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Interesting article in a recent USA Today Street Journal (16 June 2009) featuring the economic impact on Immigrant and Indian businesses in America:
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Entire family invested
Susan Patel inherited her American dream from her father, Tulsi, and uncle Mafat, immigrants from India who founded Patel Brothers, a national chain of 41 Indian grocery stores. Last year, Susan Patel bought Patel Brothers Handicrafts & Utensils, a small Chicago shop that sells kitchen items and Hindu statues and temples, from her father. Since then, she has watched several of the Indian and Pakistani businesses that line Devon Avenue close and stopped paying herself a salary to avoid laying off her two employees.
"We've all had to adjust," says Patel, 33, but she's confident she can survive the recession. She feels obliged to keep her store open to help the neighborhood get through the recession. "If I close, customers may not come to this area at all," she says. |
Patel's uncle came here from Bhandu, a rural Indian village, in the late 1960s. Her parents, Tulsi and Aruna, followed in 1971. Everyone shared a house, and Patel's parents worked in factories.
"They saved their money so they could have the American dream," she says. In 1974, they bought a small grocery. More relatives emigrated from India to join the growing throng in the Patel home, Patel says, and more stores and a line of Indian food followed. The family bought restaurants, travel agencies and real-estate companies, and the two brothers' children work in them.
Patel believes immigrant-owned businesses are more likely to make it through the recession because owners often invest their life savings — and their lives — in them. "Everyone works all the time," she says. "At the dinner table, all we talked about was business. It's all we knew."
Patel's goals are identical to those that led her parents to risk everything and come here: "just to make it, to be a success."
Check out the article
You may also be interested in the extensive listing of Indian businesses and bazaars in Americaon GaramChai.com
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Summer Reading : Arranged Marriage |
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The topic of marriages, especially the desi tradition of Arranged marriages fascinates westerners. How can you marry someone you just met for a few minutes? They all seem to wonder. Many desi authors have attempted to add their narrative to this theme. The latest is a book GaramChai’s editor came across (sorry, Editor has got around to reviewing the book yet)
About the Book
"An Arranged Marriage" is an inspirational love story set in contemporary (1970-2025) UK, India and US and showcasing merits and demerits of the East and West and how important it is for the marriage of ideas from both the cultures for better understanding of the world and for peace all around in these tumultuous times. I have tried to convey the love story of India and US through my protagonists Sam and Bharti.I have traced their life from childhood trying to show the difference of culture and thought process in US and India and how both are important to each other. Why and how they are moving towards an arranged marriage in recent times.
Along with the wider aspect of dealing with the two different cultures, countries and way of life, my book deals with very subtle human emotions, family values, and dilemma in making decisions in our lives as we face daily. It is also a story of man as the greatest creation of God and what is his real purpose on earth.
For your reading pleasure: A comprehensive list of Books on Arranged Marriages (Remember to mail us back with a review)
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Feature:
Online Matrimonials
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Indian
Internet Matrimony - Dos and Donts -
By: Mrs Gayathri Sanyal (Marriage Consultant) for IndianMillionaireMarriages
.com
Marriage is one of the most important decisions of your
life. Be wary of matrimonial sites.
Don't
s
1) Marriage is a sensitive, personal and private matter.
Don't let any mass market matrimonial websites commoditize
you as a product on a catalogue
2) Don't get carried away by sites that claim they have
millions of members. It is immaterial to you. Multiple
choices are only an illusion. You are unique and there
is only one match and you can marry only one.
3) Don't get carried away by success stories they claim
on their sites. It is irrelevant to you and you cannot
validate their authenticity
4) Don't let automatic software matchmaker programs
spam your mailbox. It will distract you and keep you
single for years. Remember - most mass market matrimonial
sites desire that you remain single so that they can
get renewed subscriptions.
5) Don't start exchanging pictures from the beginning
however beautiful or handsome you may be. You spoil
your chances of finding a good match due to a focus
on too superficial parameters. You will end up with
the wrong person
6) Establish Trust. Furnish the facts of who you are
in tangible terms so you are not a virtual identity.
There is nothing wrong in sharing a traditional biodata
instead of being abstract.
A generic profile says - I am a doctor. A specific profile
says - I graduated from G.S Medical in 2000 with Ist
class and practice as a pediatrician in Mumbai
7) Exchange each other's pictures if you feel that basic
background is compatible. Don't plaster your picture
on websites. You are demeaning your identity from a
multi dimensional personality to a static, one dimensional
image. You attract or repel someone based on your personality
and not your picture.
8) Don't correspond with multiple profiles simultaneously.
You will not be able to do justice.
9) Don't use Video/ SMS alert or Messenger services
to exchange initial information. SMS shows how abrupt
and irresponsible you are with the most important chapter
of your life.
10) Instant Messenger invites parallel processing with
multiple people and leads to no outcome. Use it only
after you have exchanged basic info and would like to
pursue a relationship with someone but have geographic
constraints
11) Don't copy other people's profiles just to make
the profile look fancy. Be yourself.
12) Don't just walk away but RUN from websites that
offer multiple distracting popup windows when you are
searching for your partner
13) Don't use websites which offer you the false ego
boost of Declining someone. It is rude, immature and
silly.
Dos : KYS Know Your Self
1)
List your strengths and weaknesses
2) List down your key achievements in life
3) List down what you will offer the marriage
4) List down what you value in her/him and what she/he
should value
5) List down your personal and professional future plans
6) List down what you can compromise on in terms of
location, financial status, food habits, religion, mother
tongue, field of work and the likes
7) List down what you cannot compromise on - "must
haves"
Communication
Tips
8)
Take initiative in communication when you find someone
of interest
9) Introduce yourself with a traditional biodata
10) Share the KYS with the person across
11) Request for a KYS discussion from the other person
12) Be prompt, patient and mature
13) Be Realistic in your expectations.
Read
rest of the feature
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Search
GaramChai.com and other information
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Though
websites like Sulekha, Search India and others attract advertisers
by providing listings, events, chat and discussions, Garamchai.com
aims to be the most extensive information directory with a
simple but elegant user interface. GaramChai.com is a complete
resource listing of hundreds of temples, restaurants online
shops, grocers and bazaars. Other listings include jewelers,
wedding specialists, theaters, beauty salons, mehndi services,
places of worship including Temples, Mosques, Churches and
Gurudwaras. With the large amounts of information, the site
is well organized dividing most listings into state categories.
Sending comments or suggestions is simple with a form that
is provided on the site or by emailing us [Replace _at_ with
@] This
section of GaramChai.com will attempt to address some of the
Frequently Asked Questions on Life in the US and Canada that
immigrants, visitors and others from different cultures attempt
to address.
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