Second interview

Interviewer: Sneha Shrestha

EN 191 (21)

Interviewee: Nikita Tondon

Origin: India

Date: November 1st, 2009

Second interview:

When the first interview finish, I was little experienced about the interview taking procedure. The first step for taking an interview is to prepare for the questions. As I was experienced in taking an interview, I had already set the questions. The first interview helped me a lot while preparing for the second interview. The main objective of taking an interview of an international student is to improve the writing skills. I have personally felt that my writing skills have improved ever since I have transcript my first interview. The other important objective of taking an interview is to know more about international students.

Taking an interview is not an easy task. I had problem finding my second interviewee. My second interviewee is from India. Her name is Nikita Tondon. Both of us had same ESL classes. When I asked her at first she said, “I am busy.” Then later I asked her again and she told me that she had only forty minutes. Even though it was here convenient time, she made me wait for one hour thirty minutes. Later, she explained she had here exam and also had paper due. At first, we meet at the library. We felt that the people around us were getting disturbed so, we decided to go at the Atwood.

I must mention the first interview helped me a lot. I was experienced and I had an idea about how to conduct an interview. As I used my laptop to record the first interview, this time also I used my laptop. I was scared that it would not be recorded properly, but after a while when the interview was finished I checked it and it had recorded it properly.

My interviewee was from India. India is also called Bharat. It is the seventh largest country in the world which is located in the Southern part of Asia. India is the second populated country of the world. It shares its boundary with China, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. It is also bounded by Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India, November 2, 2009)

According to India, “Home to the Indus Valley Civilization and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four major religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism originated here, while Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam arrived in the first millennium CE and shaped the region's diverse culture. Gradually annexed by the British East India Company from the early eighteenth century and colonized by the United Kingdom from the mid-nineteenth century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by widespread non-violent resistance”. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India, November 2, 2009)

According to India, “The Constitution of India, the longest and the most exhaustive constitution of any independent nation in the world, came into force on 26 January, 1950. The preamble of the constitution defines India as a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic. India has a bicameral parliament operating under a Westminster parliamentary system. Its form of government was traditionally described as being 'quasi-federal' with a strong centre and weaker states, but it has grown increasingly federal since the late 1990s as a result of political, economic and social changes.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India#Government, November 2, 2009)

The main attractions of India are its monuments, wildlife and beaches. Taj mahal, which is also one of the wonder of the world and Khajuraho are the famous monuments of India. Corbert and Periyar are the famous wildlife there. The popular beaches there are Anjuna and Mararia. Indian people are very religious. The temple that are popular there are Golden temple, Mahalaxmi temple and others. (http://www.famous-india.com/, November 2, 2009)

According to Indian Culture, “India is blessed with rich culture and heritage. The culture of India is one of the oldest cultures in the world. Right from the medieval period there prevail diverse cultural diversities in form of dances, languages, religions, people, their customs, and festivals. Every state of India has its own distinct cultures and has carved out its own cultural niche. In spite of so much of cultural diversities, Indian's are closely bond and makes India as a great country perhaps because of its common history. Dating back to over 5000 years old civilization, India's culture has been adorned by migrating population, which over a period got absorbed into the Indian way of life. This great Indian culture comprises of Indian music, Indian Dance, Indian cuisine, costumes and Indian Festivals. (http://www.indiasite.com/culture/, November 2, 2009)

My second interviewee is Nikita Tondon, who is from India. This is her second semester in Saint Cloud State University. She is the youngest in her family. After hearing her interview I felt, she is from educated family. She lives in a join family. One fascinating fact about her family was that her mother’s sister was married to her father’s brother. She explained that, it is one of the reasons why they are so closed. Her father and mother both work. Her father is a business man and her mother is a teacher.

The main reason why she joined Saint Cloud State University was because of her brother, who is her uncle’s son and her sister. Both of them study here and she said that was the reason why I am here. She has not been here in America for a long time but she has visited a lot of places with her parents as they came to visit her last summer. This December, she is going to back to her country for the holidays and she mentions that she is very excited to meet family, relatives and friends.

The interview was very good. As we learned in class I gave my interviewee time to speak. I thought the interview as a whole was very informative as I knew a lot about Indian Culture and Indian Economy. As many other people, I also had a lot of wrong information stored in my mind about India. But now, I think that has changed as I came to know how India really is from Nikita.

When we come abroad for education we are far from our native country, in that process I think a sense of patriotism is buried. I would not say it is vanished, but it is not seen or visible. When she started to talk about her country and how others perceive her country I was really touched at that moment. I could sense her feeling for her country and how she did not like the stereotyping about her could. She had defended those stereotyping which I thought were very impressive.

Talking to her was really pleasurable. I am very emotional and I miss my family a lot. When she started talking about her family vacation that she spends visiting different parts of America was amusing. I missed my family very much. I am a little jealous when she explained her road trip and as she is returning to her native country too. I could see that excitement in her eye.

In conclusion, the interview was good. It was a learning experience and I enjoyed it. I should thank my interviewee for being very friendly, open and answering my questions properly.

Transcript of second interview:

Sneha: Hi, I am Sneha Shrestha, I have take English 191 class and I am supposed to take an interview of an international student, so you are my second interviewee. Would you like to introduce yourself?

Nikita: Hi, Sneha. I am Nikita Tandon, I am from India. India is in Asia.

Sneha: So would you want to tell me something more about your country, in a detail?

Nikita: It is called the Indian Sub Continent basically because it surrounded by water. It is major part of the Asia. It is a known country now because it has taken initiatives in various fields of life and activities. India is famous for its culture. It has this culture that has been there since ages, which basically is an inherent of traditions and values. The people of India are very into traditions and values.

Sneha: What is your culture like?

Nikita: it is very ethnic you can say. We respect elders; the joint family system basically is very prevalent out there. It is very unlike what it is in USA, not totally unlike but we have this culture of staying with our parents throughout our life. People even live with their parents when they are forty or fifty. It is considered good thing out there, it is not considered bad that you do not have another place to live or something like that, people do this willingly.

Sneha: So, you are here for studies right, what are you studying?

Nikita: I am doing Computer Science now. This is my second semester. This is my first year in USA. I like Computer Science a lot.

Sneha: Why did you choose Computer Science? Is it something like in your family they tell you to study this or something like that?

Nikita: Actually, it is not like they have told me to take Computer Science. My sister, my siblings have been great influence in me. I live in a joint family. My uncle’s son took Computer Science; you can say he is like my own brother. Then, my sister also took Computer Science and I like Science too, so I took Computer Science.

Sneha: Why did you choose America?

Nikita: America I choose basically because again my siblings are here.

Sneha: Did you mean sibling your uncle’s son?

Nikita: Yes, my uncle’s son and my own sister. She is here too, in the same university so that is why I choose Saint Cloud State University.

Sneha: Did you have any other option rather coming to America for studying?

Nikita: I had consideration of studying my own country and going to abroad. Whenever we thought going abroad, we always thought of going to America than going somewhere else. We did considering UK, but I do not know we do not feel comfortable about that so we decided on coming to America.

Sneha: What kind of education system do you have in your country?

Nikita: The education system in my country is very good; it is in good level out there. It is not based on practical experience as it is here. I would say it is more theoretical in the sense that they provide the level of education that is very high but the system to provide education is not good. It is good, it is better than most of the countries but it is not good as it is good in here. That is what I have thought right now and the relationship between teachers and students is not as friendly as it is here. There, we respect the teachers, but it is not very friendly, we fear them also and after coming here the friendliness that is offered here helps a little in your studies as well. My high school education is the best education that anyone can get. It has taught a lot about life and things. Actually, up till the high school the education system is very good but beyond that the higher level education is good in the sense that, if you are ready to your own work then it is good otherwise in India, it is a common practice of copying stuff from your friends, not put as hard work as you should put in.

Sneha: When we talk about education it is so common to talk about plagiarism here. So, do you guys have something like that in your country?

Nikita: Plagiarism is considered bad but they are not strict about that as it is here. I mean, in India if someone is caught copying in an exam or test, they would not be failed directly whereas here they will just be failed. It is a big deal but not as a bigger deal as it is here. In comparison it is a milder form of it you can say.

Sneha: What education system do you like right now, the education system that you were used to in your country or the education system of America?

Nikita: If you compared that, the education system here is little better than my country in the sense of the higher level education. I have not been to colleges in India, so I am not so sure about it but I have heard that the education system they provide there is also good, but it is not very useful in the long run. Here what I am experiencing right now is the education system they provide might be very helpful in the long run. Actually, the education system makes you do your own work, you have to put in the hard work and in the process you learn of it. But, in my country there are a percentage of students who will put in their hard work and the other percentage will just copy. So, I am not too sure if I had studied in my country, I might have been in the later percentage but I think here I am in the first percentage of the student.

Sneha: Would you mind talking about your family a little more?

Nikita: Yes, what do you want to know about my family?

Sneha: Just tell me something about your family, your mother, father and your siblings as you have talked about.

Nikita: I have a joint family. My family and my father’s brother family live together along with my grandparents. My father’s brother has been married to my mother’s sister.

Sneha: Oh! That is sweet.

Nikita: So, did you understand what I mean. That is why we are more close to each other and it helps. Everybody works in my house. My mother also works. She is a lecturer in the university. She teaches Sanskrit. Sanskrit is like a basic language for us. It is the dialect that we use, Hindi comes from and most of the language comes from Sanskrit. I think people here also know lot about the Sanskrit. My father was first an officer in a company, but then he had a kidney transplant and he decided to take a voluntary retirement. Now, he has his own well established business of wrist watches.

Sneha: Oh! Then you must have collection of few.

Nikita: Yes, I have a great collection of wrist watches. Then we also have a family business. It is not a family business you can say. My grandfather is an insurance agent and my uncle is also an insurance agent. It is very reputed business in my city and people know them a lot. My aunt, who is my uncle’s wife and my mother’s sister, she is also a lecturer. She teaches sociology in another university. We all are very emotionally attached.

Sneha: When you came here first did you missed you family?

Nikita: The first few days when I came here it was not so bad. I came here to my brother and sister and I enjoyed it a lot, but now I really miss my family. I specially miss my dog. She is Drentse and I really miss her. When I was coming here, I think I was going to really miss them; it was a bad situation there. Even now the pressure is too much like college pressure, the exams are irritating me a lot and I miss them. But, I am going back in December and I am all excited about that.

Sneha: So, you missed your family. Did you have any cultural difference?

Nikita: Not exactly. People have been saying that there is a cultural shock when you come here. You experience different things. I enjoyed it right in the beginning, may be because I was used to it hearing from my sister and brother, and I knew what was going to happen, what was going to turn out and also because I have someone who looks after me and show me around. I was more used to it when I came here. Then the food and other stuffs, even though I am a vegetarian I adjusted again because of my brother and sister. They showed me around they told me what is right and what is not. But, some of my friends experienced cultural shock. When they came they were excited but after sometime they became very quiet and started experiencing cultural shock thing that we speak of in the orientation and stuffs. But, I was fine with it.

Sneha: Let us talk something about our countries economy, like what kind of jobs do they do?

Nikita: Unlike the belief that India is under developed country that is totally wrong. I am not saying it is a developed country but it is a developing country. It has a strong economical back ground right now. There are enough jobs and food for people. I will tell you a story, when I came here someone asked me do they have enough water and food for people. I was like totally shocked and I literally wanted to laugh at that time because it is such a wrong belief, it is not like that. In every country, there are areas or section which is not as rich as it should be. I do not know how to put it, but there is enough food, water and everything for every individual out there. The economical condition out here, I would not say it is as good as it is here. It is basically because of the political issues, not because of the economical condition. There are very developed cities and not so developed cities but on the whole it is gearing up and it is moving towards the better ray of hope. And you might have heard about its own established movie industry. It is called “Bollywood”. Here it is Hollywood and in India, it is called Bollywood. The movies are featured all over the world and most of the people know about these movies. The actors are very famous. You might have heard about Amitabh Bachan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai so, these movies are doing good people are recognizing India more due to these movies and industries and they are getting to know the culture better.

Sneha: When you came here did you had any expectation about America?

Nikita: I came here in December. I was expecting a very green America. Totally green, very clean and a yellowish kind of touch on it as I had seen in movies, but since it was in December there was absolutely no speck of green out there. So, when I was in flight I thought I was going in different isolated island, which is just brown and white. When I came here, as I expected the roads were very clean. It is totally different than India.

Sneha: How did you feel when you came to Saint Cloud?

Nikita: I felt good. I liked the university, the whole atmosphere. I enjoyed every part of it. I do not know why but I was a little scared. It might be because I had come to another country for the first time, and I was going to start my new career stuff. But I had seen most part of Minnesota. I had seen Minneapolis, Saint Paul and areas around it. I had seen most of the place around it. I was not shocked after coming here, but yes, I found Saint Cloud different than the cities.

Sneha: Where have you been except Saint Cloud?

Nikita: Except Saint Cloud, I have been to Minneapolis, Iowa and different places of Iowa. I have been to different places actually. During the summer, I went to California, Nevada, Idaho, and Chicago then, I really do not remember each city. I liked Salt Lake City a lot. It was all white. I liked Los Vegas also. These were the cities I have been to a lot of places actually, this is just my first year but I have seen a lot. I have also been to Wisconsin too. I really enjoyed in Valley Fair that is in cities. It was a great experience; I had not seen something like that in India. India does have amusement parks, it does have rides and others but it does not have as huge and magnificent as it is here.

Sneha: Do you have any good experience, something you want to share?

Nikita: My parents came here. It was like a good experience all together. Since, we went to California and Nevada, it was really good. It was basically a road trip, it was adventures and it was really fun. We went through different states. We went to California, Saint Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento and then we went to the beaches. I really liked it all. Los Vegas was also really nice. The whole atmosphere there was very festive. I am underage but my parents, they gambled a lot there. We stayed in Excalibur. The hotels in Los Vegas are based in different themes. The main features or excitement or amusement thing in Los Vegas is the Los Vegas strip that has all hotels in it. The hotel in which we stayed was based on different fight that we used to have in the history that was Excalibur castle. Other hotels had snow-white, Cinderella and different fairy tales. It was very good and beautiful. Each hotel has its own casino. People go to different casino and from different hotels. It was awesome. We stayed in casinos for five to six hours and we had so much fun. Then there was this band performing. We danced to its tune. This was the first time, we were doing something with our parents because in India, when we generally go out my parents do not dance and stuff. Everybody was dancing and everybody was going mad. It was nice, it was awesome actually.

Sneha: While in the trip, did you find something weird or a sense of discrimination that usually an international people do feel sometimes? Did you?

Nikita: Not really, something that I felt really odd that I had seen first time in Los Vegas was prostitution being legal out there and people were actually selling cards and girls were roaming all around. I found it a little odd. I had a miss feeling about it, it was funny and odd. It was totally like I was in the movie. Like we see a movie there is something happening out there, you just want to see it but you do not want to experience as such.

Sneha: What do you like most about America and being in America?

Nikita: I have not given much thought at it yet. Actually, I do not know. I like the education system, but I miss my country too. I think my country is also very great. Everything in America is easy, it is easily available. I think that is a good feature about America. One thing I do not like about Saint Cloud is there are no Indian restaurants out here. I really miss the Indian kind of food out here so, that something I do not like about Saint Cloud otherwise there is many Indian restaurant in Minneapolis, even though that are very expensive I really love them. There is no any Indian groceries stuff out here too. It is in the cities, they should have one in Saint Cloud as there are so many Indians and Nepalese student out here. We share the same food and groceries, vegetables and stuffs. That is something I miss a lot. There are no good very cheap shops. I have been in the mall a lot, but I do not find it any exciting. In India, there used to be small shops, we used to go window shopping. There used to be accessories, different cheap things available for good rates. It is good here also I am not saying it is not, but it is all about the malls out here.

Sneha: You told me you are going back this December, are you excited about going back?

Nikita: I am really excited about going back this December. I am going to miss my parents, my family out there and my friends. All my friends are coming to meet me. Since, we moved out after our high schools all of them are in different cities, they have joined different colleges. We are making plans already. I am very excited and then it will be a good break since I have been studying for months now. There are going to be many ceremonies, so that will be nice to. I am going to visit some temples, so we are planning of going to those temples like Maha Laxmi Temple and Shiv temple in India that are very famous. People here might have heard about them, they show them a lot in the Discovery Chanel. I am very excited to do there, visit these temples because I have not been in a temple for one year now.

Sneha: Thank you, Nikita for agreeing to give an interview. I hope you do well in your exam.

Nikita: Thank you, it was really a nice experience sharing it with you. I hope you have a good semester and awesome class