Dressing Guide (Men)

This is the third sequel to the Expatriates posts.

It would take ages to describe all of the differnet types of dresses that are prevelant in India. However, I'm going to focus on several important dresses for both males and females. Unlike females, males don't have much variety.

Traditional outfit for Indian men is known as dothi and kurta tops. India's freedom hero, Mahatma Gandhi also wore dothi. In most of the major cities, men don't wear dothi everyday to work. They were the western outfits: pant, shirt, jeans, and t-shirt. However, when they go to temples, or other traditional South-Indian ceremonies, men often wear dothi's and kurtas. This picture on the left, dipicts how a Dothi and Kurta is worn.

Another most common type of outfit is the Sherwani. It is highly decorated, extremely ornate, and mostly made of silk. This outfit consists of a long tunic, with matching pants, and in addition it has a long scarf. It is a formal dress worn by most North-Indian men during weddings, religious ceremonies, and other parties.

Sorry guys, these are the only two traditional options for you! But most people love to wear either one. Other than that, boys/men of our generation mostly wear Jeans and a T-Shirt. Well, the good thing is that men don't have to worry much about shopping in India because there's nothing complicated to look for.

Culture Guide

This is the second sequel to the Expatriates post.

Along with food, my other main concern when I moved to the U.S was adapting to its culture. Even though I had a little insight on American culture, I still felt I was lost in the sea. Most of my knowledge came from Cartoon Network shows. This channel aired shows similar to Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Hannah Montana, and Wizards of Waverly Place. Most of these shows over-exaggerated the facts.

Once I moved to the U.S, I learned a lot through personal experience. The CN shows never mentioned anything about swear words, and offending actions. First few weeks into my eighth grade, a girl called me the "B" word! At that time I never knew what it meant...So I just didn't respond. However, I later learned from my friends that it was one of the many swear words students aren't advised to use.

Learning the hard way, it dawned on me that the CN shows did not always tell the truth. I had to make myself open to new possibilities, ideas, and mindset. I had to stop comparing every situation back to what I learned from the CN shows. However, there was one good thing: I didn't have much of an accent when I moved to the U.S.

When moving to a new country, I would advice you to research a little about the customs and traditions. As for people who intend to move to India, go online and research about your city. More importantly, learn about all of the religious and government holidays, religious ceremonies, and also other festivals pertaining to your neighborhood. There's nothing worse than offending an Indian during one of their religious ceremonies.

Here are a few websites that provide great information about the culture:

http://www.indian-heritage.org/

http://www.thecolorsofindia.com/interesting-facts/culture/index.html

This is the official Indian Tourism website:

http://www.incredibleindia.org/index.html

My main mistake was that I had a fixed mind set and was never opened to new opportunities. I had to stop thinking like an Indian so that I could get a full experience of American Culture. A few years later, I started mixing American and Indian culture and started a new trend among my family and my friends.

New cultures are always fun and exciting. Always make sure you have a few friends that are willing to help you understand and to help you get acquainted to the new culture. Don't feel embarrassed to ask them any questions about the customs; the best way to learn is always to ask questions.

Food Guide

This is the first sequel to the Expatriates post.

I don't know about everyone, but for me the most important issue in a different country is food. Moving to America, I had so many food problems. I was used to eating spicy food in India that I thought I might throw up at the sight of American food. I didn't like anything: hated pizza, hot dogs, and any type of food. The only food that appealed to me was McChicken sandwich and Arby's Curly fries. However, I later realized that I have to get acquainted to American food. Everyday I forced myself to try something new.

When I was in eighth grade, I didn't have school food. I always had a sack lunch. However, towards the end of the school year, I grew accustomed to the American food that I decided to stop taking home lunch in when I went to high school.

Getting acquainted to Indian is equally harder. For expatriates moving to one of the big cities like, New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad, have access to American fast-food restaurants like McDonald's, KFC, and Pizza Hut. They would not have to force themselves to like Indian food. However, expatriates moving to a small town will not be able access to any of these American foods, unless they live near one of these big cities. They would have to learn to like Indian food.

The most important advice to remember: taste any food before buying it. While in a restaurant, items on the menu might sound tasty and interesting. However, always taste before ordering. Most of the dishes will be spicy and you will be on fire when you eat them. Otherwise you can ask the waiter to make it less spicy for you.

Indian people tend to use a lot of chili powder and pepper in their food. Chili powder is red in color and is very spicy. It is made from red-chili peppers. Therefore when shopping in the grocery store, make sure you don’t get chili powder if you don’t want your food to become spicy.
Also Indian cooking uses a lot of turmeric powder. It is very good for your health; it is one of the spices that helps prevent the development of tumor. This is one of the reasons why Indian people don’t develop cancer much.

Other than that, please keep in mind to eat at a reputable restaurant. There are a lot of street vendors who sell food. They might look inviting, but please don’t eat anything from them. Most of them cook their food with un-clean water, use degraded vegetables, and never take care of their surroundings. Chances of you getting sick after eating from them are very high. Also, don’t by soda from them. They are not of good quality. If you feel thirsty, or hungry make sure you find a three, four, or five-star restaurant. Even though they might charge you a higher price, you will not have to make frequent visits to the doctor.

These are some of the most important things to keep in mind when trying to get acquainted to the food in India. It always helps to have a neighbor help you out in times of need. That’s what I did when I first moved to the U.S!

Guide to Expatriates

The most embarrassing situation anyone can get into is when they don't completely understand the culture of their residence town. This mostly happens when foreigners go to a different country to live for a given period of time. These people are known as Expatriates. I just heard from my good friends that their family might be moving to India for a few years and they wanted me to give them some advice. I decided that I might as well write up a general advice for all the people that might be a future expatriate to India. India is one of the fast growing countries in the new century. It has many outsourcing opportunities that foreign governments take advantage of. Many people who go to India as expatriates are diplomats, employees (under contract), consulate staff, and multinational corporation’s workers.

These people move to India with a variety of visions. First of all, they are there to gain "foreign experience." This strengthens their resume and will increase their chances of gaining higher levels of office in their company. Secondly, they are here to experience the new culture. Many people think Indian culture is rich and beautiful. Some come to India to learn more about the culture and conduct culture based studies here. The others come to India for the ever open opportunities. This growing nation is just waiting to attract foreigners and open opportunities is just one of its strategies.I'm an expatriate myself. My dad is living in the U.S because my dad has a job here and until he quits or gets laid off we are stuck in the U.S. I know how hard it is to get accustomed to a new culture. Hopefully my tips in the next few blogs will be useful to a lot of readers.

Even though most of these advices are for people moving to India, they can be altered to be used in any other South Asian countries. Moreover, these advices are not just for adults, they are applicable to kids too. Keep reading my next few posts to learn about some advices to help you out when moving to India, or any other South Asian county.

Educational Segregation

The more education one has, the more respect they gain in society. People respect others only when they have enough money in their hands; once the money is gone, they become an outcast. Whereas if they are educated, people will respect them no matter how rich or poor they are! That is what my mom always tells me whenever I start giving up on studies. She says, “You have so much potential that you are wasting everyday.” Her little pep talk always cheers me up no matter where I am. The young generation of the 21st century has an amazingly wide range of educational opportunities to choose from.

Derek Bok once said, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” Ignoring education is almost equal to neglecting a baby because the parents cannot afford to take care of it. Many people assume that education is expensive and thus don’t try to pursue it. People don’t realize that financial help is offered everywhere for individuals interested in education. It doesn’t matter if one is rich or poor, smart or less intelligent, or mentally or physically challenged. Everyone should be granted with equal chances to take part in the wide array of educational opportunities that are available. Without equal chances, the odds than an individual’s dream will be fulfilled are low. Never let the surroundings shape the dream; always let the dream shape the surroundings.

Education is the key to unlock the stored energy of dreams in an individual. The more education they get, the more likely they are going to succeed in pursuing their dreams. Enrolling in school is the best way for an individual to pursue their dream. However, not everyone gets an equal chance in their education to fulfill their dreams. Not everyone gets a fair chance to enroll in the classes they want to be in. Through one’s school life, individuals are being separated into different levels of education based on a single test score, or as I would like to call it, the malevolent monster.

In middle school I got a clear understanding of the hidden monster, besides grades. It hypnotized all the school administrators into creating an unfair school system. This monster judged the students unfairly. It differentiated the students into three categories: weak, middle, and strong. They are the “ITBS and ITEDs.” For some students it might not really matter. They might say that they sleep through the test and still get 99% over all. On the other hand, there are other diligent students who actually try their best, but still get 76%. The main goal of these tests it to compare the educational levels of the students nationwide. However, some schools take these scores seriously and create groups like Program for Academic and Creative Talent, aka PACT, or Learning Enrichment Opportunities, aka LEO at Linn Marr. This is where all the “smart” kids hang out, and frankly this is the only place they could call themselves “smart.”

Schools like Linn Mar, take the test scores very seriously. Depending on their test scores, the school requires the students to take classes that would help improve their basic skills needed for the test. They create different educational levels to challenge the weak, middle and the strong. Students who belong to LEO are granted the opportunity to take advanced classes while the other students are stuck with the regular classes, even if they like it or not. The school fails to realize the fact that there are many students who are very eager to enroll in the advanced classes; however they have a hard time crossing the hurdle ahead of them.

Schools like Kennedy, on the other hand, are open to any type of student that would be interested in enrolling in any of the classes that are offered at the school. Kennedy does take the test score into consideration and it does have the PACT program. However, unlike other schools, Kennedy awards the students with the freedom to choose their classes. It does not assign classes to the students; rather it lets the individuals figure out their own strengths and weaknesses. Many students take hold of this opportunity and decide whether they are capable of taking the classes they want to take or not. Schools like Kennedy let the students make the decision for themselves, except for the individuals who get below the 40 % rank on the standardized tests.

Every school has a special program that helps the students who score 40% or below on their ITBS or ITEDs. This success program was created to help the students acquire strategies and skills necessary to score better the next time they take the test. However, this does not mean that the student will never be able to take any advance classes that the individual might wish to take. This just means that it will take a longer time for these students to pursue their dreams.


Mary goes to Kennedy and is one of the students who cannot stand taking standardized tests. She got a little over 60% on her ITED exams, and felt like she would never grow in life with those scores. She took normal classes, but never attempted to take advanced classes because she thought she was not qualified enough to handle the course. She also had the false assumption that only the “smart” students were allowed to take the class. However, she later realized that Kennedy encouraged anyone and everyone to take any class that they wished to take, therefore she signed up to take A.P US History with many of her other friends. To summarize her thought in a phrase, she went from feeling like a total loser to “Yes, I can do this!”

Segregating students based on their test score is not only cruel but also very disparaging. It belittles the self esteem of many students, creating an impression that they will never be as successful in life like their peers. With low self esteem, they will cease to give their full effort to pursue their dreams. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Real education consists in drawing the best out of yourself.” Without allowing the students to explore the opportunities themselves, they will not be able to find the best of themselves. If a career path is forced upon an individual, the odds are the individual might not be happy with their position in life. The students might feel the same way too!

We all might think that segregation is an issue that was abolished and forgotten many years ago. However, we are too ignorant to realize that there are other forms of segregation that still exist in society. Educational segregation! Students are being separated by their test scores. Students with high test scores are granted with all the never ending opportunities, while students with lower test scores are prohibited from entering the world of advancement. Segregating students based on their test scores might have a significant effect on the individual themselves. They might develop a low, never escalating, self esteem, they might create a false assumption that they will never be able to fulfill their dream, or they might give up on studies. Many individuals will not find this minor issue to be significant at all, but one final day they will agree with John F. Kennedy that, “A child miseducated is a child lost.”

Best Friend of Hate is Silence

This October, I had the opportunity of attending a Student Diversity Leadership where I learned a lot of things through Diversity Focus.

Some background info about Diversity Focus:

About Diversity Focus:
Diversity Focus is a non-profit organization devoted to enhancing the diversity of the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City Corridor. The goals of the organization are:

Communication
Information Clearinghouse
Program Enhancement

About this Conference:

Many of us travel on diverse paths, but in our communications and our world we share a spirit of hope for a brighter tomorrow. We can achieve this dream through understanding, celebrating, accepting, and working together. The Student Diversity Leadership Conference will provide participants with the knowledge and resources to be more successful leaders in their schools and communities.

The best part of this Conference, in my opinion, was the Keynote Presentation by Dr. Eddie Moore, Jr.

Background info about Dr. Moore:

Dr. Eddie Moore currently serves as Director of Diversity at the Bush School in Seattle, WA. He earned his Ph.D. in Educational Social Foundations from the University of Iowa. His research is on the educational experiences of African American football players at small colleges in the Midwest. Eddie is an ex-student athlete and remain committed to the influence of athletics and academics in the lives of all students. Eddie is a dynamic and personable diversity consultant and public speaker. Dr. Moore has also been a workshop presenter/facilitator and trainer for various organizations and at national and international conferences concerned with Education, Diversity, Privilege, and Leadership. Eddie's presentations are interactive, fun, challenging, and motivating.

I've been an active participant of my school's Cultural Diversity club for about two years now, but never have I been fully committed to my job. I've just been there for namesake; I take part in activities to make my resume look good. However, this time I had the urge to make a difference at my school through the club. From where did I get this sudden inspiration? Dr. Eddie Moore's Keynote speech.

After the Diversity Focus conference, I felt a change in my perspective of diversity. Until then I thought that diversity meant the incorporation of different cultures, which is true, in all the activities that takes place at my school. I found out that I take part in club activities that help me and my ethnic background the most. I felt that I was being prejudiced towards other cultures, by being self centered. After listening to Dr. Moore's speech it struck me that I haven't been promoting diversity in the most effective way; I've been just been spreading the Indian culture, not the tolerance of diversity (which is the major focus of our club). I felt disgusted with myself.

Dr. Moore started out his speech by saying, "The best friend of hate is silence." It means that being silent or ignorant or indifferent to racist comments or even slight acts of prejudice is fuel for hate. I learned from his speech that stereotypes fuel to racist comments as much as colors do. To be a much better community, we need to first bring down the barriers that stereotypes create. Through his speech I realized that identities are not static, they are fluid. It dawned on me that my generation is very pessimistic at times. If something doesn't work or if they don't get something they want, they loose faith and approach life in a negative. This creates hatred towards each other. I learned that to be successful in life, in this case anything, you have to have a positive approach to life.

I would say that the most important thing I learned from this conference is that diversity is more than incorporting all the cultures. Diversity means to be considerate of other's thoughts and feelings. If we see discrimination, we have to get to the source and stop it. If there are stereotypes, breat it.

Culture Shock

Just a word of concern: Through this post I really do not mean to offend anyone in any way or manner....I just wanted to share with you all my thoughts about my experience.



A two months ago, BBC published an article that explained the building tensions between India and China. India, following China with the largest population in the world, is starting to catch up with China in economic outputs. With the advantage of cheap labor, India is producing a lot more products that is being exported to the foreign countries. Well, China used to being the leader in everything, does not like the thought of competition. So...started the tensions between these two amazing countries. In the article China accuses the Indian press with publishing an article that bashed the Chinese people.


Here's the link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8351439.stm


This summer I had the honor to attend a Secondary Student Training Program (SSTP) at the University of Iowa. It's a six week long summer camp where I got to work with a pediatric neurologist, Dr. Alexander Bassuk, in his research laboratory. Even though this experience was supposed to be educational, I felt that this experience was a bonding period between the Oriental and Indian cultures. While applying to this program, I imagined that there will be a lot of Caucasians inducted into this program. However, I was completely shocked when I got to the dorms. As far as I could tell you guys, about a large majority were either Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Indians. My Liaison was Japanese and one of the male Resident Assistants was Korean.



When I told this to my friends at school, all they could say was..."Why are you shocked? You are Indian and they're Chinese. It's just understood that you guys are freakishly smart!" I mean, we are smart, but our smartness is developed and nurtured. The biggest reason as to why I was shocked is that, I know that most of my Caucasian friends are very smart, but they never realize that. They don't use that smartness to its full potential. They either waste it, or just don't recognize it. They just put themselves down. Indians and Chinese are hardworking in nature. While Caucasians on the other hand like to take the easy way out (again...not trying to be offensive here). They, Caucasians, like to get things done easily, fast, and without much effort. While, Indian and Chinese like to be thorough, detailed, and perfect with their work.



What I'm really trying to say is that my summer experience at SSTP made me realize that my culture, my heredity, is not a privilege. I have to work for it. I mean...I feel that I'm becoming more Americanized everyday. Even though that its a good thing in a way, I'm always a Indian at heart. I need to remember my culture, and where I actually come from. Going the SSTP camp made me realize that.