- Michael Crichton
I like this quote. Always been a fan of Crichton, well a lot more in 5th grade.
As I am American I have adopted a sense of entitlement and laziness not found anywhere else in the world, I never noticed the extent of this until my trip this summer to India. The crucial factor to me is not just recognizing this factor, but adjusting accordingly in order to leverage the resources and capabilities at our disposal to survive in the future.
I have just finished reading the book “The world is flat” by Thomas Friedman and it’s a wonderful account of the economics of the late nineties to now, it has an emphasis on India and China and the practices which are growing their economies at such a rapid rate.
Being a first generation India, I am the spawn of the first wave of exported genius, this engraves a number of horrific problems (we’re often called ABCDs, American born confused desis) socialization within a new society, being the pioneers for a new group of people in this country (I grew up in a upper middle class suburban town in Connecticut, that equates to about 12 people of color out of 800 students, 3 being black, 3 being asian, and 6 being of Hispanic origin).
However with these problems however I was also instilled with a number of extremely beneficial attributes, 1) I have a relatively strong innate learning and brain capabilities, my parents are very very smart and were part of a small group of highly elite Indians who made it over in the sixties 2) my parents work ethic, similar to many in India is extremely high, although I am lazy and was never forced to work hard as I was born into this beautiful land of opportunity called America, I know the discipline that is needed to be successful and know when the time comes I will be capable of performing that way, as I have had to in the past, primarily at Hopkins where natural raw talent will NOT let you graduate.
3) Most importantly, opportunity within India. The fact that I look Indian gives me an added advantage when trying to develop business opportunities in India, an advantage which white America doesn’t have but has been imposing on the rest of the world since the dawn of their insecurity (perhaps stems from their pencil thin, pasty white complexions) creating their imperialistic nature. Don’t worry white boy I don’t hate you, but I will take your job, and the rest of your families
GOALS:
I have set a number of goals which I ideally want to achieve:
1) Develop a business which has three main objectives:
- a) makes me financially independent, I don’t want to be greedy, send my kids to college, some nice things, allow me to pursue my hobbies and interests such as snowboarding, scuba diving, lying on a beach, making a Bollywood movie!(not very expensive compared to American cinema, on the order of $600k), etc.
- b) Create opportunity for people who have don’t, without capitalizing on their efforts, this is however directly aimed at people in India, people who have drive, ambition and intelligence…I’m not trying to be biased, there are a lot of lazy ass Indians in India, but there a lot of intelligent hard working people who have very difficult lives, whom if born in the circumstances I was, would be quite capable of being highly successful.
- c) Shift the balance of power within the world, As the world is flat in this day in age of business, I want to see power being shifted from entitled Americans to people who deserve a chance of being successful, this means, Chinese, Indians, Africans, everyone who works hard but has the odds against them a 1000 fold.
2) Live well, be happy, healthy and constantly expanding my education and boundaries of thought, science and arts.
3) Be philanthropic. In my arrogant, self-entitled American mindset I have realized during this trip, that helping others is probably the most rewarding job in the world; something I haven’t really experienced, but imagine is quite fulfilling.
