Permanent Residency (or Permanent Retrogression)

If you are a desi in America, you've been there. Sat around with friends and complained no end about how frustrating it is to wait for the elusive Green Card, also known as Panacea For All Problems; envied the friend who married a citizen and simplified the process greatly; wondered if the janitor had one, while you (Ph.D. and all) still waited.

Let's take a step back, and look at where we come from. I had this surprisingly emotional discussion with an older Chinese co-worker, who shared with me how hard his childhood had been. It began with him telling me about his daughter's participation in a 30 hour famine to make a contribution towards solving world hunger. He said that he was encouraging her so that she would learn the value of the food they eat, and that there are others who are not as lucky. For some reason, he then went on to tell me how much he went through growing up. His mother died when he was 2, and his father raised him alone. They left China for Hong Kong, although his father had not much more than hope, by way of professional skills. They often had no home, and slept at his father's place of work. Today, he is in the Silicon Valley with a wife and two daughters, but they now own a home, a car and everything else that goes with an American way of life. I don't know about you, but I can definitely relate to some of his experiences. My parents have told my sister and me many incidents from their lives, times when they studied under the light of a hurricane lantern because there was no electricity, times when they slept in the kitchen because it was the biggest room in the house, times when they walked 5 km to school, times when our grandparents had no money to buy a train ticket but had to travel to make a living (irony!). We are indeed fortunate to be in a position that is materialistically better than theirs. And lucky to have enough to live comfortably, and realize and appreciate the value of everything we have.

Now that the lower rungs of Maslow's pyramid are satisfied, we must move up. And we all do - we gravitate towards money, power, fame, and success, however we may define it. Often, people perceive the difficulty involved with the green card process as a deterrent towards their goals. But is it, really? Don't let it ruin your mood, or rule your decisions (not too much, at least). If you are determined to succeed, you must be prepared to face many challenges, and surely a crappy immigration system and a badly managed process are not enough to deter you? Given that the whole thing is mostly out of your control, how you deal with it is very dependent on your individual situation; it may mean being patient in your current position, throwing caution to the wind and leaving to another exciting position, going back to school, going back to India to capitalize on the growth etc. Whatever works. If those before us managed to overcome the lack of basic necessities, and still do well enough to educate their children and get us this far, we with all our material comforts can do better (green card or not).

Fries anyone?

On reading about the recent furor regarding restaurants being required to publish calorie information on menus in New York city, I found myself thinking about nutrition information and how its availability influences our choices. Before I came to the US, I did not look at a single nutrition label, not a single one. Probably because there were none to look at. Thankfully for me, parents made sensible and healthy choices on my behalf (mostly). When I realized how much information was out there, and how easily accessible it all was, I dove right in.

I quickly learned a thing or two:

BAD - may be used, but only in moderation:
- processed foods (ready-made or pre-made anything)
- refined flours (white bread, regular pasta)
- excessive use of oil, butter, dairy, sugar

GOOD:
- vegetable and fruit
- lentils and beans
- tofu, soy products
- nuts and seeds (just watch the calories)
- whole wheat (ww bread, ww pasta)

I definitely enjoy the ice cream or cookie fix (the true reason for my running so much). But I realized that by habituating a lot more of the good things, I need to worry less about the occasional indulgence in the bad. It is really easy to spend the quick second scanning any nutrition label to check calorie, fat, sugar and fiber content. I also usually check the ingredient list for the usual suspects (high fructose corn syrup, processed or bleached flours, oil when none should be necessary etc.). It is worthwhile to spend the extra 10 minutes looking up a restaurant that I know I'm going to head to for that friend's birthday dinner to get an idea of the menu beforehand and check nutrition information. Now, that is not to say that you always order the salad and skip the dessert (oh, what would we BE without that tiramisu!), but more to make well-informed choices: maybe take half the entree to go if you are planning on getting the death-by-chocolate cake? Bottom line, eating mostly fresh food, getting some exercise and limiting the "treats" to special occasions is not that hard, and will keep you healthy and happy.

Having all this information (and not just about food and nutrition, but also about exercise and fitness) at my disposal makes me wonder about those that do NOT have access to it. The high rate of obesity among certain demographic groups is probably because they are more likely to not have access to such information, or even know that it exists. Given that, isn't it only fair that we make this information as accessible as possible to all?

And while we are at it, I do not know a single Indian restaurant that shares its nutrition information, do you?