USA--India, Bet you didn't know.

There is much in common between the United States of America and India.There are also many misconceptions. The USA is the world's most rich and powerful country and India is perceived as a country steeped in poverty at the other end of the world. What is common to both in modern times is the common system of democracy and freedom. India is the world's largest democracy. It is sometimes topsy turvy, but it works. Given the right environment, anyone can excel. This has been amply demonstrated by Indians in the US of A. Here are some facts:

Q.Who is the co-founder of Sun Microsystems?
A. Vinod Khosla

Q.Who is the creator of Pentium chip (needs no introduction as 90% of the today's computers run on it)?
A. Vinod Dahm

Q.Who is the third richest man on the world?

A. According to the latest report on Fortune Magazine, it is Azim Premji who is the CEO of Wipro Industries and Indian computer firm that works closely with American firms. The Sultan of Brunei is at 6th position now.

Q.Who is the founder and creator of Hotmail (Hotmail is world's No.1 web based email program)?
A. Sabeer Bhatia

Q.Who is the president of AT & T-Bell Labs (AT & T-Bell Labs is the creator of program languages such as C, C++, Unix to name a few)?
A. Arun Netravalli

Q.Who is the GM of Hewlett Packard?
A. Rajiv Gupta

Q.Who is the new MTD (Microsoft Testing Director) of Windows 2000, responsible to iron out all initial problems?
A. Sanjay Tejwrika

Q.Who are the Chief Executives of CitiBank and Mckensey

A. Victor Menezes and Rajat Gupta.

Indians are a prosperous group inthe USA. There are 3.22 millions of Indians in USA (1.5% of population). YET,

38% of doctors in USA are Indians.

12% scientists in USA are Indians.

36% of NASA scientists are Indians.

34% of Microsoft employees are Indians.

28% of IBM employees are Indians.

17% of INTEL scientists are Indians.

13% of XEROX employees are Indians.

You may know some of the following facts. These facts were recently published in a German magazine, which deals with facts from world history.

01. India has never invaded any country in her last 1000 years of history.

02. India invented the Number system. Aryabhatta invented 'zero.'

03. The world's first University was established in Takshila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.

04. According to the Forbes magazine, Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software.

05. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans.

06. Although western media portray modern images of India as poverty striken and underdeveloped through political corruption, India was once the richest place on earth.

07. The art of navigation was born in the river Sindh 5000 years ago. The very word "Navigation" is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH.

08. The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is now known as the Pythagorean Theorem. British scholars have last year (1999) officially published that Budhayan's works dates to the 6th Century, long before the European mathematicians published their work.

09. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th Century; the largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Indians used numbers as big as 1053.

10. According to the Gemmological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds to the world.

11. USA based IEEE has proved what has been a century-old suspicion amongst academics that the pioneer of wireless communication was Professor Jagdeesh Bose and not Marconi.

12. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.

13. Chess was invented in India.

14. Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted surgeries like cesareans, cataract, fractures and urinary stones. Usage of anaesthesia was well known in ancient India.This is now the subject of a documentary in the Discovery channel.

15. When many cultures in the world were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilisation), which along with the cultures of the Nile, Euphrates and China were the crad;e of early civilization.

16. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.

Quotes about India.

We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.

Albert Einstein.

India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grand mother of tradition.

Mark Twain.

If there is one place on the face of earth where all dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India.

French scholar Romain Rolland.

India dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border.

Hu Shih.
(Former Chinese ambassador to USA)

These facts are being given to blow myths of cultural stereotypes. Every nation and people go through cycles. Today, due to vast migrations, one never realizes who is positively contributing in quiet ways and enriching all our lives. They are not doing it alone. They are doing so together, in multicultural environments, of like-minded people of many countries.

Read a related article, "Understanding Indians"  in my portfolio.