Friday Reflections

My First Encounters In the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave (with updates)

Originally published on January 23, 2014, my 40th anniversary of entering the shores of America. This morning's Facebook Memories highlighted this article which I thought is appropriate given the current climate in the country. Republished with updates and the comments (worth reading) from the original post.

POINTS TO PONDER:

“No matter what your background, no matter how low your station in life, there must be no limit on your ability to reach for the stars, to go as far as your God-given talents will take you. Trust the people; believe every human being is capable of greatness, capable of self-government . . . only when people are free to worship, create, and build, only when they are given a personal stake in deciding their destiny and benefiting from their own risks, only then do societies become dynamic, prosperous, progressive, and free.”  ― Ronald Reagan, An American Life

STORY LINE: 43 Years since arriving in the Land of the Free and The Home of the Brave (and also what I had known as the land of Gregory Peck, Sean Connery, Audrey Hepburn, Sidney Poitier and Raquel Welch)

On January 22nd 1974, my colleague PG and I set foot on the shores of America in Los Angeles International Airport. Our Japan Airlines (JAL) flight was delayed due to mechanical troubles and arrived late in the evening. We went to the only open food place at the airport (in those days there were not many) and inquired “We are very hungry, what food do you have?” The guy said “Only thing I got left is a hot dog.” Coming from strict vegetarian families we were in total shock. “Hot Dog?” We had heard that in America, they ate cows. But Dogs? Yuck! We turned around and left.

The next thing I did was to call the phone number of the USC foreign students office. Since it was late the phone was directed to the university security guard. I informed him that we had just arrived in USA and wanted to find out if there was a pick-up service. The guy said “Take the number 8 to downtown.” We thought we were already in town and were thoroughly confused by his instructions. So I used the SOS instructions that were given to us before we left India. I called my uncle in Anaheim who picked us up after a few hours.

The following day, we went to the USC foreign students’ office. The head of the foreign students office was Mr. Khetrapal, an immigrant from the northern part of India. While roaming around in the office, we met Saeed, also a new foreign student from Iran. We hit it off well and decided to be roommates. That afternoon, we found an apartment just across the campus. From his accent, the owner Mr. Kinarthi did not seem to be Amercian and on further inquiry told us that he was from Russia. I was wondering where Gregory and Sidney and of course, Audrey and Raquel could be hiding.

On our third day, we were moving to our new apartment. My Anaheim uncle who worked in the city of Compton, dropped us at the bus stop near his office. Early in the morning we were still drowsy and waiting at the bus stop with all our bags and backpacks. Suddenly a van came zooming in near the bus stop. Most of the people who were waiting with us started running shouting in some strange language. Two guys in suits and ties jumped out of the van. One of them approached PG and the other one came towards me showing me a badge with his picture and some strange emblem on it that said, “Immigration.” I extended my hand to him and said “Anand Shah” and told him, “you do not need to show me your picture, I trust you.” I was wondering why Americans have such strange way of introducing themselves until PG who had paid more attention told me “Show him your passport and USC ID card before he throws you in to that cage in the back of his van.”

That semester, USC had launched a new degree program in the area of Semiconductor Physics and Processing. It seemed to me that it was “A Road Not Taken (by many)” which meant learning new things and also chances of discovering (getting) new degree faster, I signed up. I had two other classmates in that inaugural semester, Pradyuman Patel- the guy from my home town I had never met before and Way-Seen Wang, a student from Taiwan. Coincidence or what but very first class, an elective, that I attended, the teacher was Professor Hwan Sha Ho.

That was my first week in the Land of The Free and The Home of The Brave. I had yet to meet Gregory Peck, Sean Connery, Sydney Poitier and of course My Fair Lady Audrey Hepburn and 100 Rifles leading lady Raquel Welch.

 REFLECTION

During the second week I met Professors Steir and Andrews and Whelan and Crowell which reconfirmed why I had come to America. Over the next several months, I met people from many different cultures and countries and started realizing the true power of this land. The people from all over the world come here and bring with them their rich cultural heritage, ideas, opinions, and cuisines, and not to forget to the original inhabitants of this country who have a very rich cultural heritage of their own.

The past 43 years have been so fulfilling and enriching with the experiences I had in meeting some of the most creative, brilliant people from all over the world and witnessing the power of unlimited creativity and resulting innovations.

I realized that: Diversity is the one true thing we all have in common and to Celebrate it every day.

So looking back, I end this reflection with that Sherman brother’s song in Disneyland..

“There is so much that we share that it is time we are aware, it is a small world after all.”

 

 

Why do we transfer our fears and our rage on to our children? *

 

Point to Ponder:  Many a time we find ourselves at a crossroad where we feel that getting into trouble with our parents is more dangerous than the trouble we may have to face in the world outside. -- Natasha Badhwar

Story Line: * Source: Does your child feel safe with you? by Natasha Badhwar in livemint.

Most people of my generation have stories from their childhood when they strayed away from their parents in a public place and were lost for some time.

Perhaps it was a more familiar world then, and parents were less paranoid about the safety of their children. In my version of this incident, I got lost along with a younger cousin in the streets of a small town...........

Does your child feel safe

http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/8FcwtzCK9shnRGpdg6V5IO/Does-your-child-feel-safe-with-you.html

 

Reflection: I saw this excellent post on Facebook by a very good friend, Dr. Hema Hirlekar, from my college days in Bombay and felt it was worth sharing. Even though most of the readers may not have experienced such issues, this type of behavior trap is not culture specific; I have seen it in many places around the world; on the overpass in Hongkong, on the street in Paris and Fantasyland in Disneyland. Over the years some friends and I have shared our own surrenders to Fear giving illusion of control and eventually resulting in failures.

It is difficult to change past but if in anyway this article can help change even one person's future then it will be worthwhile.

Remembering last week's reflection's PTP with slight addition in parenthesis.

So many of us chose our path (actions) out of fear disguised as practicality (love and care).                      -Jim Carrey

 

The Other Side of Practicality

 

 

POINT TO PONDER

So many of us chose our path out of fear disguised as practicality.

                                                - Jim Carrey

 

STORY LINE 

The embedded video is of Jim Carrey's commencement speech at the 2014 MUM graduation. It was sent to me a few years ago by a reader and at first glance I wasn't expecting much more than a few laughs. It was Jim Carrey after all. The jokes I anticipated were there but after the laughter subsided, another side, and an ultimately more emotional and contemplative side of the comedian came to light. Jim Carrey began to speak about fear and love. About how the choices we make in life originate from those two sources.

To illustrate his point, Jim gave the example of his father, a man that spent his life making choices out of fear. Jim said that his father could have been a great comedian but didn't believe that it could ever happen for him. So instead he got a safe job as an accountant. 

When Jim turned 12, however, his father was let go from that job and from then on the family struggled to survive. Jim maintains that he learned something very important from his father's experience.  The lesson, according to Jim, was that, "you can fail at what you don't want, so you might as well take a chance at doing what you love."

REFLECTION: Almost every sentence in this speech has a deep message, some of them delivered with humor. More I listen to each one of his sentences, more I appreciate the depth and profoundness of the message.

It is worth 25 minutes of time as we start our journey into 2017 and beyond.

 

 

 

People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.

Point to Ponder:

“Before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream. That’s the point at which most people give up. It’s the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one ‘dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.”― Paulo Coelho

Story Line: Paulo Coelho was born in Brazil. As a teenager, Coelho wanted to become a writer. His parents wanted him to be an Engineer like his father. At 17, Coelho's introversion and opposition to following a traditional path led to his parents committing him to a mental institution from which he escaped three times before being released at the age of 20.  At his parents' wishes, Coelho enrolled in law school and abandoned his dream of becoming a writer. One year later, he dropped out and lived life as a hippie, traveling through South America, North Africa, Mexico, and Europe. Upon his return to Brazil, Coelho worked as a songwriter. In 1974, Coelho was arrested for "subversive" activities by the ruling military government, who viewed his lyrics as left-wing and dangerous. Coelho also worked as an actor, journalist, and theatre director before pursuing his writing career.

"I was doing something that gave me food and water – to use the metaphor in The Alchemist, I was working, I had a person whom I loved, I had money, but I was not fulfilling my dream. My dream was, and still is, to be a writer." Coelho would leave his lucrative career as a songwriter and pursue writing full-time.

In 1982, Coelho published his first book, Hell Archives, which failed to make a substantial impact. After a few more attempts, In 1987, Coelho wrote The Alchemist and published it through a small Brazilian publishing house who made an initial print run of 900 copies and decided not to reprint. He subsequently found a bigger publishing house, and with the publication of his next book Brida, The Alchemist took off. HarperCollins, the biggest publishing House in the United States, decided to publish the book in 1994. Then, it became first a Brazilian bestseller, later a world-wide phenomenon. The Alchemist has gone on to sell more than 83 million copies, becoming one of the best selling books in history and has been translated into 81 different languages.

(Source Biography Wikipedia)

Reflection: A dialogue from Alchemist

“Everyone believes the world’s greatest lie…” says the mysterious old man. “What is the world’s greatest lie?” the little boy asks. The old man replies, “It’s this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That’s the world’s greatest lie.”