Finally I was also disappointed with the way he treated Dr. Mysorekar, a leader who was there with serious intentions, but had essentially been brought in to provide Colbert with more opportunities to needle her with tasteless, reduntant remarks. A little of that is ok, but it was clear to me Colbert had no other intention to invite her on the show.

Overall the segment was like one long compilation of all the Apu jokes in 15 seasons of the Simpsons (except less funny).

BRoWN ST*R ouT

And now I adore Uma Auntie

That is all.

I’m curious. Is this a South Asian thing? Do other immigrant transplant cultures here in America think that it’s appropriate to send children to their homeland if they’re being problematic?

Where else would one send the mentally troubled, but to the asylum ?

Not just a south asian thing. I heard that a lot of Netherlands families send their kids with weed problem back to homeland. And interestingly.lots of kids actually volunteer

Probably happens more with non-European immigrant families as the culture clashes are sharper. Here’s the story of a family from Ghana from a few years ago:

Najima and Nayaba Bawa were despondent when their parents first raised the subject of sending them home to Ghana. Nayaba, 14, who like her sister grew up in Washington, said, ”We wondered what we had done to be sent away.” When they arrived at the Ghananian school and met the children of other Africans from the United States, they realized that their parents’ decision was not uncommon. The Bawas, and other African families like them, have opted for a temporary reverse emigration for their children. In part it is an effort to help them maintain links to their African heritage. But it is also, many say, a conscious, protective response to adolescence in the United States. link

Since maisnon and I had our convo on IM, I’ve been idly questioning friends. Almost everyone has an anecdote about a family friend who sent a kid to India for one reason or another. My own experience with this was tragic. The younger son of a family friend wound up addicted to something hardcore in college (heroin? We’re not sure). His parents packed him up and sent him off to the motherland, where predictably his situation only got worse. He came back to America (supposedly cured!) and then only a few months later died from an overdose, possibly as a suicide.

I’m curious. Is this a South Asian thing? Do other immigrant transplant cultures here in America think that it’s appropriate to send children to their homeland if they’re being problematic?

And where did this notion come from, really?

Yeah I hear you on this one…but I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, because that’s one of the difficult things about trying to explain Hinduism…it’s like a giant buffet…what’s on your plate isn’t necessarily going to be on someone else’s.