Happy lunar New Year to all friends around the world.
Point to Ponder: Life is an echo. What you send out, comes back. What you sow, you reap. What you give, you get. What you see in others, exists in you.
Story Line: The year was 1960. Premier Chou En-Lai of China was visiting India. I still remember us and other kids chanting the slogan “Hindi Chine Bhai Bhai” (Indians and Chinese are brothers). Unfortunately, two years later the war broke out between the two countries due to a border dispute, details of which were difficult to understand for a child. What was easy to see were the photos of the protests breaking out in each country against the other, the newspapers full of stories condemning the other side and our slogans with a different tone and not so nice words. That was the beginning of my understanding (or misunderstanding) about China and the Chinese.
In September of 1970, my cousin introduced me to a pen pal from the Philippines. In the second letter she mentioned that she was of Chinese ancestry which raised some concern in my mind, but her letters seemed harmless. She had nice stories about the Philippines and movies, and at times had nice feathers, stamps and coins inside them. That was my first exposure to a Chinese person.. That friendship continued and became a lifelong partnership.
Way-Seen Wang was the first Chinese foreign student I met when I came to USA (aka The Land of the Free and The Home of the Brave) in 1974. He seemed to be a nice and polite guy. But he was from Taiwan. (We lost contact after graduating but had a reunion in Taiwan in 2014.) I had yet to meet a “mainland” Chinese until the US welcomed the first four Chinese foreign students in late seventies. I met one of them on Stanford’s Campus and invited him to our place. He was a very nice, humble person who shared many stories about family values, culture and his country. I found many similarities in his stories with Indian culture.
Since then, through my colleges and jobs in semiconductor industry, I became friends with many people of Chinese ancestry in various parts of Asia. In the year 2002, I had my first visit to China. Through many friendships developed there, I learnt more about their culture.
Reflection: Over the years these friendships have become stronger and there is deeper understanding about one another, our culture; family values, education, trade, long glorious history and the enormous capabilities of people.
Three of the five families we consider extensions of ours have Chinese heritage. There are three young men and one young girl of Chinese heritage in their 20s who call me Papa (which raises a lot of eyebrows in some places). The person who has been a great mentor to me since 1983 is Chinese American. And I am proud to say that we have many Chinese families and people that we consider “Close Friends” (not FB ones but real close friends we associate regularly).
Looking back from the perspective of war days, it seems I have ventured too much into “enemy” territory. But the times have changed and after years of association I have learnt that: “There's so much that we share, That it's time we're aware, It's a small world after all. There is just one moon and one golden sun, And a smile means friendship to everyone. Though the mountains divide, And the oceans are wide, It's a small world after all.”
Wish You all a very Happy Year of The Tiger.