Friends, mutineers, countrymen, lend me your ears. There is something that has been bothering all of us here at our North Dakota headquarters for quite some time now. We talk about it often in hushed tones. It is the extreme dearth of fresh new desi bloggers out there. We are ever vigilant and constantly searching for freakishly interesting and smart bloggers to be pulled into the Mutiny and to blog tirelessly for you. We can’t keep doing this forever on our own, especially since many of us are going through transitions in our busy lives. To be perfectly honest, I think that when the time comes we will suddenly and viciously pull the plug on SM. It will be just after the moment we feel that we’ve got no blog left to give and nobody else is capable of picking up the keyboard to mutiny forward. If you like spending time on this website then don’t say we didn’t warn you. I sometimes wonder, if we never existed would more of you be blogging now? Must we burn Rome to save Rome?
So what am I asking? Some of you need to start blogging and do so with a purpose. Almost all of the guests we’ve had were bloggers even before SM was created. Where’s the new blood? We aren’t looking for suggestions like, “Hey what about so-and-so? Why don’t you ask them to guest.” Please don’t use the comments following this post for that. We wouldn’t be worth the ink on our blog unless we were also good scouts. We scout bloggers, sometimes for months, before inviting them to guest for you. Most often we find them by the content of their blogs, especially if they consistently leave interesting comments on SM or expounding on something they read here first. We are scouting several of you right now as a matter of fact.
As you may have noticed SM is very secretive (as all good mutinies must be to survive infancy), but for the first time ever I am revealing the basic requirements we look for in new bloggers (besides being desi). No surprise here:
1) Must be North American or have lived in North America for a significant amount of time.
2) Has a fabulous voice (voice = great writing + interesting perspective) and can cover a wide variety of topics (not just a small range of topics that they know really well). With a little research and a little snark they should be at ease writing about the policies of the International Monetary Fund or Diwali Barbie in under 90 minutes.
3) Have experience with blogging or internet publishing. We are too busy to teach people how to publish something on the web and how to use basic html tags. If you’ve run your own blog for a while then all this should be easy. Thus, if you aren’t already a blogger then you probably won’t be a good fit until you become one, even if you just won the Booker (just kidding Kiran…call me).
4) Be a fearless and passionate writer, not someone who worries how they “sound.”
Now maybe you are thinking to yourself, “Hey! I’m a blogger and I meet all those criteria, why haven’t they approached me?” Please don’t take it personally. You might be a great blogger/writer but we also look at other things like how much time we think you have, how well your tone complements ours, and several other intangibles. We love to see diversity in our guest bloggers but we’ll never invite someone just for the sake of being diverse.
Just today I got this email:
Hi!
I’m a South Asian American born and raised in the U.S. (my parents are from Pakistan), and right now I’m a senior in high school. I was wondering if I could write for this blog. I’ve been following it for a year and half now, and I am absolutely enamored by it! I’ve noticed though that there aren’t any Pakistani voices, so I thought I could contribute to that. K, hope to hear from you guys soon! Thanks!
You know, we’d love to have a Pakistani American and especially a young one write in this space. I’d personally (not speaking for my co-bloggers) like to invite guests that are 18-30. Perhaps some of them are hating grad school as much as I was when I started blogging. If you think you got something to say then start saying it and we’ll find you. We’re always watching.
Don’t make us burn this blog down to save the spirit of the Mutiny.
No offense taken at all. I had no problem cleaning toilets when I was 17 struggling, living on my own and had to earn a living. None. No regrets. I see nothing wrong with anyone doing anything for a living and working hard for their money and earning it and yeah like the rest of em I got a Phd father, a surgeon for a mother and a trader for a brother! Yeah doesn’t everyone?
Who the hell knew that love of fashion would make me end up managing a measley $300M+ portfolio. I used to hunt for inner city fashion trends in the south Bronx and Leimert Park in LA once upon a time for crying out loud. It’s like any damn profession. I feel like a serious underachiever compared to some of the folks here, especially those that inspire me and those that look beyond the ‘what kind of car you drive and how much money you make’ bullshit. And occassionally you get the silver spoon in mouth know it alls who think they can peg you. Ok!
Pssst, the update to the Thanksgiving post is FINALLY here. Ten more names on the “Today, I am Thankful for YOU”-list, including some of you who coughed to indicate your lack of listage (ArzanEmmaT-hypePrashantBongsieDaycruzYoDadMD). 😉
The reason I will never blog is because I know that I will be really good at it.
Let me explain. I could recite the National Anthem when I was one year old. I excelled in every sport. I was always smarter than all the other kids; they hated me. The first ball I ever bowled hit the batsman on his nose and went for a six; he fell dead on the stumps. I quit bowling for the fear of hurting someone. Elocution, Recitation, Debate, and all the other nerdy stuff; you name it: I was GOOD at it. I did a reverse Slam Dunk to celebrate my tenth Birthday. I directed and starred in every Shakespeare play at school. I won the 100 meters sprint right after finishing first in the Marathon. I could speak twelve languages before I was twelve. I could jump higher than most people could jump long. By now, the guys hated me. But, the girls loved me.
I was GodÂ’s gift to women, blessed with multiple orgasms and all…Tina, my first sweetheart, wrote poems about my biceps. She tore them up when she found me kissing her best friend Pinky. I discovered a new facet of myself when, in revenge, I seduced her new boyfriend Raj and made him write poems about my triceps. I could play both sides and through my teens, I played like it was Jordan with three seconds left on the clock. Eventually, both the guys and girls hated me.
Disappointed and disillusioned with the world, I embarked on a journey of self discovery that took me along the length and breadth of India. At the end of my journey, I reached Indira point, the Southern-most tip of India. As I sat there sipping some local arrack off a conch, I started to cry. Rivulets of tears dropped from my cheeks into the ocean and then the penny dropped. It came in the form of a sea-gull as it crapped on my head. Looking back, that was the moment that changed it all; the jolt that extracted me from my comfort zone. I began to look at life with new eyes and saw all the old things providing me with new meaning. I felt light headed and giddy in a nice way.
Everything suddenly made sense. I realized that I didn’t have to win, though I could. Satisfaction lay in the knowledge that I could win. It dawned on me that life doesn’t always have to be a choice between winning and losing. I could always not participate at all and thus avoid winning or losing. My gift was peace and tranquility as others tried to be the best. As I discovered, success can be painful and as others have pointed out through history, failure can be painful too. I choose to not blog. I choose inner peace. I have discovered myselfÂ…
InnerPeaceMost Highest Metro One, I am with you mon frere. The fray is here, you and I are up there, in the company of one-hand clapping.
I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently.
Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.
I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.
Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I’m bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.
I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don’t perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat 400. And sixes.
I resurrected chivalry in Lesbos and delivered lectures on the Prebisch-Singer thesis in ReykjavÃÂk and Ulaanbaatar in the same day.
My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me.
I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed several covert operations with the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me.
I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven.
I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin.
I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis, Piaf, Rafi and Touré.
The Mutineers may be renaissance men and women but I am the Renaissance. I am savoir-faire.
And I will not blog.
Serenity now.
It must be said that the above post is a violation of US copyright law. Feh. Anything for a loff. If not, then AMfD is my lawyer.
ubermetromallu and no von mises: That was the funniest pair of comments I have read in a long, long time….
If not, then AMfD is my lawyer.
Retainer Agreement is in the mail.
The really interesting thing about this idea is that, in my experience, it has been the single hardest thing to get my Desi relatives/uncles and aunties to understand. Drinking they’re ok with. Interracial dating, we got through. Not wanting an arranged marriage — well that battle is still raging, but I feel confident about winning it. But the idea that one can do creative, self-fulfilling work and avoid the poorhouse just seems to trigger some deep seated fear within the older generation (at least the ones who give me unsolicited career advice).
The crazy thing is that in today’s economy the old “silver bullets” no longer really work. You can’t just get into that holy trifecta of “doktor, lawyer (or store owner, depending on what part of the Desh), engineer” and be wealthy anymore. It’s hard effing work to make any sort of career regardless of education these days, and the ONLY people who end up happy are the ones willing to be creative and forge their own career paths. Yet so much of the older generation’s wisdom and values seem oriented around sticking as close to the Bell Curve as possible.
Creativity is an absolute essential in today’s economy, and I would love to see it encouraged in the same way that hard work and discipline are in our community.
that was lovely, Neal. ^
I second DD, that was lovely Neal. Creativity, discipline and hard-work is the perfect trifecta, isn’t it?
I have a lot of talks with my parents about that subject as the children are all grown and well into adulthood in my family. In my parents time in India you quite literally starved if you didn’t do certain things. My mother’s father died when she was just a child and times were hard for her and her family. Education, studying math/sciences, these were the best and most reliable tools she had to get and stay out of poverty (thanks to some help from relatives). So, when that generation migrated West, they used the only tools they knew to make sure their children were ‘safe’. It’s hard for them because their formative experiences are completely and utterly different from their children. It’s one of the bittersweetnesses, as it were, of immigration.
i must second MD in #266. ubermetromallu and no von mises, that was some of the funniest stuff i have read (comments or otherwise) in a long time! made me laugh out loud.
Sorry, I have a thesis due tomorrow, but my $0.02 on these aforementioned topics by MD, etc.
I think the change with “enlightened” desis (I mean those who crave things other than just money; and not just limited to desis) is exemplified by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (granted, I did sleep through many of my psychiatry lectures…). My father struggled to survive, as I’m sure did many of your parents (such as MD’s). However, many of us are now past that pure survival instinct driving us. There’s a higher calling – a desire to move up the ladder towards self-actualization. Just being a straight up doc, lawyer, engineer, or banker (according to B.S. – sorry, I don’t know of a single desi who is a banker…businessperson, yes…banker, no) no longer cuts it for those with whom SM resonates strongly – perhaps that’s the backlash of which B.S. speaks. There’s a call for creation – to produce something other than just helping the GDP or Wall Street, etc.
I’ve tried to explain this to my father, but he still thinks of 3 meals, 4 walls and a roof, etc. (luckily, my mother totally understands my point of view).
Exactly correct. We have the luxury of what you call “self-actualization”, they did not. And the career paths of doc, lawyer, engineer might hold some collective water if those professions were entered out of genuine interest in those fields, rather than “guaranteed” dollar signs. (which in some cases, they are, but not most) I have heard stories of people receiving their medical degrees then walking right up to their parents, handing them the degree, then walking out.
Being a doc, engineer, lawyer, is nothing to be ashamed of. They are challenging fields that take some serious brains to get into, be proud of that s**t.
Oh believe me, I am not trying to shit on those careers at all! But I think it’s ironic that one of the most important things about each of those careers — the intellectual stimulus involved in mastering a complex body of knowledge in order to design novel solutions to problems — is often severely underplayed, or even discouraged, in the traditional Desi mindset. Our culture prizes the kid who can memorize as much of the multiplication tables or the dictionary as possible, not the one who goes out and writes a rocking guitar riff or beautiful poem. Even when creative expression is rewarded, it has to stay within very narrow constraints that directly honor the homeland — bharat natyam is fine, but dancing to some innovative DJ is not.
There are really awesome, rewarding reasons to pursue ANY of the “Desi-parent approved professions”. I mean even driving a cab or owning a convenience store can be a major, rewarding endeavor. But there’s a difference between choosing one of these fields on your own, setting up your own standards for success and failure, and judging yourself based on your own feelings and the traditional way of achieving based on obligation alone.
I’ve come a little late to this thread but I’d like to add a few comments.
those careers are often treated with derision, and the yuppie lifestyle they take on is treated similarly.
As someone in one of “those careers”, I don’t second that. I think I received more derision when I commented on economics for supposedly not knowing any from other people in one of “those careers”.
However, I do think there is an assumption, in general (and I certainly can’t say for sure that this is an assumption maintained by people on this site, since I can’t recall any comments that directly spoke to this) that people in the medical profession are generally yuppies, and that South Asians in that profession went into it because of parental pressure. First of all, there is a long tradition of writers and revolutionaries amongst the medical profession–Keats, Che Guevara, William Carlos Williams, Chekov. Some of us went into this profession even though our parents didn’t care if we did or not (In my case, my father was actually against it), and we did it because we thought it was a way of affecting social change.
I don’t care if people respect my presumed yuppie lifestyle (I mean, it’s hard to feel sorry for myself when I have a guaranteed decent income for the rest of my life) or deride my career choices as supporting the status quo. I just think people should be aware that even among the desi community there are varying reasons for going into medicine or law and that we might be just as likely to be interested in demolishing the status quo as preserving it.
This must have been written as I was writing mine…so there are people on this blog who hold the assumption I was referring to. Doctors, engineers, and lawyers are all people who have the ability to create social change so I would argue these can all be “higher callings”.
They can be, but that does not mean they usually are. It’s not like greedy doctors or lawyers are unheard of. While I try to stay unbiased, I’m much less likely to assume a doctor is working for social change than, say, a labor organizer.
Being Desi, you grow up knowing the type of pressure that is put on you to make money the sole deciding factor in your employment. Some people fight that. Some people go into one of these lucrative fields and use it for good. But it’s not unreasonable to think that many Desis in these fields DO go into them for their parents’ reasons.
I poorly worded my original sentence which this comment references. What I meant to say is that the wanting more, i.e., affecting social change, etc., is above and beyond just the desire to be in those professions or any other profession for that matter. The higher calling and the profession, in one sense, are unrelated.
Im a banker. And a desi. A lot of people I work with are desi…
If I knew you in real life, then I’d retract my statement. I’m sure you guys “exist,” I just don’t personally know any.
I knew people in college that were pre-med because of parental expectations, but most of them did not make it into med school. And I would argue that medicine is not a field people chose just for the money. Social status, yes. Money, no. Why would you stay up for 30 hours straight, walk around soaked in your own sweat and someone else’s body fluids, neglect your family, give yourself an ulcer, skip meals, be treated poorly by patients, nurses, and other doctors on a daily basis, dress in hideous clothing, forget what the sunrise looks like because your routinely wake up before dawn, watch people die, save people that may not deserve to live… because there’s an endpoint, and if that endpoint is money, well, there are easier ways to do it, and I think most people that care only about making money realize that, and choose other professions.
Also, people change over time. So, it’s possible to choose a career for less than ‘perfect’ reasons (such as parental pressures) and then become genuinely interested in the subject. Too often, when I was younger, I thought that I had to find the perfect thing that fulfilled all my needs and everything hinged on the decisions I made. Paralysis! As I get older, I think it’s more about what I do with what I have, than in finding something absolutely perfect. Nothing is perfect, life is messy and it’s possible to find satisfaction in many different careers. Also, what’s wrong with making money? Survival is not a dirty word.
I feel you there, desi culture tends to look at those careers at steady means of raking in dough, rather than a way to be creative and strongly contribute to society (which, indeed they can be). And once the dough is steady, you’re free to turn your wife into an Indian baby factory (and if you don’t have a wife, well, then you’re just not human as far as desi culture is concerned)
I’m the last person to defend the cultural restraints posed by desi culture, but when I lived in LA, I hung out with (maybe this was my problem) many creative/artsy-fartsy types, and often felt derided by them for being technical, and it’s like, F#$ you man, getting an engineering degree from a top 10 school is no *$(@$ing joke, bow down and respeck that @#$()@. I believe to some degree, the sheetal sheths and kal penns of our community do indeed have a bit of animosity or jealousy if you will towards those of us that do succeed in these realms.
Okay. I can agree with that. I think we should really let go of the notion that some professions are more “noble” than others. As someone who loves art and also the entertainment industry, I would never argue that Walter Reed helped more people than Picasso, or that an intern in psychiatry has helped make more people happy than Gurindher Chadha has playing an intern on ER.
With all due respect, I have to second Desishiksa. It’s not necessarily just about the money — it’s the status too (particularly with regards to Medicine, along with Law and to some extent Chartered Accountancy).
For example, in the UK investment bankers and management consultants make considerably more money than doctors the same age, yet amongst desis (at least the older generation) it’s the doctors who would be perceived to have the higher status and belonging to the “preferable” profession.
Desis being desis, making a lot of cash is looked upon favourably too, of course, but the traditional “hierarchy” is fairly entrenched from the perspective of the uncles & aunties.
Yes, it’s funny that everyone keeps bringing up lawyers. My impression is that being a lawyer is high status in American society, but not in desi society, here or back home(despite prominent lawyers like Gandhi and Nehru). My desi friend whose parents are constantly on the lookout for a suitable husband for her laughed when one of our white American friends suggested a lawyer as being a decent equivalent (to her parents) of her engineering degree and MD. But maybe things are changing as we become more Americanized. I’m sure Kal Penn’s parents are plenty proud of him now.
It’s not really about how your parents see you. It’s about how they see the eyes of society, desi and american, seeing you.
Gurindher Chadha has playing an intern on ER.
Oops…I meant Parminder Nagra. All those Indian names sound the same… 🙂
Yeah, I’m with desishiksa on this one, too. It’s the person who is noble, not the profession.
I would never argue that Walter Reed helped more people than Picasso
Apparently, you do know not the power of Picasso’s Guernica.
I was in Madrid in mid-90s, and every Spainard speaks of Guernica as a national treasure and a symbol of liberty, anti-war, self-expression, healing, and eventually democracy. Guernica became the icon of return democracy in Spain.
My ex-PhD advisor is of Spanish origin. When he spoke of Guernica, he had tears in his eyes.
I just puked on my computer screen. One thing desis have perfected to T: being self-congratulatory.
Jai Singh & Desishiksa:
Agree regarding status, but I don’t think the perception that you’ll make money and the perception of high status are independent. How many Desi parents were pushing computer-related majors prior to the mid-90s? But when I went to college it was right up there with medicine as a “suitable field”.
Anyway, my point has not been to deride any individual field. You can do great things with nearly any educational background. My point is that I wish the creative thinking skills you need to make your career great were things that Desi culture prized.
I just puked on my computer screen. One thing desis have perfected to T: being self-congratulatory.
Huh? Did you just totally misread my comment? I said I would NEVER argue that Walter Reed helped more people than Picasso. Not only have I seen the Guernica in person, a print of it was in my parents’ living room throughout my childhood. The painting had a huge impact on me (just try looking at scenes of war and suffering every day) and my beliefs. I’m completely mystyfied as to why my comment made you puke. Perhaps you need a doctor?
I said I would NEVER argue that Walter Reed helped more people than Picasso Sorry.
It wasn’t your comment, it is the whole tone on this thread……..Very desi, indeed.
Sahej (#256):
Boom boom, dishoom dishoom! Well put that, and #258 too!
Thank you — I raised this earlier, and have been reading somewhat incredulously as people keep mentioning lawyers as a “desi-approved” career choice. If only that were true — we desi lawyers wouldn’t deal with issues of under-representation in the profession. My law school class had about 15 desis out of a class of 550 — I’m pretty sure that medical schools, b-schools, and engineering schools have at least 5 times that percentage, often more. I’ve had several conversations with uncle/aunty types about why on earth I became a lawyer after I was already an engineer, trying to understand why I’d take a step down like that. And I’m sure the questioning would have been much more intense if I hadn’t gone to a good law school/one they’d heard of.
(Reminds me of an amusing conversation I had with old family friends we met a few years ago after a couple of decades. The aunty was telling me about one of her daughters, a Harvard Law grad who clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall, and who is now a law professor. She said I was the first desi she’d met who was hugely impressed to hear that the daughter had clerked for a Supreme Court justice — everyone else wondered why she’d gone to a fancy school only to become a clerk.)
I do agree, though, that once the desi parent-types realize one can make a decent amount of $$ in the profession, they don’t seem to mind, and that there’s something slightly messed up about that.
DTK,
I never thought it was either. But I started thinking about law school recently (I have a degree in policy and want to do something more “active” with it) and I was amazed (and suspicious) when my parents did not freak out. Apparently the “first wave” of Desi lawyers are reporting back favorably. I have a feeling there will be a huge surge in brown lawyers in the next 5-10 years.
No Von Misses:
You had a chair? Feh, kids these days! Dammit, when I was young, we had no chairs. We had to sleep standing. On our toes!
Sorry to be so inhabitive of the comments sections, but I’m having fun. May I ask you all a question? Why do you care what other people think? Do what I do with aunties and uncles I don’t like: Avoid them. I am a master at deflecting questions when I see someone I don’t like, though….a master! I have one uncle who always asks me completely ridiculous stuff. I answer very politely, briefly, and absolutely blandly.
“So, why didn’t you tell me about X” “Hmm? Isn’t this food delicious?” “Huh, yes. Why didn’t you tell me about X, I am your relative, I am your elder.” “Oh dear, did yu see that lovely sari Mrs….is wearing? Lovely.” And I smile and laugh happily, because I am.
It ends in defeat for uncleji every time…..
Also, interests change over time. What might have been a fulfilling and interesting career a decade back might not be so any longer. This probably explains why, with increased life-spans, people are changing careers (some, many times) in their lives.
I mean, the only thing that is a constant is that change is inevitable.
I think this depends on what kind of desi you are, as in your socioeconomic status, how you came to the country, etc. I have tons of friends who were not going into “money making” professions, but then again, we all came from urban/inner city areas. Maybe our expectations were different; most of us were lucky to get to go to a University at all, and we also all worked much more than our middle-to-upper class desi counterparts to help pay for costs at home, tuition, etc. There’s a pretty large “desi” experience that happens outside of what people assume is the “mainstream desi” experience.
Also, I know for my grandfather (who came on those ed/tech visas) he strongly preferred the sciences and maths, and business was the only acceptable “social science back up” in his mind. This wasn’t because of some crazy aspiration for money or whatnot, it is because my family lived in Columbus, Ohio, were the only people of color in their high school, and they actually had to deal with all the challenges and limitations of the Civil Rights Movement as it happened. I remember before I went to college he told me to stick to a scientific training because it is less subjective, and so people cannot nail you on the numbers. There is always an answer, there is always a right answer, and thus it is more difficult to dispute your qualifications. Now, there’s a lot of room for debate around this, but I honestly believe that there are a lot of families that come from this background. Not only was doctor/engineer the way to get a visa to come to the U.S., but this was also field in which you could prove, in a racist society, that you could do it.
Dude, that’s because you have a degree in policy! Clearly, a law degree is an improvement upon THAT! 😉
Seriously, the number of desi lawyers is definitely growing. Of course, like other professions, the law can be a path to so many different things — a wall street lawyer can rake in the big $$$, while a public interest lawyer can make not a whole lot. BTW, I got into law because of an interest in policy as well, and practice in that general area, so feel free to write me off-line if you’re interested in chatting. I’m a big proponent of breaking free from the traditional career patterns that many lawyers seem to fall in to ….
I agree with you DTK. Being a recent law school grad, I saw the number of desis at my school increase substantially in just the 3 years I was there. But, I would like to address a point you made earlier about desis being underrepresented in the legal community. Relative to other professional degrees, yes, they are. But let’s not forget that desis comprise only 1%, or thereabouts, of the U.S. population. I’m sure that more the one percent of the lawyers in the country will be desi in short order, if not already.
Oh yah? Have you ever had to stand with your nose in the corner? That was how the majority of my kindergarten was spent. All becase of that prissy girl with the pigtails. By second grade, I had spent so much time in the principal’s office, I put little kiddie toys in secret places to pass the time. It was for the collective good but only the second grade mob squad knew.
Sigh. The good ol’ days.
I just wanted to thank you for that. If we’re going to talk about our parents and grandparents who came over from India, we have to use the word “maths.”
No desh location is a big thing too sometimes. Jeet like me is in NYC and more than half the people I know are bankers. You can’t run around in the desi social circle here without running into one on every corner.
Or you could reject something so badly simply because your parents suggested it because it sounds so “unexciting and predictible” and eventually fall into it and love it. If someone had told me 10 years ago I’d end up in corporate finance and actually buy a home (fairly bland/safe desi options) I would have laughed at that person.
That’s a loaded question for me. I care if it was coming from someone I care about. It probably wouldn’t even register with me if it was someone I didn’t care for. So that’s a gray area.
In India, lawyers often work for a cup oftea.
In the US, law is more prestigious, and going tolaw school is ideal for the slackerbrownz. You study somewhat 1st year (though frankly, you can get away reading commercial outlines); the 2nd and 3rd years you drink and play softball all day, because no one cares what grades you get–and everyone passes.
Medical school–Everyone comes out of med school beat up and fucked up; not recommended for slackerbrownz at all.
Practicing law is more challenging, but who says you have to do that?
Thank you — I raised this earlier, and have been reading somewhat incredulously as people keep mentioning lawyers as a “desi-approved” career choice. If only that were true — we desi lawyers wouldn’t deal with issues of under-representation in the profession. My law school class had about 15 desis out of a class of 550 –I’m pretty sure that medical schools, b-schools, and engineering schools have at least 5 times that percentage, often more. I’ve had several conversations with uncle/aunty types about why on earth I became a lawyer after I was already an engineer, trying to understand why I’d take a step down like that. And I’m sure the questioning would have been much more intense if I hadn’t gone to a good law school/one they’d heard of.
Very true.
(Reminds me of an amusing conversation I had with old family friends we met a few years ago after a couple of decades. The aunty was telling me about one of her daughters, a Harvard Law grad who clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall, and who is now a law professor. She said I was the first desi she’d met who was hugely impressed to hear that the daughter had clerked for a Supreme Court justice — everyone else wondered why she’d gone to a fancy school only to become a clerk.)
Finally someone understands! I actually laughed out loud when I read the above. Its so true. I remember freaking everybody out by expressing an interest in a clerkship after Law School.
I never thought it was either. But I started thinking about law school recently (I have a degree in policy and want to do something more “active” with it) and I was amazed (and suspicious) when my parents did not freak out. Apparently the “first wave” of Desi lawyers are reporting back favorably. I have a feeling there will be a huge surge in brown lawyers in the next 5-10 years.
Another astute observation.
Sriram #301 — fair enough, although I guess my point still holds when you normalize representation in the profession against other factors like education level and so on. But I agree that the trajectory is definitely upward.
Do you think it’ll change now that Manmohan Singh’s daughter is a lawyer?
That’s why we doctors hate you lawyers. It has nothing to do with ambulance chasers and malpractice insurance. We’re just mad that you got to slack off in school but still make the big bucks. So if you want a guaranteed job, social prestige at least from mainstream society, money, and even the chance to make social change…go to law school, not med school!! Then you can wear your manolo blahniks to work rather than piling them in your closet and putting on ugly Crocs instead.
I love where this conversation has turned. Understandably, when our parents came here it was for their (and our) betterment. Creative fields have been viewed as unstable and flighty because, well, they are. And while my Dad didn’t quite “get” or support my career choices, as he mellows in his old age, he is becoming more understanding that the desi career trifecta (of which he is a part) is not necessarily for everyone. Raising us with rather non-traditional values (esp. WRT gender roles and limitations) inevitably would produce children who didn’t subscribe to the typical paths in life. Of course he wants us to be stable, because he doesn’t want us to struggle unnecessarily. But he also wants us to be happy, and sometimes there’s a conflict in the two positions.
I have to share this because it completely made my day: Having worked mostly for large music/entertainment companies, having done some time in the stable (stale) investment banking world, and now with my own dancy-schmancy company, I figured my present career choice is probably the last thing my Dad would appreciate. Much to my surprise, the mellow old guy recently sent me a card saying how proud he is of me and my initiative and ambition to create my own dance company. In 30+ years (ahem, Ennis) I’ve never heard him say that, ever. He never supported my dancing through childhood and was very vocal about his feelings that I not pursue performing arts as a career or college track. And strangely, it wasn’t the puffed up salary or the stable corporate job that inspired him to say he’s proud of me. It was the fact that I chose to take some big risks and work my kundi off to be who I wanted to be in this lifetime.
Laugh and call me maudlin, but all y’all know desi dads don’t come with the compliments often. if ever.