From: mba2@Elroy.UH.EDU (Puneet_S)
Subject: Re: Your Duty as an IA/American
Reply-To: mba2@Elroy.UH.EDU
Organization: University of Houston
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 15:31:31 GMT

In article <1992Nov9.223637.20087@athena.mit.edu>, tyadav@athena.mit.edu (Tapesh Yadav) writes:
>==================================
> mps1@cec1.wustl.edu (Mihir Pramod Shah) writes:
>>In general, yes, you are right, there is much self-hatred on the part 
>>of Indians going around, especially on the part of SOME IA's.  As an IA
>>myself, I would like to stress to every II and IA that we should on the
>>one hand be proud of our heritage and on the other hand present our culture
>>and interact with mainstream American society.  Thank you.
>
> For once, could someone please tell, what these terms mean/imply:
>  "our heritage"

These are strictly my opinions.  If you don't like them, print out this
post, crumble it up and shoot a free throw into file Trash.

The ideals your/our parents/family instill in us.  Yes, you can't take
all of the ideals, but there is something there, that i'm sure is good.

>  "our culture"

AHHHHH...... Finally, I'm gonna get really philosophical here, so if you
want to skip it, please do.  Culture (i.e. way of life, mind you not 
religon)  For reference sake because I consider myself a Hindu, i will stick
to Hinduism.  It is that which over generations has been created in a society
which helps to bind people together to something common.  All right, the rest
of you before you go off on talking about the crusades and jihads etc..., let
me finish.  All aspects of our/your/whoevers culture are not necessarily good.
But, for example, showing respect to your elders is not such a bad thing.  Or
for that matter, taking care of your parents when they are old (having them
live with you, instead of putting them in a home) is not such a bad thing.
Calling your mom/dads friends uncle/aunti is not a bad thing.  Etc...  Look,
you can either keep the parts of our/your culture that are good or you 
can disregard every thing because somethings are bad (i.e. IST - Indian
Standard Time - If your'e not at least an hour late, it's not fashionable.
Really peeves me all to hel* when the groom showed up at a wedding i went to
recenty 2 hours late to teach the bride's parents a lesson though.

>  "pride in heritage,"

Again, this simpy upbringing.  I am proud to a punjabi.  My interpretation
of being a Punjabi for example: We don't stand for shit from anybody.  Fine
we kill a few people here and there, no bid deal.  <-- Your'e supposed to
laugh at that, not get mad.  Look, my parents raised me to be a person, along
with it came some strings.  Those strings are related to their experiences,
their parents experiences, and so on.  If I can't learn something from them,
than were their lives wasted?  Supposedly you can use history to help predict
the future.  Historians pour over books trying to show trends of things to
come by looking at the past and our past mistakes.  Why can't individuals do
it with the experiences of their elders, hence their Heritage.  I'm proud of
my parents, their accomplishments and the accoumplishments of my culture.
Overseas (out of India) I have met a greater proportion of Indian
Professional than non-professionals.  May be it's cause of a brain drain
in India, but maybe it's also cause i think a greater proportion of Indians
who left India feel very strongly about Education and growth.  Shouldn't I
be proud of that?

>  "present our culture," and 

Sorry, I have nothing for this. I don't even know what you mean by this
phrase.  I would love to understand this one myself

>  "self-hatred" 

Hey search me.  I got no clue on this one.  I can't hate myself. Woudn't
be prudent......I can't hate Indians, Americans, Chickens, Dogs, etc...
Hate's just kind of word I leave out of my personal dictionary.  I may
severly dislike somebody cause' they are a major PUTZ, but that's about it.

>
> Personally, I am proud of every human who ever stood by his or her own 
> thought/conviction, regardless of where he or she was born/bred. The
> chinese who stood before the tank, the Andropovs who defied communists,
> the Keplers who chose exile, the Socrates who chose to drink the poison,
> the Joan of Arcs who prefered the stake, the Luther Kings who stood for
> the dreams....
>
> And therefore, would stress that every one should think independently,
> forget the heritage/culture drivel, and focus on what each one of us
> could/should be. 
>
> We are more than what the mirrors tell.
>
>T.Y.
>----
>tyadav@athena.mit.edu
VCD, Puneet (D-Poon) 
 
It's a 106 miles to Chicago
We have a full tank of gas
Half a pack of Cigarettes
It's dark
And we have our shades on.       
Newsgroups: alt.culture.us.asian-indian