Walid-da,
So in bliss to hear from you - esp. the detailed account and reminisces of your
life in the early days - and far removed it is from the following generations.
I still wonder how one would be able to smell a rose before buying it online in
the days to come.
Umesh
"W.Saleh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Dear Umesh,
Thanks for sharing your experience with us. It seems students in the present
day America get opportunities to maintain a car worth US$ 3.500/- and live a
life of luxury. The next generation which will come to study in USA would
have a different life. You mention that when you took your first flight
Google earth was not there. I am sure the generation will certainly have a
different set of software. May be they will be able to smell the fragrance
of the flower before they place an order. It is being experimented now.
Myself, I belong to a different generation. In the autumn of my life I have
learnt to look to life from a different angle. I sailed from Bombay (nay
Mumbai) to Genoa. It took 16 days.
In my childhood not all houses had electricity. I grew up without radios,
refrigerators, electrical fans, and air conditioners, running water or flush
toilets. Also in those days, unknown to us were products like contact
lenses, copying and fax machines, ballpoints, gas cylinders etc.
At Jorhat, in my early schooldays, at dawn before the world woke up, a group
of Harijan men and women employed by the municipality started their work by
collecting night soil. They went from house to house to collect human
excreta in a large tin then carry on the same to deposit it in a big tank,
which was then pulled away by a tractor. Some of us would not like to
remember that such professions existed in a free country like India.
In those days we did not hear about CD, DVD, MP3, video, PIN, magnetrons,
artificial kidneys, GSM, word processing, computers, Internet, e-mail, ATM,
jet engines, satellites or hippies and yuppies. We never heard of mid-life
crisis or the burnout syndrome or the LAT (living apart together) relation.
We knew only about 33 RPM gramophone records of His Masters Voice. The
dentist of my childhood used a foot driven machine to drill a tooth.
In our young days when something happened in the town the main means of mass
communication was a rickshaw fitted with a loudspeaker announcing the coming
event, which was most of the time about screening of a new film. We may be
the last generation who thought that one needs a man to have a baby.
Artificial insemination and test tube babies were unheard of. No wonder that
there is a generation gap.
In spit of lacking all the modern amenities we went further exploring new
frontiers. But we have survived. The same is the case with your generation.
I am sure the generation before us - when they went abroad for their studies
in 1920 had completely different type of experience.
It is just how you look to life and what you make out of it.
Wahid da
________________________________________
Van: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Namens
umesh sharma
Verzonden: dinsdag 14 augustus 2007 6:34
Aan: assam@assamnet.org
Onderwerp: Re: [Assam] Amazing Indian student migration
I heard of genius Assamese now 38 yearold now going to become President of
SAP India - who initially went to Delhu Univ to to bachelors in Science in
1987 and there heard of SAT (US college entrannce exam) and worked hard and
got an amazing 1580 out of max 1600 (that was pre-internet) and landed a
full scholarship to MIT. Later went to Harvard Business School and then on
to many ventures - and finally to SAP. At 38 he would be the top guy to head
Indian venture and likely to come to US and get further growth in US
I heard of GRE/GMAT only after going to Delhi. Even in 2002 when I wanted to
by a GRE prep book there was none in the top bookstores in my hometown -- I
prepared without one - relying on internet and www.grebible.com
There were indeed a few gys from my hometown who had gone to US for higher
studies - but none went straight from my hometown itself. I think it is
merely a big city phenomena and not surprisingly some big city students look
down on "small city mentality guys" -ofcourse a few of them from metros
still don't eat and drink and lead amorous life like theire more modern US
counterparts .
Umesh
umesh sharma wrote:
Hi,
Some might be interested in it --esp if they are not from Indian metros. I
went with my roommate to pick up 3 Indian students from Dulles Intl Airport
in his old $3500 car purchased recently.- all came in same flight Qatar
Airways --all from Mumbai.
About 1,000 students from Delhi about 2,000 from Mumbai come to US each year
to study - mostly masters in engineering etc -- mostly paid from own pocket
-- perhaps higher real estate prices helps finance an education beyond the
reach of most India (though in smaller govt run colleges tuition is less
($28,000 per master's dgeree and earn enough to pay for stay mostly ) and
some get teaching assistantship - which is too less to be attractive for US
students. IIT, Chicago (Illinois Int. of Technology) has taken in 2,000
students from India each year - my roommates tell me.
Two of them already were on lease (thru their classmates who had moved in
our apartment complex last week) . I bet they must have already seen the
complex thru Googlemap and sen their airplane flight thru Google Earth
software.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=9451+Lee+Hwy,+Fairfax,+VA+22031,+USA&ie=UTF8&l
l=38.867503,-77.269386&spn=0.003843,0.009956&t=h&z=17&om=1
This software wasn't there when I took my first plane flight (and also my
first foreign trip) to come to US via Taiwan.
Though I have been interacting with one Assamese girl who has just joined
the univ here and is a juinor of one of my roommates after working in
software engineering at TCS (Tata Consultancy Services - India's biggest IT
company -- TCS has recruited 80 student's from Assam Engg College this year
thru campus placement). She has benefited from this student network also
here.
More later.
Umesh
PS: On the other hand when I came to US I had never heard of anyone coming
to US for higher studies - from my batch
Umesh Sharma
Washington D.C.
1-202-215-4328 [Cell]
Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005
http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)
www.gse.harvard.edu/iep (where the above 2 are used )
http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
________________________________________
Yahoo! Answers - Get better answers from someone who knows. Try it now.
Umesh Sharma
Washington D.C.
1-202-215-4328 [Cell]
Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005
http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)
www.gse.harvard.edu/iep (where the above 2 are used )
http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
________________________________________
For ideas on reducing your carbon footprint visit Yahoo! For Good this
month.
Umesh Sharma
Washington D.C.
1-202-215-4328 [Cell]
Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005
http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)
www.gse.harvard.edu/iep (where the above 2 are used )
http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
---------------------------------
For ideas on reducing your carbon footprint visit Yahoo! For Good this month._______________________________________________
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