Expense Account, Mint
If Hollywood movies and interactions as tourists make us believe that all Americans speak like Californians and live in Manhattan, then the urban mass affluent Indians who reach US shores confuse them about who the real Indian is—the poor child with a tear in one eye they see in the ad asking for donation or this suave businessman negotiating hard for his company? Four months is long enough for an outsider to get an inside view. And when this time has the good fortune of being filled with some of the best academic minds, think tank experts, government and military officials and interaction with locals, you begin to tear through the facade of impressions and perceptions formed by more limited interactions and see behind the veil. My stint as a World Fellow at Yale got me to shift several worldviews. There are two at the moment that stand out and are possibly worth your attention.