Mahendran

** MAHENDRAN NAIDU ** ** 12-9-10 ** ** Fairborn, Ohio **
 * Oral History Interview with **

** by David Levine ** ** for the Dayton Regional STEM School **

= Interview Podcast = = media type="custom" key="8205380" =

=Geography Podcast= media type="custom" key="8205494" **//__ PREFACE __//**

From October to January, the entire 8th grade curriculum at the Dayton Regional STEM School was infused with a common theme of Immigration. While students learned different things in each of their classes, there were hints of this common theme throughout the quarter. For example, in social studies, students learned about the history of immigration in the United States, from Jamestown to today, culminating in this interview with someone who has immigrated to the United States. Then, in Language Arts, students took the transcript of this interview and crafted a piece of creative writing in addition to reading one of four books about a particular immigrant group. In their Science and Wellness and Fitness classes, students investigated infectious diseases that were commonly spread as a result of immigration. In math class, students investigated census data to graph and compare natural population increases to migration increases in countries around the world. In addition to looking at the history of Chinese immigration in the U.S., students in Chinese class looked at the cultural conflicts between first generation and the second generation Chinese immigrants. Finally, in art, students connected with historical as well as contemporary artists dealing with immigration/immigration issues as well as creating works of art based on interviews such as this one.

This is one of many transcripts of immigrants to the United States. The oral history collections are located at the Dayton Regional STEM School in Dayton, Ohio. Interested researchers should phone the school at 937-431-1837 or send an e-mail to info@daytonstemschool.org. Our website URL is: [|http://www.daytonstemschool.org].

** Oral History Interview with MAHENDRAN NAIDU ** ** 12-29-10, Fairborn, Ohio, ** ** by David Levine ** ** for the Dayton Regional STEM School **

**//__ INTRODUCTION __//**

I interviewed Mr. Naidu about his immigration experience from india. It was a friendly interview about what it was like for him arriving here in America, and the challenges he faced. This interview took place at Wright Patterson air force base in a business meeting room.

This interview was conducted as part of a immigration project at the Dayton Regional STEM School. We conducted recorded interviews with individuals who have immigrated to the United States. Most of the interviewees were not already known to their interviewer. The experiences and reflections of these persons add a unique dimension to our understanding of the history of immigration in the United States

These firsthand accounts are particularly important for documenting the modern immigrant experience and comparing it to historical immigration. We--and anyone today or in the future who reads these transcripts--can learn from these individuals who so graciously consented to being interviewed.

To improve the quality of the final product the individual class members took appropriate preparations such as preparing questions, practicing interviewing each other, and discussing proper interviewing techniques prior to their interviews. The interview recordings and transcripts are stored at the Dayton Regional STEM School where, with the consent of both the interviewer and the interviewee, they are accessible to interested researchers. Drafts of the transcriptions, as well as any products created based on the interviews are sent to the interviewees as token of appreciate for their participation in this project.

** Oral History Interview with MAHENDRAN NAIDU ** ** 12-29-10, Fairborn, Ohio, ** ** by David Levine ** ** for the Dayton Regional STEM School **

**__ BIOGRAPHICAL/GEOGRAPHICAL NOTE __**

India (officially known as the Republic of India) is a country located in Southern Asia. This country is the seventh-largest country with more than 1 billion people living there, the largest democracy in the world. India has the 11th largest economy in the world. There is an emphasis on foreign trade and investments in the integral parts of India’s economy. There are two major languages spoken there. These are Indo-Aryan (which is spoken by 74% of people living now) and Dravidian (which is spoken by about 24%.) When Mr. Naidu came over to America in 1994, there were no major events that would cause a push factor from his country.

** 12-29-10, Fairborn, Ohio, ** ** by David Levine, ** ** for the Dayton Regional STEM School **
 * Oral History Interview with MAHENDRAN NAIDU **

**//__ INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT __//**

This is an interview with Mahendran Naidu. The interview was conducted on 12-29-10.... The interviewer is David Levine, representing the Dayton Regional STEM School.

[David]: Why did you come to America? Was it your choice?

[Mahendran]: (ummm) Yes, it was my choice. I had some work to be done in California, the company I was working for in Singapore, they had some business in California so I had to come here to do a few things

[David]: What kind of business were you coming down for?

[Mahendren]: It was a combination of software design and some latest computer hardware manufacturing, I guess you could call computer software and hardware.

[David]: Did your family come down with you? If so, how did they feel.

[Mahendran]: No, I came alone, and then six months later, my wife joined me. I was ok because I was busy at work, but she wasn’t real happy obviously because it’s a totally new place. She’ll be at home or in a public library reading, so it took her almost 3 years before she found something to do.

[David]: When you entered the country for the first time how did you feel? What were you current

[Mahendran]: I entered through San Francisco airport and obviously the first feeling was… it was pretty grand, I would say. I had no problem at all, it was pretty grand because I had a task to do, a job to do, so I had no problem.

[David]: Was it hard adjusting to life here? Did you have any problems?

[Mahendran]: Oh yeah, after coming in yes. What happened was, I was in a motel in California, so you’d think that if the USA is the land of immigrants, California is probably full of them, right. So you expect that things should be easy, but it wasn’t. The second day in my motel, there were a couple of kids that came around when I was doing my laundry, and they were very little, probably sent by somebody else, and this kid came and kicked me! I was moving clothes from the drier and he kicked me in the back and said “go home.” So maybe he thought I was here for something, or as I said, obviously he’s a child, so I don’t think the child had anything to do with it, and when I turned back he ran and could see him running back to his parents. It probably comes with it. I’m from India, ok, so we have no problem with discrimination, because India is a subcontinent. If you go from one state to the other state, there’s discrimination. So we are ok but if it was someone from out of the country, they might of felt really offended by some of those things because, I think its a stereotype. You know, people think that all immigrants are jumping through the walls, or they’re illegal, or here to take somebody’s job, it’s kinda stereotypical. So that’s something that sticks in my mind, and other than that, um some simplier problems like language, you know. Even though we learned English, English is spoken here is different, so I put myself through an accent introductions course. I did 6 months to even come to this level. [David]: So was the language factor the hardest challenge you overcame?

[Mahendran]: Uh I would say not only language, but…. Yeah, actually it comes to the language. My job was on the phone, trying to get things done, and basically it was a failing division, so we were trying to salvage things and bring it up to date, and bring it bring it from red to black, so to say, you know make it profitable. So, when I communicated with the employees, yeah it would be the language because they would see im a guy with an accent so they probably don’t respect me, you know. Then it would take a little while for them, to understand that I, I come with a mandate and I have to do something.

[David]: What did you enjoy about being here? Was there anything you found interesting here that wasn’t back in India?

[Mahendran]: Well, I like my job, I focus a lot on my work so I defiantly enjoy my work, I defiantly enjoy my work so I had no problem with that, and what was not in my old country? Geez… Ok, maybe Disneyland! (laughs) You know in California you go to Disneyland and, we don’t have Las Vegas in India, so um defiantly Vegas. Just things like that you know. I cant think of anything really specific.

[David]: Will you ever go back to or are you planning to go back to India?

[Mahendran]: Oh I visit India at least once in two years. Yeah sometimes even once a year on the vacation time you know it depends and it costs money, it is a very long trip. Its totally across the globe.

[David]: Do you enjoy living here? Do you prefer America more than India?

[Mahendran]: There are two factors, you know when it comes to my work, you know I really love it here, there are a lot of things to do. But when it comes to family and a lot of other related things, we have a huge family back there and we have so many events and then we miss all those things. You don’t have them here.

[David]: So you go to visit your family?

[Mahendran]: Oh yeah, the only reason we go is the family.

** Oral History Interview with MAHENDRAN NAIDU ** ** 12-29-10, Fairborn, Ohio, ** ** by David Levine ** ** for the Dayton Regional STEM School **

**//__ ANALYSIS __//**

Do all immigrants come to America for a better life? Well that can simply be answered with a yes, for why would someone want to leave the comfort of their good living for a life full of hard work, poor living conditions, and the fact that you are leaving all your family behind? Some people choose to come down here for jobs. Mr. Mahendran Naidu, an immigrant from India, says that he came to India for some work from California. “I had some work to be done in California, the company I was working for in Singapore, they had some business in California so I had to come here to do a few things.” Says Naidu. Sometimes this can be a hard because people have to leave there family behind for a short time, maybe even a long time. “I came alone, and then six months later, my wife joined me.” Mr. Naidu said. Even though he is here for work, some people are not very nice about his arrival. “The second day in my motel, there were a couple of kids that came around when I was doing my laundry, and they were very little, probably sent by somebody else, and this kid came and kicked me! I was moving clothes from the drier and he kicked me in the back and said “go home.” So maybe he thought I was here for something, or as I said, obviously he’s a child, so I don’t think the child had anything to do with it, and when I turned back he ran and could see him running back to his parents.” Mr. Naidu says. I think that this is not the message us Americans should display. It would be better if we were accepting of people coming over.


 * This transcript was prepared by David Levine, **
 * January 6, 2011 **