# Any dopers from India? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 27, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-from-india/548143 "2010-07-27T02:52:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-from-india/548143/41 "2010-07-30T16:24:25Z")
> [@Rucksinator](#): > > What is an approximate average wage for a college educated Indian working in Mumbai or Bangalore doing tech-support work for an outsourcing company? [This article](http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/sep2009/gb20090923_316936.htm) suggests that the average annual wage for a tech worker is ~$14k/year. That’s about 700,000 rupees. Breaking that down to the hour (and keeping in mind that Indians only get one day off a week) it comes to 303 rupees/hour. I can’t provide any more details from personal knowledge than that - my internship was unpaid. My housing for the entire time I was there cost me ~$200, but someone else in my masters program did her internship in Hyderabad at the same time and her housing cost her three or four times that. (She lived in a much ritzier area - if you know Hyderabad, she lived in Banjara Hills and I lived in Secunderabad - and had much fancier lodgings than I did.) So you can see there is a wide variation. ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-from-india/548143/42 "2010-07-30T17:10:28Z")
**indian,** Can you describe your primary education to me? Did you attend a Christian school? How many Hindus did you go to school with? What did you learn about the United States? Thanks, ---
**Author:** ![curiousGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5a626/32.png) [@curiousGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curiousGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-from-india/548143/43 "2010-07-30T19:59:52Z")
> [@Rucksinator](#): > > > [@indian](#): > > > > … There are some churches where hindus come and offfer prayers. … > > Just so I’m clear: Were these Christian churches, Hindu churches, or are there “general-purpose” churches where people from whatever religion can come and pray? > [ For starters, I am a Hindu of the Brahmin caste. In my opinion, those Hindus that go to churches to ‘pray’ are most probably yuppies in the metro cities or ones that are accompanying their friends. I’m clarifying this because I wouldn’t like you to get the impression that Hindus going to Christian churches happens on a large scale. We have beautiful temples, some of them very ancient, many of them sadly in utter neglect, because of the mechanism by which they are funded. Did you know Angkor Wat in Cambodia is a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Vishnu? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-from-india/548143/44 "2010-07-31T01:43:18Z")
I’m Indian, still consider myself culturally Hindu, though I’ve been in the States since I was four. Still, I have been back many times. I’ll answer what i can, but I just got back from a week-long training trip and am way too tired to think straight right now. Thank you for the PM, I just wanted to let you know I did get it. I’ll try to answer soon. ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-from-india/548143/45 "2010-07-31T02:29:33Z")
\*\*\*Can you describe your primary education to me? Did you attend a Christian school? How many Hindus did you go to school with? \*\*\* Thanks, [/QUOTE] Private Schools ( aided by government ) : The owners have to abide by government rules. Since teachers of these schools are paid by goiverment and trated at par with state employees .They are under constant scruitiny. The owners have to provide infrastructure and appoint teachers. Owners make some money in appointing teachers . The fees collected form students are minimal. Low income students are exempt from paying fees and get some financial assistance from goverment. Private Schools ( unaided by government ): Goverment does not pay salary. It is paid by the owners from the fees collected. Usually monthly fees here are much higher. Here again the curriculum is decided by state education board. Government owned Schools: Owned & operated by goverment. Remmeber India is a [secular](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_India) country . **If any religion is forced on any student against their will in any type of school, it is a sure invitation to get your school blacklisted .** Grades 1 to 4 : Primary School , owned by church. Curriculum decided by State education board . I walked to school every day. We had Hindu+Christian+Muslim students. Majority of them were Hindu. Grades 5 to 10 : Secondary school .Owned by a Hindu.Again we had Hindu +Christian + Muslim students. Majority of them were Hindu. Only religion thing we are taught is stories from epics like these . a) Abu ben Adam - Story about helping others . b) Sita geting abducted by Mareech- from Ramayana c) Story of that one samaritan coming back to thank jesus . Some catholic schools have classes on religion etc… But only for those who want to attend them . **What did you learn about the United States** I learnt about U.S from some movies I saw and by reading news papers . Later in geography we had to study about all continents. In 8th grade or so we had to study flora and fauna of america. In 9th/ 10th grade we studied american independance war and civil war both . ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-from-india/548143/46 "2010-07-31T02:40:17Z")
> [@curiousGuy](#): > > > [@Rucksinator](#): > > > > > [@indian](#): > > > > > > … There are some churches where hindus come and offfer prayers. … > > > > Just so I’m clear: Were these Christian churches, Hindu churches, or are there “general-purpose” churches where people from whatever religion can come and pray? > > [ > > For starters, I am a Hindu of the Brahmin caste. > In my opinion, those Hindus that go to churches to ‘pray’ are most probably yuppies in the metro cities or ones that are accompanying their friends. > I’m clarifying this because I wouldn’t like you to get the impression that Hindus going to Christian churches happens on a large scale. > _ **Yes ! These are very limited in numbers . There are Hindu temples which are open to all religions , but I think very limited numbers of "others "visit them.** _ > We have beautiful temples, some of them very ancient, many of them sadly in utter neglect, because of the mechanism by which they are funded. > > Did you know Angkor Wat in Cambodia is a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Vishnu? ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-from-india/548143/47 "2010-07-31T07:53:58Z")
**What did you learn about the United States** I learnt about U.S from some movies I saw and by reading news papers . Later in geography we had to study about all continents. In 8th grade or so we had to study flora and fauna of america. In 9th/ 10th grade we studied american independance war and civil war both . [/QUOTE] Adding to this. There was a chapter on Abe lincoln also probably in 6th grade. ---
**Author:** ![Aankh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@Aankh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aankh)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-from-india/548143/48 "2010-07-31T11:55:05Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Indian-Americans are more comfortable talking openly about caste because it has very little effect on our lives. Indians in India do not ask strangers about their caste. First of all, because they generally already know each other’s caste. Second, because openly talking about caste (with a person outside of your caste) brings the focus on caste differences. Discrimination based on caste is illegal,b ut there are many people who still suffer the consequences of generations of caste discrimination. And, believe me, caste prejudice still exists, even among people who are otherwise educated – among these people, caste prejudice generally falls along the broad lines of Brahmin-other high castes-low castes, rather than specifically one caste versus another caste. What this man said. Accurate on all counts. To add on, as an example of just how relevant the caste issue still is, I refer you to the world’s largest online ‘arranged marriage’ resource - [Shaadi.com](http://www.shaadi.com/) (literally, [Wedding.com](http://Wedding.com)). Front page search options - Religion, Language, Caste. Anecdotally, I don’t know anyone who’s gone the arranged marriage route - whether via a real-life intermediary or a website or whatever - that didn’t do the caste-based narrowing down first. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-from-india/548143/49 "2010-07-31T17:15:39Z")
Well, I re-read your question. I haven’t lived anywhere near a significant part of my life in India, so I probably am not good for your questions. I was born in India, and lived there until I was about three or four. I visited four times between ages 10-18. And I kept close ties for a long time. That being said, I am predominantly American, and don’t really have much idea of what it’s like to live there, especially as an independent adult. I do have to say one thing that everyone here has kind of pointed out already. The news that comes out of India in the American press tends to be of shock value and overwhelmingly negative. Movies like Slumdog Millionaire focus on the crushing poverty and class distinctions, which certainly do exist. However they never show the amazing progress India has made in just some 60+ years of independence. India is a republic and a democracy, in a part of the world where such things are relatively rare, and a country I believe will be in the First World before much longer. While there are differences in opinion, mostly Indians believe in educating women, and joining the modern world as soon as possible. But what do we hear about in the news? Boys being forced to marry dogs. Widows being left to die. Outsiders like to think of India as a quaint little country with strange customs, when honestly I gather if you went to Bombay you’d hardly tell the difference, except for all of the brown faces. (Granted I’ve never been to Bombay). Anyway, I’ll get off my high horse now and just reiterate that there isn’t really much as a “typical” Indian. Put it this way - many Indians have to communicate with each other through English because there just isn’t a common language. And that’s just the start. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-from-india/548143/50 "2010-07-31T17:32:25Z")
Best damned food in the world, though. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-from-india/548143/51 "2010-07-31T17:46:50Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > India is a republic and a democracy, in a part of the world where such things are relatively rare, and a country I believe will be in the First World before much longer. While there are differences in opinion, mostly Indians believe in educating women, and joining the modern world as soon as possible. > > But what do we hear about in the news? Boys being forced to marry dogs. Widows being left to die. Outsiders like to think of India as a quaint little country with strange customs, when honestly I gather if you went to Bombay you’d hardly tell the difference, except for all of the brown faces. (Granted I’ve never been to Bombay). You’d be able to tell the difference. Indian cities will never be as homogenous, orderly, and antiseptic as ours are. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-from-india/548143/52 "2010-07-31T17:58:23Z")
Never? If “antiseptic” simply means a certain very high level of sanitation, I would hope India could eventually reach it. What makes it impossible? ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-from-india/548143/53 "2010-07-31T18:08:00Z")
(Or, perhaps all you meant was that “Visiting Indian cities today, you’ll never find one as homogenous, orderly, and antiseptic as ours are”, in which case, nevermind) ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-from-india/548143/54 "2010-07-31T18:51:52Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > But what do we hear about in the news? Boys being forced to marry dogs. Widows being left to die. Outsiders like to think of India as a quaint little country with strange customs, when honestly I gather if you went to Bombay you’d hardly tell the difference, except for all of the brown faces. (Granted I’ve never been to Bombay). While I agree with your post in general, I’ve been to Bombay. There’s _no way on earth_ you could mistake it for an American city. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-from-india/548143/55 "2010-07-31T19:22:38Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > > [@Anaamika](#): > > > > But what do we hear about in the news? Boys being forced to marry dogs. Widows being left to die. Outsiders like to think of India as a quaint little country with strange customs, when honestly I gather if you went to Bombay you’d hardly tell the difference, except for all of the brown faces. (Granted I’ve never been to Bombay). > > While I agree with your post in general, I’ve been to Bombay. There’s _no way on earth_ you could mistake it for an American city. Not even Detroit? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-from-india/548143/56 "2010-07-31T19:48:45Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > > [@Kyla](#): > > > > > [@Anaamika](#): > > > > > > But what do we hear about in the news? Boys being forced to marry dogs. Widows being left to die. Outsiders like to think of India as a quaint little country with strange customs, when honestly I gather if you went to Bombay you’d hardly tell the difference, except for all of the brown faces. (Granted I’ve never been to Bombay). > > > > While I agree with your post in general, I’ve been to Bombay. There’s _no way on earth_ you could mistake it for an American city. > > Not even Detroit? No. Detroit has too many empty and overgrown lots. In Bombay, there would be people camped out in all of those spaces. eta: I guess your point of comparison is that both cities are poor and screwed up, but they’re poor and screwed up in vastly different ways. Detroit has the feeling of basically having given up. It’s filled with empty houses and storefronts and the streets are often dead and empty of pedestrians. Bombay is totally packed, with people absolutely fucking _everywhere_. Traffic is a nightmare. They are in no way similar. ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-from-india/548143/57 "2010-07-31T20:16:17Z")
> [@indian](#): > > … > > Grades 1 to 4 : Primary School , owned by church. Curriculum decided by State education board . I walked to school every day. We had Hindu+Christian+Muslim students. Majority of them were Hindu. > > Grades 5 to 10 : Secondary school .Owned by a Hindu.Again we had Hindu +Christian + Muslim students. Majority of them were Hindu. > > Only religion thing we are taught is stories from epics like these . > > a) Abu ben Adam - Story about helping others . > b) Sita geting abducted by Mareech- from Ramayana > c) Story of that one samaritan coming back to thank jesus . > > Some catholic schools have classes on religion etc.. But only for those who want to attend them . > > **What did you learn about the United States** > I learnt about U.S from some movies I saw and by reading news papers . Later in geography we had to study about all continents. In 8th grade or so we had to study flora and fauna of america. In 9th/ 10th grade we studied american independance war and civil war both . Thank you, this is exactly what I need. For my paper, I am supposed to write a paper about “what you believe a teacher in [_my selected country_] would teach her students about America.” From what I heard from the 4 local Indians that I interviewed, the answer is “very little”. I want this story to be as realistic as possible, so information about what is normally taught and when will help me decide that grade level to choose and what type of school. I have to address 10 themes (I.e. “#1 - People, places and environment”, “#4 - Culture”, “#6 - Power, Authority and Government”, etc.), and I don’t think that there is any realistic way that all of this would be addressed. So my current idea is to have the teacher be just getting back from a trip to the US, and so the next time he has class the students are interested in hearing about his trip, and so the regularly scheduled lesson plan gets turned into a lesson on the US. (Perhaps this class is “9th/ 10th grade” the regularly scheduled lesson plan was on the American Revolution and Civil war, so it wouldn’t be going off topic too much.) So, what would be a plausible reason that a teacher would take a week-long trip to the United States? To attend the wedding of his cousin-brother that now lives in the US? Could a teacher afford plane tickets? Thanks, BTW, it sounds strange to me to read about schools being “owned”. Here we have public schools that are run by state and local school boards, and private schools that are usually run by a church. When you said “Owned by a Hindu.”, did you mean that one man owned the school as a business? ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-from-india/548143/58 "2010-07-31T20:28:10Z")
Also, are most (all) Indian students taught English? Are other subjects taught in Hindi or English or whatever the predominate language is in that area? Are schoolteachers paid differently depending on what type of school they teach at? At what type of school would a teacher most likely have the freedom to go off-topic on a school lesson? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-from-india/548143/59 "2010-08-01T01:36:31Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > (Or, perhaps all you meant was that “Visiting Indian cities today, you’ll never find one as homogenous, orderly, and antiseptic as ours are”, in which case, nevermind) None of those words were meant as complimentary to our cities – “antiseptic” was meant metaphorically. Indian cities are alive with life and culture in a way that makes our cities look like cemeteries. To compare Bombay to Detroit is almost laughable. No slight to Detroit-- I’m sure there are great people there-- but Bombay is one of the workd’s great cities in terms of cultural activity. Not even New York can compete with the full humanity that presents itself in a place like Bombay. Yes India has a lot of problems, but its cities are ALIVE in a way that ours just aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-from-india/548143/60 "2010-08-01T01:41:46Z")
I figured you were praising India’s lack of homogeneity, but I didn’t realize “antiseptic” was being used metaphorically; I thought you were just pointing out differences along a number of axes, good and bad. I understand you now, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-from-india/548143.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-from-india/548143.md?page=4)