so what do you guys think of india?

[Bhaisahab]

i read this article in an indian newsweekly. the article says americans are warming up to india. since i am a member of the DU community- home of red-blooded(!) americans- i thought i might as well check first hand if the article is right... what say?

excerpt:
"America has truly woken up to India. The fortnight I was there, there was an India story on the front page every morning. East coast and west—in San Francisco, Washington, New York. Whether it was a tabloid, broadsheet or the New Yorker. I must confess, though, that almost all these stories were about outsourcing of jobs to India—an issue which on the American worry list is currently second to Iraq.

Maybe not an ideal way to creep into the American consciousness. But you have to hand it to them—even while TV anchors and media columnists rave and rant about job losses to India, there's a grudging respect for India and things Indian. And it's across the board—not just for IT. Billion dollar Indian companies are being listed and traded on the NY stock exchange and Nasdaq. The made-in-India label now sells faster than it can be replaced in many stores. Better packaging and stringent quality control means Indian exports are in demand. And it isn't just the exotica which is the favourite lap-up of the season. Indians are tapping the mainstream: pharmaceuticals, textiles, engineering, financial services."

continued here...
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20040510&fname=US+Election+%28F%29&sid=1

[Syrinx]

1. It's hotter than even Alabama

And the food's even hotter than Cajun food. And I know only one person from India, a woman who teaches English literature at a major university, ain't that weird. I don't know much about India. Oh, yeah. They make some really, really weird movies.

[Bhaisahab]

2. weird is not the word, dude...

the movies we make are an assault on the senses if you're used to hollywood fare. trust me, i studied film in england and the most persistent question i had to field was- "what happens to logic and narrative cognition in indian cinema?"
to which i initially mumbled apologies, but later said- "we dont do that in india. we just go to the cinemas to temporarily suspend reality."
:)
if you can't handle a tear-jerking, screehing, emotional scene of lovers parting in one scene and a gaudy song-and-dance number in the deserts of Africa in the next, i'd advise you to stay clear of indian films!

[Syrinx]

3. I said they were weird, I didn't say I don't like them

I like weird stuff. :)

A local tv station used to show Indian and Chinese movies on Saturday afternoons. The Chinese ones were incredibly violent, the Indian ones were just really weird. I preferred the Indian ones. I used to smoke pot then. :)

I had forgotten you are in India. Are you Indian, or an American in India?

[Bhaisahab]

4. I'm an Indian...

and i work for an...err..umm...outsourced american organization.
(please dont hate me)

[slaveplanet]

6. I have a high regard

for the Indian educational system. They must must be doing it right.

I just can't seem to get those documentary films out of my head though(you know , those ones from the 70's and 60's they used to show in grade school here) the ones that focused in on the caste system , The Untouchables, cows roaming the streets and overpopulation. Makes me wonder what documentary films of the USA they showed there.

[Bhaisahab]

7. for most of the people here...

...america stands for sex. white women are supposed to be easy. very racist and very shameful.
but things gotta change as more of us get educated.
but the documentaries they showed us on national tv on the eighties were mostly inspiring stuff... physicists at princeton or biologists with massive dinosaur fossils etc...
speaking for myself-- american culture has given me
1. Stephen King
2. Andy Warhol
3. Kurt Cobain
4. Allen Ginsberg
5. Alice Walker
6. Pearl Jam


i dont need anything else!

[Bridget Burke]

12. I remember being shocked by films of homeless people in India.....

Actually, people were living on the streets because they had no place to go. How horrible.

This was many years ago, of course.

[dudeness]

5. you have an excellent cricket team..

btw I am australian

[Bhaisahab]

8. g'day mate!

we *almost* whupped you this summer, didn't we? ;)

[dudeness]

9. G'day prof..

close but no cigar..

cheers

[bemildred]

10. I like India and things Indian.

The worlds greatest democracy and the worlds
last true Englishmen.

People who think India is the problem in the
outsourcing situation have no clue. The problem
is our political leadership right here at home.

[Brotherjohn]

11. My family and I are, I guess you'd say, "Indo-philes".

We like the food, the music, and much about the culture. I guess you could say we are "internationalists" regarding many countries, but especially India.

We discovered Bollywood on the International Channel several years ago. We now probably have 2-300 Bolloywood DVDs. My step-daughter has become fairly fluent in Hindi just from watching them, and they know her in the Indian groceries and stores in Atlanta (where she goes every summer). She can tell you all the latest gossip about Salman and Ashie, and probably would win if she played Antakshari (if it's still on the air?).

Don't hold the outsourcing against you one bit. That's the fault of our companies and our workers over here. But, while I wouldn't say it's "good" for our economy as the White House said, I would say it is an inevitable outcome of the world getting smaller. And the world getting smaller, in the long run, is good.

[Bridget Burke]

13. I've worked with many Indian people.

Hindu, Sikh, Jain & Roman Catholic. Highly educated, multi-lingual folks.

There's a big Indian community in Houston--among the many international communities. Love the food. The culture(s) is/are quite fascinating--from ancient mysteries to Bollywood.

Blame the corporations for outsourcing.

[Skittles]

14. I like the Indian people I work with

it takes them a while to get used to their nicknames though (we Americans sometimes have a hard time dealing with those loooooong names). :D