant alien and that people are alike everywhere it’s just the skin color that separates them.

The book starts off being funny & witty, then later moves into more serious issues. The book I feel can be divided into three parts. The first part deals with Gopal's amazement in his introduction to the great land. The way he discovers new things and concedes that America indeed is a strange world. He talks about the differences between two worlds unknown to each other. This part is mostly funny and will definitely get you to grin or chuckle multiple times. I laughed till the tears rolled out. This part will get you hooked to the book.

The second part deals with the stark realities of living in USA and it even makes one realize that America has a dark side too and is not all that rosy as presented to the rest of the world. This is the body of the book. This part talks about new discoveries, the racial discrimination, the liberation of mind, the fear to change, the fear of acceptance in an alien society, the educational system, the issues with staying away from meat, his introduction to bars, beers & cigarettes, and his introduction to women sometimes in strange ways, his perception of the Americanism and people around him, his bondage with Randy, Gloria, Sue and Anne and off course his mannerisms which gradually changes and starts becoming more Americanized.

And the last part the end where he has to part with his friends, the education and return to India to manage his old business, the boring life according to him which has been pre-set and arranged for him and back to interdependence rather than independence he discovered here in the US. This part is really touching and gives you a sulking feeling.

I feel the author has shown a great depth in writing the book and each character has made an impact on Gopal’s life. All the characters complement each other very well, especially the characters of Randy & Gopal. The other characters of Gopal’s cousins in the USA, the dean & his wife, his landlady Gloria, his crushes Anne & Sue, Randy parents, the white guy with leaflets, the African-American student 'peacock', the other Indian student Anand who calls our hero as 'Goh-Pal' are all different, funny and you can easily relate to them as one of your friends you made in the US.

This is a recommended read, you can relate to parts in the book maybe some and all that........

300 Mistakes and Counting..............

I Recently read Chetan Bhagat’s “The 3 mistakes of my life” a story about three down the street, regular out of college struggling young boys with different passions but similar motive, the motive to help a young boy succeed. In the story the characters have to deal with religious politics, earthquake, riots, unacceptable love and their own mistakes and the mistakes of others. The book has some real life events and the main premise revolve around those events. It is a good and engaging read right from the very beginning but in the end it becomes a little vague and feels like as if one is reading a movie script. I STRONGLY recommend “The Three Mistakes of my life”. It’s heartening and feel-good. Do give it a try if you’re down with a bad mood and I’m sure it’ll lift your spirits.

After reading the book, I kind of felt that it pointed out some mistakes within our theoretically diversified, yet single minded society, our complex system and us as individuals. This book made the youth wary of some things which we take for granted. I also felt that it made some points the country is, or was going through at the time the book was written:

1. Smaller town people Vs Big city miscreants
2. Conservative mentality of people
3. Extremism in politics and Religion
4. Prejudice towards agnostics and atheists
5. Poverty amongst the brighter lower-middle class
6. Money is power and power is success
7.Unprotected sex without worrying about the consequences
8.Offbeat ideas receive suppression
9. Lack of sports education/infra-structure in schools and colleges
10. Completely study oriented schools
11. Businesses are extremely risky
12. Swanky malls with poor construction designs
13. Drift between religions, castes and age groups
14. Conservative and Stereotyped mentality of parents
15. Hypocrisy among public, politicians, and everyone alike
16. Lack of awareness, foresight and ideas due to lack of quality education
17. Smaller schools lack funds and money in everything
18. Heavy mugger-friendly curriculum
19. People just want to earn, and passion for anything is dead
20.Prodigies and talented folks are mostly unrecognized and all that dies away as unharnessed potential
21. Male dominated society
22. Selfishness and greed
23. Blind love causing drifts
24. Giving too much importance to cricket trhan other sports
25. Blaming others for your failures
26. Harming innocent people for your self-interests
27. Moral wrongdoings

28.

29.

30.

Well, these were some 30 mistakes I could think of the 3 mistakes of my life had pointed out, there are plenty and I can go on; maybe write another book following this one but I personally believe that mistakes can be the most powerful teachers you will ever have. Success can be more gratifying, but it is often the mistakes that show you the need for new values and behaviors that will make the greatest difference in your life. Mistakes help you learn what works and what doesn’t work. The day you realize that you have committed a mistake that day is your first step of the process to success. For example Children will keep falling and getting up until they finally learn to walk. They are not afraid of falling, because their mistakes are part of the process. Make room in your life for mistakes and you will know the value of success and enjoy it when it comes to you.

I myself have committed mistakes all the time in all shapes and sizes of different shades and my count just not stops at 3, it’s probably 300 and counting………….

It's the 8th

Time has flown, it seemed like just yesterday I packed up and said goodbye to family and friends in India and hopped aboard united airlines, the last united flight from India, to make a new life in Amreeca. Well that was 9/11/2001. It’s been incredible eight years. I have grown since then, I have gained so much experience, made many friends and lost few. I have gained lot of knowledge both good and bad. I have learned a lot and have become wiser. It has been truly great so far but I will never forget 9/11.

To wind back 8 years ago on this day, US had been forever changed by a senseless act of terrorism. 8 years ago, the world around us changed in dramatic and unprecedented fashion and in ways we are still discovering. While our collective pain has become less, individual pain remains sharp and our collective consciousness remembers. Let us never forget the way it felt that day. We will be touched by September 11, 2001 for the rest of our lives in ways I cannot begin to fathom. I remember saying that everything had changed and everything looked different. Hardly a sublime statement, but true. I still remember that day when everything came to a standstill and can feel the pain of the people who lost their loved ones as those incidences I saw through my own eyes sickened me for quite a long time.

I want to remember and pay homage to the victims who died on this day. I want to salute the people who sacrificed their lives to protect US, such as the heroes of United 93 and the firefighters, NYPD and enumerable volunteers.Today, I want to pay respect to those who had put down their lives while rescuing a stranger without selfishly thinking about themselves or their families. I want to remember all those who have given their lives since then, protecting us!. All These people teach us the lesson to believe in unity and integrity and above all God.

Lets hope for a united World and lets pray for those serving our country, lets remember those who perished that day and their families. And lets hope that God bless us, who remember that day.

It's been 8 long years and the Journey continues as I go remembering, discovering and progressing myself along with the memories of 9/11.

Health care Card In India for the poor

Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana which was formally launched on the 1st of October last year to help provide smart card based cashless health insurance cover up to Rs.30,000 or $700 to the Below poverty Line or BPL families in the next five years under the Health Insurance Scheme. An estimated six crore BPL workers in all 600 districts in the country at one lakh workers per district would be covered for 120 district per year starting from this financial year. The Central Government has already issued Guidelines and a Draft Tender Document has been prepared and sent to all the States.
This is how it works, total sum insured would be Rs. 30,000/- per family, per annum, on a family floater basis. It would operate through cashless transactions and would cover hospitalization expenses, taking care of most of the illnesses with as least exclusions as possible. An initial allocation of Rs.250 crore has been made in the budget 2008-09. The Centre would contribute 75% of the annual premium whereas the States would be contributing the remaining 25%.
The use of smart card will make this project totally cashless and provide interoperability to facilitate use by migrant labor and use of IT applications for the poorest of the poor make this scheme unique in nature. The Scheme would use both public and private service providers for delivering the insurance package. It would also seek the contribution of Rs.30, by way of Registration fee, from the BPL beneficiary with a view to inculcating a sense of ownership in them. Fifteen States (Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Bihar, Uttrakhand, Kerala, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and West Bengal) have been approved. States of Orissa and Himachal Pradesh are likely to start very soon. All States, except the States in the North-East and J&K, have formally communicated their participation in this program. The Enrolment software has, by and large, stabilized but the real challenge would be the operation of Transaction software which will be used in the hospitals. The specifications for Transaction Software have been approved and released. A Certification System has also been put in place. A couple of Service Providers have submitted the software for certification.

The card is works at both public and private hospitals that have pre-enrolled in the program. The card system functions like a health savings accounts with s consumer-driven incentives to manage costs wisely. The program launched in April has already drawn 1.5 million enrollees. The government hopes 60 million more will join buy the 1st anniversary of the program.

The challenges are many; the back-end data base management which would ultimately make the scheme paperless can lead to fraud and insecurity. This is a long term exercise which will take a few months. If a person is not present in his home state he is not eligible he has to return to his home state to qualify. Not all private practices and hospitals will be willing to allocate discount rate for such a system and until now there are just few enrollees. This type of card should not lead to the market distortions that occurred in the United States after Medicaid and Medicare came into existence. Another challenge is that it only covers medication to a certain extent which would eat a large chunk of money. This is a good move by the government to help the underprivileged yet deserving population, we have to wait and watch how far this scheme is successful. While the use of the card is limited to care at hospitals, it still goes a long way to reduce the chance that medical debt will financially crush already-impoverished families. And with one-third of the world's poor living within its borders, India is right to address its health care challenge the budget provides for Rs.10 billion for the Aam Admi Bima Yojana that provides insurance cover to poor households. This will cover 10 million poor households in addition to the 10 million likely to be covered by Sep 30 this year.

Iphone in India

After much speculations and wait Iphone has finally been launched in India.Pretty sweet as it is one of the best mobile communication device i have seen so far.You can use it as a regular phone, browse internet, listen to music take pictures in low resolution and browse mutiple applications such as gps, yputube etc. There is a lot of cry that Iphone is very expensive more expensive than it is in the U.S. It cost's around an exorbitant Rs 31,000 for the 8 GB version and Rs 36,100 for the 16 GB one which is out of reach of a common mobile user and with no 3G yet in India browsing is going to be slow. If you compare the price Iphone costs more in the U.S.For instance an average user like me will spend around Rs. 700 a month in talktime.Airtel offers 1.5gb of internet usage at Rs 700 so the monthly charge comes out to be around 1400 now if you use it for 2 years it is around 33,600 for usage and 31,000 for the hardware which together equals 65,000 approx.Now in US the equipment cost is almost Rs. 8360 and billed at Rs 3360 per month, again if you use it for two years your total together with the equipment comes out to be a whooping Rs 89,000 which is almost Rs 14,000 higer or to breakdown monthly you will spend approx Rs 583 per month more in US. It has been available in the grey market for quiet some time in India and starting september unlocked model of iphone is going to be avaible around Rs. 25,000 in the US. So why cry enjoy your iphone in India and ask for 3G to be launched.

Sports in India Review

According to a recent article the economic and social dominance in the world is weighed by their progress in sports and i guess it is somewhat true. According to the article countries with Higher GDP growth should have more medals and better athletes as they have the political and economical upper hand over poorer countries also people are better nourished in such countries. The highest is the U.S. with china, japan and India following the lead.But India is nowhere near the top Ten in fact it has managed to perform a little better and ranks forty fifth as off now. The poor performance of India in international sports other than cricket is attributed to many factors.

Sports and games are largely financed and administered by government authorities. This leads to divisive political interference.
The government does not spare enough financial resources to promote and encourage sports and games
Indian schools and universities do not have adequate facilities for sports and games
Our society is ridden with communal, caste and class divisions
Another view is that Indians lack team spirit and strategical analysis
Some say it's the genes but It is doubtful whether Indians have the stamina and the nutrition required for sports and games.
Do Indians lack the killer instinct?
Due to political reasons India does not allow foreign coaches or players to come in and train our athletes.
Our media exploits the sportsmen so much after winning small events and the athletes have to perform above expectations that they perform inconsistently and finally decline.
We need to reform such issues and explore our strengths and weaknesses and come out with a winning strategy.But for now we must celebrate the three medals earned in Olympics 2008 and start working for the next Olympics

61st India Day Parade NYC

The Indian American community celebrated India’s 61st Independence Day with official flag hoistings at the Indian Consulate, cultural meets and a grand parade in Manhattan, New York.At the India Day parade in Manhattan, which is the largest parade held outside India, thousands of people lined up across the street and waved Indian flags.Deepika Padukone was the Grand Marshal of the parade, which began at 1:30 p.m. from the 41st street on Madison Avenue.There were more than 10,000 Indians gathered for the parade. It was like a herd of people bumping into each other. There was lot of Indian food and promotional stalls from various businesses targeting the Indian community.
It was a day to show your support for the motherland but to a lot of people it was just another fair where they could eat some Indian food ( which was of the lowest grade).
I was in charge of one of the stalls to distribute some promotional materials for a cable channel. I was thrilled to be a part of such a celebration and to meet fellow Indians. Well, it turned out to be a nightmare for me and some of my friends. I believe that we all are ambassadors of our country and we represent India.We at our stall were giving out free stuff as a goodwill gesture and the trouble started their, the crowd simply flocked and jumped on us just to get some free stuff. The crowd was like a bunch of hooligans. It was sheer madness all around. There was no respect or discipline i could hear people cursing and howling like wolves. Even the educated people were misbehaving. The way they were acting could leave a very bad image of India and loosing the respect Indian community is credited for as Indians are considered to be the most educated and well mannered community and also one of the highest earning minority group in America. I was upset to see such a picture being displayed by those people and wondered "mera baharat kahan"