I had a big smile on my face as i read this sentence from the NY times' article today about Bobby Jindal elected as the Louisiana governor) -
"The younger Jindal, growing up in Baton Rouge, was not expected to come home from school with anything less than 100 on tests"
(American politics note for my mom - Governor is the equivalent of our chief minister, and Bobby is the first Indian-American to be elected to such a post)
For any desi born in the 70's (yes, that includes dinosaur me too), this was probably the story of all our lives. A lot is being written about the meteoric rise of Indians all over the world. To me, the reason is really simple. Growing up, we didn't really have a choice. We had to get the 100. The loss of that 1 "mark" was really bad - a sign of how our "future could spoil aaidum". We bitched and moaned, but somehow, that attitude has helped all of us.
Do I want my kids to grow up in fear of the much dreaded 99? Maybe not. But there are times when I am glad my parents brought me up that way. We FOB desis do seem to have come a long way, and we probably have our dads and moms to thank, and maybe the heaping servings of vendakkai curry too!
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3 comments:
of course mom knows 'governor is the equi.of our cm', and about Bobby Jindal, he's all over our newspapers!moms of all you smart gals and guys all over the world would be pretty smart too, dont you agree??!!
What has vendakkai curry got to do with anything?
its a popular myth, if you eat vendakkai, you will do very well in math.
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