I can’t begin a food post without sharing an experience from a few nights ago. A group of us had dinner at Indus Valley, a reasonably well-regarded desi restaurant at 100th and Broadway in New York. At some point the composer Philip Glass walked in, and one of our group, a big fan, went into a state of beatific darshan that threatened to destabilize our meal. It got worse when Glass and his companion sat at the table next to ours. My fellow diner was finally able to compose himself, give Glass props, and return to getting our eat on.
Suddenly another of my companions let out a piercing yell and pushed back from the table with great speed. Yes, there was a big old cockroach crawling up the tablecloth — not the short dark ones you often see in NYC kitchens, but a tropical-quality beast, two or three inches long (though not the flying kind). A minor tamasha ensued, during which Philip Glass turned to me and said, with an air of wisdom, “Don’t worry, they have very small appetites.”
Cockroaches happen; celebrity sightings happen too. But what was truly shocking was that the macacas brothers running the restaurant did not comp us even a round of drinks or dessert, let alone a meal, in recognition of the disgusting insect experience. I guess it shouldn’t have surprised us, seeing that they were already trying to seat a couple at a nearby two-top while the cockroach hunt was still on, but come on, what the hell kind of restaurant management is that? So, folks, if you go to Indus Valley at 100th and Broadway, watch out for big-ass cockroaches and don’t expect a discount.
Which brings me to the subject at hand. Perhaps in response to a desi dining landscape that, except in a few fortunate neighborhoods and towns, consists of the same old slop doled out from the same buffets, plus a few “nice” places that look fancy but aren’t necessarily up to snuff in the hygiene department, the idea of desi fast food — cheap, standardized and franchised — becomes a more and more compelling alternative.
We’ve mentioned this before, with reference to the Hot Breads bakery chain, but now here is another entrepreneur heading this way, this time from an unlikely starting point in New England:
Yogi Sood sits in front of his restaurant in the food court at the Burlington Mall talking strategy with his son. The conversation is not about recipes or vendors or price points. Their recipes already are great, their vendors steady, their prices fair.
Rather, this debate is about the speed at which they should conquer the world. Yogi, a 57-year-old retired engineer and the founder of Gourmet India, wants to do it quickly. Now. Yesterday.
“Fifty franchises in five years,” he says.
Vishnal Sood, 24, raises an eyebrow. He is deferential to his father but the eyebrow is ominous.
Yogi interprets: “My son thinks I’m a bit ambitious,” he says. Then he laughs.
The Soods’ company, Gourmet India, has franchises in well-selected, semi-upscale or well-trafficked malls in the Boston area. The idea is to make desi food ubiquitous in mall food courts. I would imagine there are other regional chains starting up in different parts of the country on exactly the same premise.
Still, a national chain? “It’s a big leap,” says Harry Balzer, an expert in the eating habits of Americans. “People’s taste changes very slowly.”
Sood is nonplussed. Indian food will be to the ethnic food market what Chinese food became 20 years ago, he says. He looks around the mall’s food court. Some of the heavy hitters of the franchise restaurant business are his neighbors: Pizzeria Regina, Johnny Rockets, Quiznos. “We’re already among the most popular here,” he says.
The article treads the usual ground (with a punning title too lame to repeat here): how the US market for desi food is different from the UK, etc. Still, the question is there and it’s surely worth a lot of money: what are the chances, and what would it take, to make desi food a ubiquitous option in the malls, airports and train stations of America, like pizza and Chinese?
Word. Tangra Masala on 87-09 Grand Ave (R/V/G train to Grand/Newton) is mad crowded but they have a more spacious comfortable sit down offshoot called just Tangra on Queens Blvd in Sunnyside. They also got Tangra Wok in Rego Park which I’ve never been to. The food eating group is a dope idea. I could think of some people here who should eat more and talk less 🙂
Dear Sepia Mutiny Dining Task Force, New York Chapter:
I couldn’t wait and hence, went to Tangra Masala last night, fired up by all of these posts. And even though I might have broken a few traffic regulations getting there, enjoyed a hell of a time trying to find parking, and a nearly 40 minute wait for dinner (on a Wednesday night, people, in Elmhurst)–it was worth every hair that might have whitened during the process.
What we ate:
Curry Chicken Rolls Lolly Pop Chicken Crab Meat Corn Soup Chilli Goat (Dry) Vegetable Singapore Noodle String Beans Tangra Masala Falooda, Falooda, Falooda
If anyone is familiar with Waldorf on Park Street, probably the premier Tangra restaurant back in the when Kolkata was Calcutta, let me assure you: Tangra Masala comes very, very close. TM’s food is damn good.
Some research shows that there is another outpost, closer to Manhattan: “Sunnyside..38th and Queens Blvd..take the 7 train to 40th street” from an annonymous poster on http://www.yearinfood.blogspot.com
I’m totally down to eat at either again, asap. I have a car, can transport SMers from Brooklyn, should the need arise.
re: #209
sorry to repeat your info re: other TM spot.
Peops, what’s SM’s highest civilian honor? The Keys to the Bunker? The Order of the Golden Macaca? Whatever it is, Pritha needs to be rewarded. I mean, damn, that’s some dedicated research.
That menu has my tongue flopping around on my teeth like a seal in a zoo display.
Siddhartha, we need to do this mission as soon as possible.
The fact that race & ethnicity appears to still be a much more loaded issue in America than the United Kingdom may be a factor as well.
…and yet we have no BNP. not a slam, but the native & racialism that penetrates into the european mainstream in the form of parties like the BNP, National Front of Vlaams Blok is simply not conceivable here (our right-wring president has a brown-skinned neice & nephew after all).
Razib
Seriously man, the BNP is not mainstream. A few council seats in protest votes are not signs of native racialism made mainstream politics in the UK. The rest of Europe does not apply to the UK.
btw people, pritha is an old friend of mine from like ten years ago whom i’d lost touch with til she appeared here. more sepia destiny. we should do sepia “classmates.com” while we’re at it.
The last point in particular is really weird; in my experience, such a virulently negative (and, in my view, disproportionate) reaction is practically unheard of amongst 2nd-Gen desis in the UK. I don’t know if this is an accurate reflection of American desi society or just something specific to SM, but it seems that in some quarters over there, “f**k” is not the only 4-letter-word beginning with “F”.
i think the primary factor is the overwhelming umbrella of FOB culture + the fact that american born brownz are disproportionately professional & highly integrated into the surrounding society. i once talked to a friend whose mother bitched her out for going on the company hiking trip because she had become dark. she was pretty pissed at the primitivity of her mother, what was she supposed to say, say she wasn’t going on the trip because she didn’t want to be dark? her coworkers would have looked at her with confusion and probably laughed at her.
It’s different demographics. Desis have been being born in large numbers in the UK since the 1960’s. We are into our third generation here; my niece just turned 17 and her mother and father are both London born and raised.
Victor,
I have an upcoming trip to Toronto – packed with seven dining engagements. I’ll give you the lowdown, more happily if Neha ever does a Canada-centric food story.
Jai,
Thank you for the information, I learned much. I suppose a Punjabi Englishman of Frenchman does sound somewhat absurd, given that those terms have long been associated with ethnicity. Based on your post, I gather that Britain, up till now, has been following a ‘thali’ (Shashi Tharoor’s term, and keeping with the food theme of the thread :)) system of social integration, with communities each asserting their own identities, whether Welshman or Punjabis, as hyphenated subcategories together constitutive of Britain. India, of necessity, also follows a thali approach, although critics argue that there are far too many thalis now.
The American right seems to favor not the thali but the “melting pot”, which is why we occasionally receive warnings from some extremists on this site to behave “sensibly” and not assert too much brown group identity. The left does not seem to mind the thali as much. Also, I suspect we picked up brown because there were entrenched color categories here to begin with, not out of any misplaced ethno-cultural pride.
fuck. you know, someone just write a “style/word guide” so that we don’t waste our time with “i find this offensive” stuff.
The term ‘FOB’ can be demeaning at times…depends a lot on the context.
yo, with all respect, we’re trying to eat here…
food food food food….
We’re also trying to have a “cha(a)t” here.
s-man,
hey, wait up, the new twist on the conversation is suppressing my appetite. good for the waist line.
Pakistani:
Shadman Restauarant, ill town JC, Grove Street Path stop. Run by a burly family of mustachioed Punjabis, if you like naans that burgeon to perfection, tandoori rotis that will put to shame the limp little things passing for bread at upscale New York eateries, check it out. In the Pakistani side of the Punjabi country, things seem to be prepared a little bit oilier than Indians are accustomed to. Why? Dunno. So keep that in mind when ordering channa masala, chicken achari or saag paneer -all still pretty good. The minced chicken kebabs are good too, but the bread is the centerpiece, take some home. When in the neighborhood, update your collection of bootlegged Indian films and TV serials at the Pakistani stores nearby. And then stop for a drink at one of the many trendy little bars right on Grove.
As soon as it hits 5 on friday, i am off to TANGRA. Searching for good Indo-Chinese in NY/NJ has been really disturbing. MING in edison came close but when the manchurian arrived everything was back to zero. After looking at these pictures, i am drooling from places didnt know existed. Also, sign me up for the TASKFORCE, anything to do with indian food, I AM THERE.
PS Get in my belllle
on the same st, there is another paki restaurant that i loved right infront of city hall. Cant remember the name but they some bangin goat meat. Another good paki/afghani rest is Five Corners on Newark in JC
maybe you should just come up with a numerical formula for what is offensive, so I stop bothering you with my unscientific views. I’m sure you can cite data for why what I believe is irrelevant.
your views on what is offensive or not is totally irrelevant. those who actually spend their time posting entries and moderating are the ones i was addressing, though again, people probably wouldn’t read a style guide anyhow….
a greek restaurant in town just switched to brown fare! hot-dog!
“Am I the only person that finds the term FOB offensive? Surely we can come up with a better way to describe recent immigrants that isn’t so demeaning. Most of our parents were “FOBs” at some point, and I know mine came here with more culture, education and sophistication than 99% of the Americans I have met. Perhaps I am one of the hyper-sensitive desis that Jai is referring to, but it seems to me that FOB is a slightly demeaning term when used by most second-gen desis.”
You might have a point there, if first-gens, subcontinent-born desis do find this offensive. I also find it insensitive to try to take power away from someone who does feel this term is insulting, by making it light (humour) of it and trying to make them feel like they’re the crazy ones.
Now, back to the food!
Jeet,
on the same st, there is another paki restaurant that i loved right infront of city hall. Cant remember the name but they some bangin goat meat. Another good paki/afghani rest is Five Corners on Newark in JC
I know which place you’re talking about – its on the tip of my tongue. They also do a good paya, from what I’m told.
Non desi: but may as well be desi, Ibby’s falafel is on that street too. Ibby is the nephew of Mamoun of Mamoun’s fafalel in the Village (all y’all who went to or taught at NYU know the place intimately). He’s a buffed Moroccan dude who reputedly knows how to charm the ladies. His falalfels are on par with the ethereal fare at his uncle’s New York establishment. He also concots a wickedly good lentil soup (fire it up with some chili sauce) and has an exquiste selection of baklava. Finish it off with his signature turkish coffee.
Thinking about it, that area can probably compete with Queens and Los Angeles for ethnic diversity. On one side you have hijabed ladies running after their unruly children, and on the other, in the bars, streak-haired white boy “artists” putting down single malts and hittin it.
for the bengalis, shawshar thal rox!!!
Re. The Sepia Mutiny Dining Task Force, New York Chapter
I can eat my weight in SA food–add me!!
re: #212
Why, thank you kind sir.
re: #215
Not surpised in the least that Siddhartha’s part of something like SM–clearly the dopest, tastiest, freshest place to be brown and unbrown, inside and outside of the web. Thanks for the intro to your community, Mr. Mitter. Namashkar, all.
re: #206 and subsequent FOB posts, especially #218
Am I mistaken or does FOB stand for Fresh off the Boat? Just curious and in all seriousness, did any of us get to the States by boat? My family and I came over on Indian Airlines which could be compared to the inter-India trains (the IRR), if cross-transportation analysis of toilets took place. Anyway, and according to Rai, I qualify as an FOB and Gautam, that’s fine by me. If someone who wasn’t brown called me that I would laugh. Because that person would be stupid, I’m a WOG.
Anyway, I’ll keep all of this in mind as I turn to more important things like lunch (Vietnamese food, planned well in advance of FOB dialogue so, sad to say, no pun intended) with a friend, who happens to be a … erm … WOP.
FYI Mr. Kobayashi, we’ll probably have
Bahn Xiao Green Papaya Salad Carmelized Pork Chop Rice Plate with pickled shallots
TaTa!
I admire your non-veg way with things, Pritha. Pork chops. Yum.
What I’m going to be hankering for, as winter approaches is (a) venison steak and (b) rabbit stew. With one or three glasses of red wine, we can stave off the endless fucking jollity that’s the Christmas season. As a reliable standby, vast quantities of curried lamb should be stored in the deep freezer. If god didn’t intend little lambkin to be eaten, she wouldn’t have made him so damn tasty.
As for FOB, that’s rather passe by now. I recommend JOJ. Just of the jet. It has a sixties, James Bondsy vibe about it. “The name’s Jamshed, baby, and I’m JOJ.”
re: # 230
” “Am I the only person that finds the term FOB offensive? Surely we can come up with a better way to describe recent immigrants that isn’t so demeaning. Most of our parents were “FOBs” at some point, and I know mine came here with more culture, education and sophistication than 99% of the Americans I have met. Perhaps I am one of the hyper-sensitive desis that Jai is referring to, but it seems to me that FOB is a slightly demeaning term when used by most second-gen desis.” “
You might have a point there, if first-gens, subcontinent-born desis do find this offensive. I also find it insensitive to try to take power away from someone who does feel this term is insulting, by making it light (humour) of it and trying to make them feel like they’re the crazy ones.
Now, back to the food!”
First: getting back to food is very good advice. Always.
Second: I realize that I might have been taking power away from Gautam by writing my latest post. Metric raises a good point: it’s just best to be respectful, when given the choice. Too true. My bad.
Third: That there are those in our diasporic community who do get offended by FOB–be they highly sensitive 1st gens, highly sensitive 2nd gens or highly sensitive ABDs (see, I’m being respectful by leaving out the C)I’d like to suggest that an aversion to being labelled FOB is in fact sort of racist–as in “How dare you think I am an FOB?!??! In other words, that the distinction matters to some, at all, reveals that the indeces of immigrant hierarchy are alive and well.
Just a little something else to chew on.
BTW: Might someone teach me how to quote properly, like with the dots, like how Siddhartha et. al. do? I think everyone would appreciate that.
Razib,
My immediate family and (looking further) entire social and professional circles are, er, professional educated people in the corporate and medical worlds. The 2nd-Gen women concerned do react negatively to any of the stereotyped “admonishments” from their parents (not to become “too dark” etc) — and rightly so — but they do not go berserk at guys who may be perceived to have a positive romantic reaction to some desi woman who is fair-skinned (and pretty). The usual female reactions are wry good humour and sometimes even agreement/encouragement. Perhaps insecurity and/or extremely bad personal experiences have played a part in some of the reactions we’ve seen on this blog, which certainly caught me off guard because I’d never seen that before. Not on that scale anyway.
I think the problem lies in the erroneous conclusion that someone reacting positively towards woman of phenotype A is assumed to automatically/intrinsically have a caveat (there’s that word again !) of implying the opposite extreme negative reaction to women of phenotype B. When someone has such an extreme black & white, “either-or” perspective, that’s when the problems and misunderstandings obviously start. It frequently feels on SM that it’s okay to say a pretty darker desi girl is “hot”, but God help anyone who says the same thing about a beautiful desi girl who happens to be really light-skinned. I guess it’s due to assumptions being made about the whole superiority/inferiority thing, and of course there’s a lot of baggage in this matter due to the widespread historical/traditional prejudices within desi society.
South Asian guys in Britain do not feel “superior” to others based on their fairness/darkness, by the way (that’s much more prevalent amongst the older generation). It’s obviously a non-issue when, regardless of how fair you may be regarded as being within desi society, you’re still going to be darker than the vast majority of English people (although not necessarily any Southern Europeans who may be around). The majority of guys don’t really think that way. It’s a slightly different matter amongst the women though, but again a really light-skinned South Asian woman here does not necessarily think she is “superior” to her darker sisters even though she may be regarded as such from a “traditional” desi cultural perspective (and it’s pretty stupid to regard a woman as being prettier purely due to her fairness regardless of the reality of her facial features). Some of the vainer types do, of course, but not all the 2nd-Gen ladies are necessarily that conceited or arrogant. Plenty are not.
On an allied note, it’s interesting that some of my previous comments about certain people being “Iranian-looking/Latin-looking/etc” were automatically assumed to be referring to skin-colour, when in reality I was actually talking about facial features (most of the time, anyway, unless explicitly stated otherwise). There really does seem to be an extra degree of sensitivity on that side of the Atlantic.
Incidentally, a couple of my friends (one of my best friends and his brothers) who are clean-shaven Jatt Sikhs here in the UK really do bear a very strong physical resemblance in all aspects (facial features, skin colour etc) to Farik from “Sleeper Cell” ! One of his older brothers in particular is practically a doppleganger for the guy. The similarity is quite striking. Obviously ladykiller types, but looking identical to the most high profile fictional jihadi currently on British television must be an interesting experience, even though the actor playing Farik is an extremely charismatic guy 😉
And yes, FOB is indeed a slightly disparaging term (apologies again for previously using it); perhaps “New Arrivals” or something would be a better alternative…..I like Kobayashi-San’s “JoJ” suggestion.
Anyway, back to food. What’s the biggest dosa everyone’s ever eaten ?*
*Ladies, behave yourselves. You know what I mean.
And, Mr. Kobayashi, it I that admire you: meat and booze. Rrrrrrrrr.
“Anyway, back to food. What’s the biggest dosa everyone’s ever eaten ?* *Ladies, behave yourselves. You know what I mean.”
…and gents, as the case may be.
The biggest dosa I have ever eaten has to be stateside, at Madras Palace, in Gaithersburg MD. (Believe it’s been mentioned somewhere in the vast depths SM before for its tasty and enormous buffet.) That thing was half the length of a table for four, and yes, I ate it all, as well as a couple of cups of sambar and coconut chutney. Had to take some time to myself afterwards, but quite worth it.
The smallest dosa I’ve ever eaten was at some party at the Puck building. Measuring a cute three inches long and stuffed with a smidge of fingerling potato masala and served with a biodynamic roasted tomato salsa cum sambar. Grrrrrrr.
FOB is standard term used in all cultures and times. However, often it is about entitlement. I am expanding my neo-caste system I made a few days ago.
Neo-caste system presented in descending order: White American: Bob Sahib
ABD: Their son Harry Guppie Jr who wants to be new age Martha Graham Dancer but was a pre-med at U. of Chicago. His father was Hari Gupta from Meerut and has engineering degrees from IIT, Delhi, and Stanford. Shakira thinks SAJA is India, India is SAJA – so exotic and clinical but Harry wants to spend a year in India at Uday Shankar’s dance school, and dad Harry Gupta is pretty mad about it. FOB with citizenship: Harry Gupta (Used to be Hari Gupta). The heat and dust of India gets his allergies all flared up. Kathleen Gupta finds all Indians/ South Asians rude. Their 20 daughter Shalini aka Shakira refuses to make eye-contact with FOBs.
FOB with green card: Hari Gupta is still Hari Gupta but his wife Kavita Gupta has become Kathleen Gupta. Shalini does not want to be called “Shalini” in front of her friends but Shakira. Often, she tells her friends she is really from Greece.
FOB on work visa: Hari Gupta still gets tearly eyed when he listens to Jana Gana but Kavita likes to be called Kavy at Mary Kaye Tuppleware parties. FOB on student visa: Hari Gupta and his newly wed wife Kavita Gupta from Meerut. Was Treasurer for Stanford India Student Association. Loved Dev Anand movies.
Note: Each elevation in caste system also comes with 20 pound weight gain by Hari and Kavita Gupta
pritha, sage wisdom on top of such amazing, proto-task force initiative? i agree with mr k — sepia should create a mutiny medal just for you if one doesn’t already exist.
so how do people feel about the desi selections at whole foods? i think that ANNA has an opinion on this and look forward to hearing her express it when she gets a moment (or has she already blogged it? don’t remember but can’t find it). but interested in others’ thoughts as well. i had a wrap or sandwich about a year ago, and it was not bad, but didn’t wow me, either. so memorable that i don’t even remember if it was a wrap or a sandwich.
It’s not the size of the dosa that matters, it’s how it’s served.
This is not to imply that I serve a small dosa. Nor should you imply that i’m insecure about my dosa. and if that’s what you’re thinking, perhaps you should reflect on your own dosa. Nor am I slyly implying that I serve a big tasty dosa, which society deems to be superior to small dosas. I do not buy into this notion and therefore will not reveal the size of my dosa, which you should not take as evidence that it is small. not that here is anything wrong with that. BTW, I have large feet.
I thought this was a food discussion
there goes my appetite
I hope we’re still talking about crepes.
i love browsing the whole foods aisles for the desi selections. very yummy. the food is great too.
madras sarvana bhavan, the best veggie south/north eatery here in atlanta serves 6 feet long dosas… party size 😉
yo p, it’s all in the f.a.q. — scroll down and you’ll find your answer.
Jai:
True, FOB is offensive…so just use the UK term, ‘FRESHIE”…hahaha…
Nice one Kush.
A ‘typical FOB’ nowadays (say a grad student) is much more aware of the american culture ..partly due to his/her exposure to movies, tv sitcoms etc and partly due to the changing trends in the indian society.
A ‘typical FOB’ nowadays (say a grad student) is much more aware of the american culture ..partly due to his/her exposure to movies, tv sitcoms etc and partly due to the changing trends in the indian society.
I know. So true. Also, there is new category emerging in large numbers is undergrads in USA from India/ South Asia, right after high school. SAT is a hot exam in India right now. They are tapping into financial aid packages for undergrads. Deans from big name Univs. go to India for talent scouting at high school level now.
There are “FOBS with citizenship” category right now in Delhi who have never left India or visited west only by tourist visa.
I was just playing with a broad brush. Also, I think with India slowly emerging with economic elevations, these evloutions I presented are soon becoming moot and obselete.
Manoj Kumar’s Purav aur Paschim model will be gone soon. Yesterday, BBC did a program on Brit Asians going back to India to open new ventures, and some medical doctors too.
For the folks discussing the word FOB: I grew up with the word fob… it’s such a familiar part of my vocabulary that I don’t even capitalize it. I went to Asian elementary and high schools, and now that I go to a predominantly white university, I would kill to be around more fobs… of any kind. Growing up, the word was used mostly for (East and Southeast) Asians who were not assimilated. We even used the word to describe people that were actually born here. We also used it as an adjective (“fobby”) to describe things and ideas that were non-Western/American. In my book, “fobbiness” is a quality, not a condition. For the Asians who didn’t want to seem ignorant of American culture, but still valued their cultural heritage, the goal was to become “fobulous” (I don’t really like any of those definitions, but the 1st one is closest). I’ve lived here for 15 years, and I’d be pleasantly amused, if not a little flattered, if someone thought I was fobby.
growing up desi in the US, food had a moral component. my parents would force me to eat vegetarian south indian. i was like, “will somebody please get me a cheeseburger?” when I couldn’t swallow the spicy food, my parents would accuse me of being too Americanized, which implied i dated, didn’t study, took drugs, wouldn’t get an arranged marriage, watched too much tv, listened to rock music, stayed out too late, and did i mention, dated and wouldn’t get an arranged marriage.
But as I grew older I ended up appreciating the food, but never to the exclusion of other foods. I resolved the indian/americanized issue by becoming a gourmand, dabbling in a variety of cuisines regardless of its origins while rejecting any cuisineÂ’s claim to intrinsic superiority, but stopping short of declaring all cuisines equal. birth was not destiny, in my world view, and food was not just food.
I knew quite a few undergrads from India during college and they all had one thing in common: they were incredibly wealthy.
That is true even today to some extent, and always has been.
However,
Now, if you really crack the SATs and take some physics, math exams like one Caltech has – a lot of schools like MIT, Caltech, Cornell and even small liberal arts schools like Macalaster will look at you carefully at undergrad level too with financial aid. This enables middle class, and lower middle class from India is getting a shot which was not even possible 10 years ago. This is all very recent. I think some of the technical schools are really hurting for math, physics proficency. They do same thing for Russia too.
Most of my nephews and nieces were really US citizens (born here) but were living in India during high school years. They were able to tap in financial aid packages.
Sabeer Bhatia of hotmail fame is one of them from early wave. He transfered from BITS, Pilani in the freshmen year to Caltech.
Yes, most of the “freshie” undergrads are filthy rich. They (read: their parents) have a lot of disposable income..but its of no use for getting into IITs/AIIMS etc. I’ve heard/seen a lot of cases where the parents get their kids admitted in some 2nd-3rd tier college in India…and then transfer to a reputed US university for their undergrad.
As Gautham mentioned, SAT is not in the same league as entrance exams for IITs or AIIMS. A lot of people give SAT too..’cos it doesn’t require the amount of effort that other exams in India require.
The situation for most of the grad students from India is a bit different. A lot of grads get full financial aid for their studies..but the majority are on their own. They usually take loans from Indian banks and support their grad studies.
now… to flip this around… there will be a day when new interns posted to bangalore will spend weekends brushing up on indian culture via indian movies – holy murukku! boggles the mind doth it not.
Had a very yummy meal at Saravanass on Lexington in Curry Hill just two weeks ago.
Chennai Garden is pretty ok, AND you can get mushrooms in your dosai!
On thing though, if you are in the area and notice a tiny sliver of a place called the – ahem – Katie Roll somethingorother on the east side of the avenue, be forewarned if you eat at this Tam-run place, they put lettuce in their kati rolls.
Ewwwwwwww.
Yes, most of the “freshie” undergrads are filthy rich. They (read: their parents) have a lot of disposable income..but its of no use for getting into IITs/AIIMS etc. I’ve heard/seen a lot of cases where the parents get their kids admitted in some 2nd-3rd tier college in India…and then transfer to a reputed US university for their undergrad.
IIT Grad Narayana Murthy said to his son, “No way you’re getting in.” and sent him off to Cornell.
The current Infosys CEO, Nilekani, sends his kid to Claremont McKenna.
FOBS Rule!
And not in a herrenvolk kind of way. Just thought I’d leave that declaration out there.
And BTW, Bongs, why so silent? What do you guys eat, and where do we get us some?
Bongs, why so silent? What do you guys eat, and where do we get us some?
why let word get out about good things i assume? anyway, kan you hand this? i don’t think so….
Yep, that’s the term used here, nobody uses ‘FOB’ in the UK — freshies!
That sounds worth trying. I do grow weary of the potatoes, tasty though they are. Brings to mind a Mexican place (Paquena?) in Fort Greene that made to-die-for mushroom tacos.
I wonder if I am the only (mostly-) vegetarian on the task force.