Homework in NYC - Really?

While here - I am taking a class on International Media. Our first assignment that we have turned in, was to interview a person at I-House, of the country we will be doing a presentation and research paper on. So I was able to interview two young women from India.

We had three questions that we were to ask:

• What are the differences between America and India, the challenges, things you missed or any annoyances.
• How is the media different or the same from your country.
• What advice would you give someone visiting your country.

Ana is from the Bengali district of India and was graduating with her masters in software engineering. She completed her undergraduate in India. Her father is a pediatrician and her sister is an engineer for Google in India. She was leaving in a week for Santa Monica, working at Yahoo. I visited Ana while she was preparing a Chicken Curry dish for her aunt and uncle that were in town visiting. I didn’t have the “list” of questions with me, so I just visited with her.

During our conversation, I didn’t gather that she was annoyed, nor indifferent to the American lifestyle. She spoke of being able to adjust to any type of people or situations, and was looking forward to her time in California. When asking if she would seek others from Indian background she said that if she came across others, then yes she would spend time with them. But I could sense that she was looking for some new adventures and experiences.

I specifically asked Ana about the media outlets in India, and in particular, about Bollywood. She chuckled. She said that in each region of India there was a “Bollywood.” Bollywood was for those of the Hindu religion, and that for each region and religion, they had their own producers of film. She was Bengalese, and said that in her region, the films were just as big and popular.

Ana said that print media was very popular, lots of small newspapers were printed each day, and the citizens were avid readers. Interesting fact she shared was that the south and east areas of India had literacy rates of 90+ percent.

My next interview was with Prateedi. I was more direct in my questions with her. She loves NYC, especially the public transportation system and the opportunity she has as a woman to excel in her profession, a culinary chef. She hasn’t found it difficult to adapt to the American lifestyle.

However she does find it disconcerting that when meeting new people, particularly Americans, they are ignorant and have this “Aladdin” mindset of what and how people are from India. Their ignorance is manifested when talking with them. If it doesn’t directly affect them, here and now, they are not interested. She also felt they had little understanding of global issues. Case in point – the tsunami that destroyed Sri Lanka. They really don’t care because it wasn’t in their backyard!

Prateedi also commented about the literacy rate of people in India – everyone reads and subscribes or buys up to three newspapers a day. She felt that their news was well written and had in depth news. Accordingly, the different newspapers are written in ways that reflected the financial backing or agenda of its owners, both with sensational news and coverage of serious political issues. The same with TV, lots of stations with lots of news. One major difference in their broadcast news was that many stations would have an hour long program of world news, with ties into local situations. She felt that the U.S. news only covered what was happening here locally.

Trying to get a feel for how movies play in the social and economics of India, she chuckled as well. Movies are very integrated in the lives of the Indian people. Everyone watches movies she said. There are stories of Muslim men falling in love with Hindu women and vice-a-versa. Tragic stories, documentaries – just good stories. I asked her if watching these movies, would I get a sense of what life in India was like. She said that many of the movies are exaggerated, they are not realistic. The purpose of movies is for entertainment about interesting people within their different cultures.

When asked what she would suggest to do if visiting her country, her eyes lit up! She commented that the touristy spots are wonderful and that people should go see them, but tourists need to explore more. She suggested that they go to rural areas to see how people live day to day. Unfortunately, she said that the “mindset” people have of India, such as poverty issues, are all people will see when they visit – and that they miss seeing the normal people of India. The Modern India of today, how it has progressed and improved. Apparently, the Indian people are proud of the improvements they have made in their living conditions and they would like others to see this whole new world of theirs. She mentioned that visitors need to go with an open mind, meet people and hear their stories. And most importantly – eat the food!