Stereotype - Reality or Myth

Recently I had a change in my life as I received my PhD and was offered a good job. The usual congratulations were often followed by questions and comments from my friends. Initially, I thought it was just me, but later, in order to prove myself wrong (or right) I decided to compile and then average out the responses from my friends, colleagues and acquintances grouped by their ethnicity. The results were strangely consistent. I thought of compiling and presenting my findings here. Worth mentioning is the fact that when I mention an ethnicity or culture, I mean a friend who is 'fresh off the boat' and thus his frame of mind represents his upbringing in that culture. Thus an Indian friend is one who was born and brought up in India, I grouped anybody raised in the USA as American irrespective of his ethnicity. Following are the responses:

American - Awesome, congratulations. So you moving to Philadelphia, eh? Nice city, good job, getting out of Buffalo, what else would you want? I am really happy for you.

Arab - MashaAllah, congrashulashuns. This is great news brazaar. So did u get married yet or not? C'mon man, now you have a job, u should get married, get a family inshaAllah.

Desi (Indo-Pak) - Wow Man! Congrats! So now you make big bucks haan? New car, big house no?

Kashmiri - Mubarak! So, what is your salary?

This one was a classic. From a friend from bangalore, was not the usual desi response.

Friend: Great man, congrats! So can I ask you what your salary is going to be?

Me: umm.... no you cannot.

Friend: OK. So how much is it?

Me: !!!!!

To Learn and Unlearn

To question is human and none knows this better than the One that created us. I could question newtonian - either because i am a relativist or actually I did not understand an iota of physics. Where as in the first case I am intellectually inquisitive , in the second I am equally naive. So, the fallacy is not in questioning which but is idiosyncratic to human being, rather is in the underlying comprehension. Whereas we know for a fact that more dimensions exist, our mind yields beyond just three. So, its not what seems strange to us, it is how much we can fathom. And when in the conclusion of the very second chapter, it is mentioned, in retrospective, Lord! lay not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear - is it announcement of fragility, a meek surrender or a desolate plea? Rather it is an advise to all those that find it hard. Pity that person who blew himself to smithereens thinking he did an act of great courage, on the contrary he was a coward, for he did something that was easy and cruel and saved on the hard part - struggling with himself, fighting his own devil. The turbulent waters may seem perilous and oh so strange, but only when one dives can it be experienced. There is no end to learning, get close to learning, gain more knowledge, yearn for understanding, the same questioning might make the faith more firm than shaking it all up.