wow. one last insomniac check of my email...and lookey here...so many thoughts swirling around my head. make a list, anna, it works for the kid brudda. ;)
1) despite this daunting plethora of queries, i'm going to answer him.
2) i probably AM related to him, b/c he has that inimitable kurushmootil blackmailing style DOWN...
3) there was a snazzy waving american flag graphic on his original email. i feel the need to alert you to this, b/c he obviously went through some trouble to respect and honour my flag and it's too bad it doesn't show here... ;) so now you know. homeboy likes the stars and stripes.
4) if i could just get over my fucking self and my perfectionist proclivities, i could send this dear soul MY legendary, elusive MASTER'S THESIS which covered all of this and more. sigh.
5) ah yes, if any of you wish to add your thoughts, please feel free to comment here. i will incorporate what you say (provided that it is intelligent and insightful and it doesn't annoy me) and credit you accordingly when i write the term paper that my "distant cousin" is blackmailing me for. fun!
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Dear Anna,
If I may introduce myself, my name is Cherian Samuel and I am a Delhi-based researcher working on a project on the Indian Diaspora. Prior to this, I was working with India Abroad here in Delhi (while it still belonged to Mr. Gopal Ragu:-)
Re. the reason for this mail, I have a few queries regarding American Politics in general and the role of Indian Americans in particular, and since I seem to know as much as the next expert on the United States here in Delhi, I was hoping to get some enlightenment on this subject from someone who is right in the thick of the action. I would like to give you a sampling of the queries I have and I do hope you will respond else I am up the proverbial creek without a paddle!
One problem I have faced is that of getting a correct perspective because I get most of my information from Indian American ethnic papers such as India Abroad and India West which have a tendency to put every achievement, small or big, by Indian Americans in banner headlines. So, my first question would be how small or how big a fish are Indian Americans in the very big pond that is American politics.
Regarding the Indian American internship programmes, I was initially under the impression that these were conducted mainly by the IACFPA but I recently come across a reference that similar programmes are also conducted by the IAFPE. So, in what way one is one internship programme different from the other? That also begs the larger question as to the amount of overlap between the functions of the myriad number of Indian American organisations. My other problem sitting here is that I find it difficult to sift the wheat from the chaff; for instance I have been looking at the various Indian American groups and one of the more prominent ones that I have located on the Internet is the Indian American friendship Council run by a Dr. Krishna Reddy. How has he succeeded where others have failed? Also, he does seem to indulge in a fair bit of self-promotion; there is reference to an award that he was given by the President of India but I am unable to find independent confirmation that he was actually given such an award and what it was. Have you met the man and is he genuine or just another publicity seeker (a photocrat, I believe, is how Kumar Barve terms such people)
I would also like your insight into the indifference of Indian Americans to political affairs. Does that arise out of a sense of inferiority, or is it just that professional and family obligations leave little time for anything else?
These, then, are some of the doubts that have thrown themselves up in the course of my study, and I have turned to you for lack of anyone else to satisfactorily clear my queries. There are quite a few more where these came from but I thought I would first find out whether you have the time and the inclination to help out a needy soul before throwing them at you! I do hope you will save me the trouble of digging out some distant relation who will, no doubt, be related to your distant relation to drag out the family tree and count the number of times my part of the clan has helped out yours and come to the conclusion that it's your turn to help so that I get what I want;-) I also hope you will give this lightly veiled threat the consideration it deserves:-)
And with that odious attempt at humour (and this equally reprehensible attempt at artificial alliteration:-), I bid you adios.
I do hope you will respond one way or the other.
Yours sincerely
Cherian