Thursday, 02 March 2006
New Delhi, February 27: Home away from home, how much of India is there is the US? A survey of telephone directory of Plainfield area, which is roughly as small as a Taluka in India, found 780 Patels, 200 Shahs, 134 Singhs, 50 Guptas, and a large number of Sharma, Rao, Reddy, Joshi and Kulkarni.
Another survey of telephone directory of San Jose in California found 280 Patels, 159 Gupta's, 115 Rao, 100 Singh besides a large number of Joshi, Reddy, Agarwal, Patil....
What more, there are 28 Indian periodicals in USA in English, four in Gujarati, three in Hindi, an equal number of Punjabi and one Konkani. "This shows the high magnitude of Indian impact in USA," says a new book "how to see, know and understand America" by Dr A V Saoji, G D Munshi and Dr Sanjay V Deshpande.
"In the year 2002, of the entire total 1063732 immigrants to USA from all the countries, as many as 66864 were from India. According to the US census, the overall growth rate for Bharatians from 1990 to 2000 was 105.87 per cent. The average growth rate for the whole of USA was only 7.6 per cent," say the authors.
Indians comprise 16.4 per cent of the Asian-American community. They are the third largest in the Asian American population. In 2000, of all the foreign born population in USA, Bharatians were 1007 thousands. Their percentage was 3.5 per cent," says the book.
"From 2000 onwards the growth rate and the percent rate of Indians amongst all the immigrants has increased by more than 100 times. A vast majority of them are waiting for green card and could not get themselves included in the census.... If included the percentage would come to about five per cent," it says.
"Indian Americans are economically most successful group in the United States," writes Swati A Dandekar, said state representative in the state of Iowa.
The book, as the authors say, is a must for all those immigrating to the US. Besides giving geographical details of the country, it also gives tips to immigrants on obtaining visa, about the currency, stay and even places of visit. However, it notes that lack of mobility is the only troublesome factor for visitors to USA"... Public buses are few. There are no railway locals that can be compared to that of Mumbai. Taxis are there but not freely available on road. Parking is a problem beyond imagination."
"If you want to enjoy America, you must have four 'C' - car driving, computer, cell phone and credit card," it says. "It is better to undertake insurance cover in India, before starting the journey rather than having it after reaching," it advises.
On things peculiar to USA, it says "there are many things which are not odd, but still are peculiar to USA... The Americans don'T mix solids and liquids, so eating Dal with Roti or Dal with rice is not seen."
"There is no system of putting name plates on houses in America... So unless you know the number of house you want to visit, it is impossible to trace that house."
On odds in USA, it says "contract system of jobs, bankruptcy and liquidation." (about the book: How To See Know And Understand America: by Dr A V Saoji, G D Munshi and Dr Sanjay V Deshpande; published by Sukhad Publications; price Rs 150, pages 160)
