00:00:06.360 - 00:00:13.680

All right. Today is May 18th. I'm Daiki Tsumagari with the Humanities Truck. Can you tell me your name and where you are from?

00:00:14.040 - 00:00:24.690

Um, I'm Sheik, Sheik Azharudden, and I'm from India. Uh, Poona, basically. Uh, I'm currently a student at AU, uh, pursuing my master's degree.

00:00:24.810 - 00:00:31.620

Um, and I'm pretty much enjoying it through it. And what are you pursuing your master's degree in? Uh, currently, I'm pursuing my

00:00:31.620 - 00:00:45.600

master's degree in sustainability management, uh, which is basically, uh, STEM integrated with a business schools. And, uh, it's, uh, something right now the world needs and with the climate change and other things which we can basically see

00:00:45.630 - 00:00:54.780

happening throughout the world. So that caught my interest with, uh, other aspects of sustainability, such as, you know, energy savings, uh, cost savings, basically.

00:00:54.780 - 00:01:07.560

And apart from that, how it how we can sustain anything for a longer period of time rather than just, you know, starting something, finishing it off rather than, you know, have it for a longer time where people can take advantage of it and get benefit out of it.

00:01:07.560 - 00:01:18.330

So that's how it came on to me for the sustainability part. And would you describe yourself as like a first generation immigrant, just an international student here for school? Like, is there a way that you would see yourself?

00:01:18.360 - 00:01:26.520

Uh, yeah. I'm, uh, I'm an international student currently to be very truthful. And yeah, first generation in terms of international student,

00:01:26.550 - 00:01:36.570

neither anybody from my family have travelled abroad for studies. I'm the first one who is traveling for studies. They might have traveled for different aspects, but for studies, yeah, definitely.

00:01:36.570 - 00:01:44.550

I'm the one who's and I'm yet not an immigrant, but who knows down the down the line what happens after that. And then you mentioned that you

00:01:44.550 - 00:01:50.460

lived and, uh, lived in different places and moved around a bit before getting here. Could you tell me a little about. Yeah, sure, sure.

00:01:50.460 - 00:02:04.590

So, uh, well, I was born in a different part of India rather than where I grew up. It was on the eastern side of India, and at a very young age, I went down to I, uh, convent missionary school, where it was a

00:02:04.590 - 00:02:09.390

boarding school. And then that was on the Western part of India. That's how my entire childhood

00:02:09.390 - 00:02:19.770

went along. Uh, I was in a boarding. Definitely, that's part of what made me to today who I am, actually, you know, giving me independence at a very young age,

00:02:20.070 - 00:02:28.680

uh, learning to team up with people, cope up with different situations. You know, how to handle yourself in a, uh, in a situation where you don't know how to deal with it.

00:02:28.680 - 00:02:44.190

So, yeah, I spent a significant amount of time in Poona basically doing throughout my education, early education as well as my engineering, after which I did move abroad for my work in Hong Kong and then in Bangladesh and then in southern some other Asian

00:02:44.190 - 00:02:54.120

countries, all related to work and sometimes, yeah, due to vacation as well. But all this area, if you consider you see the culturally if I am to connect you know it's more of all

00:02:54.120 - 00:03:07.380

the Asian region have similar cultures though there might be a significance different in food aspect or, you know, other areas like, you know, transportation, roads, communication and other. But overall, if you see the Asian countries have a similar cultural

00:03:07.380 - 00:03:19.410

background, which I tend to pick up as I moved along through my careers and other, uh, time frame throughout my travels and other issues. But, uh, yeah, I would say

00:03:19.560 - 00:03:35.460

whatever I've been doing till now traveling, working, studying, and it shows me it have all been pointed out to this direction where I am right now in us, uh, completely new city meeting new people, studying and moving toward the career.

00:03:35.760 - 00:03:39.930

So I'd say... That's great. I went to boarding school, too. Okay.

00:03:40.320 - 00:03:47.400

So you can relate. Yeah. Um, so then what about your decision to move to the DMV? Like, why American? Why DC?

00:03:47.400 - 00:03:55.770

Okay. Uh, so, uh, well, technically, to be very truthful, I wasn't targeting us at all before coming down here for my studies when I.

00:03:55.980 - 00:04:11.400

So I was actually for my studies, I was targeting either US, UK and Canada. So these were my,these were my countries which I was looking at. But the field I chose for my studies was pretty niche.

00:04:11.580 - 00:04:21.540

Uh, especially sustainability management. Uh, not every country is teaching them. Not every university is also teaching them. So, uh, when I started shortlisting and, you know, uh,

00:04:21.540 - 00:04:34.530

figuring out the target universities where I could do a good, uh, actually receive a good education based on my program, what I'm looking for, because not all programs are catered or tailored to your needs.

00:04:34.530 - 00:04:46.830

So what I needed was a combination of business and the sustainability field. And Kogod, especially American University's Kogod had this program built in, which was a mixture of business and the

00:04:46.830 - 00:04:56.040

sustainability initiative and how you could apply them in different areas. Yes, of course, there are a lot of many other universities who offers this program, but Kogod curriculum

00:04:56.040 - 00:05:08.670

was kind of tailor made, which I needed. And that's what got my attention, uh, to move to Kogod and somehow Kogod and AU are all situated in the DMV area. So here are my so.

00:05:09.000 - 00:05:17.700

And what would you say your relationship is to the community, whether it's Indian immigrants and the DMV or Indian American communities? I don't know if you have any connections there, but.

00:05:18.450 - 00:05:28.200

Well, uh, yeah, since I've been coming, uh, after coming down to DC, if you consider. Yeah, I've met a lot of Indian communities, basically through the university.

00:05:28.200 - 00:05:38.730

I mean, there are quite a few students who are here, uh, who are from Indian background, or they are Indian Americans who are born there, uh, get to know them. Uh, great to understand, but, uh,

00:05:38.730 - 00:05:53.280

yes, uh, you could, uh, see how, uh, we are still adapting to the culture and we are still, uh, uh, you know, absorbing the different cultures in DC from different people. And but where are people who are already, uh, Indian American, they

00:05:53.280 - 00:06:03.810

have adopted them and they are quite, uh, you know, very good at navigating through those. But still, I, uh, for us, uh, you know, sometimes we do get a cultural shock, but, I mean, those

00:06:03.810 - 00:06:09.210

are really common things. It's nothing major to, uh, see or anything, so. But it's interesting how you, you

00:06:09.210 - 00:06:18.780

know, with the geography, how the cultural change or you meet new people. So that's really helpful. So would you say that there's like, a distinct Indian American

00:06:18.780 - 00:06:29.520

culture and community separate from, say, like so Chinese American cultures have communities have Chinese American culture that's separate from Chinese culture? Uh, I wouldn't frame it in that way.

00:06:29.520 - 00:06:41.910

But what I could see in this is like, uh, either it be Chinese American or Indian American. I mean, once people migrate to a particular country, I think everyone tries to adopt the

00:06:41.910 - 00:06:52.380

culture, uh, culture of the residing country. Right. So probably, uh, I would say like either be Indian American or American, uh, Chinese American.

00:06:52.380 - 00:07:05.880

It's more of people, uh, mixing their culture with the American culture, which is kind of a very good thing to see, actually, because you find a quite a interesting, uh, combo in between this culture when you see it.

00:07:05.880 - 00:07:16.800

So, for example, I'll give you, uh, so, uh, I think, uh, in Kogod itself, like one of my colleague, uh, uh, she arranged the lunar, uh, year, I think lunar Chinese year.

00:07:16.800 - 00:07:23.160

Basically, it was a huge event in Kogod. I mean, everybody came down and then, you know, we were giving those smaller envelopes with that

00:07:23.160 - 00:07:33.390

letter written inside, uh, and then the fortune cookies. So you get a taste of all those culture along with that, which wouldn't be possible if people were not adopting or integrating those cultures in this.

00:07:33.390 - 00:07:40.110

So I love those. That's great. Uh, well, speaking of, I guess, uh, I guess fortune cookies and things.

00:07:40.110 - 00:07:47.370

Did you have a favorite dish while growing up especially, like. Oh, yeah, definitely. But, uh, it's an Indian dish. Of course I love biryani.

00:07:49.620 - 00:07:56.910

Definitely. Tell me about it. Was it like a family recipe or? Uh. Well, uh, so, uh, India is a pretty big country.

00:07:56.910 - 00:08:12.060

Not as big as US, but so with we have, like, different states and, uh, so each state you go to, uh, there would be a cultural change there would be a language change, there would be a food change. So that's how India is interesting.

00:08:12.060 - 00:08:23.940

So like for example where I'm from, Maharashtra. So you will find a different type of culture, uh, holidays and uh, food habits, people habits and everything. So you will find a different taste of the biriyani, which I like

00:08:23.940 - 00:08:30.390

basically. But once you move down from Maharashtra to any other state, you will find biryani. But the taste is completely different.

00:08:30.390 - 00:08:47.220

So if you to consider the favorite part of biryani is my mom's one, which she makes, uh, that's a homemade thing and I love that. But apart from that, if you ask me, uh, the biryani I love is from Lucknow, so it's in UP which is Uttar Pradesh state in India and a

00:08:47.220 - 00:08:52.920

city there called Lucknow. It's, uh, where you had nawabs, kings and other place. So it's got a lot of historical

00:08:52.920 - 00:09:02.130

culture and, you know, vibes to that place. So I love the food over there. And do you think you found anything like, you know, obviously nothing beats your mom's cooking

00:09:02.130 - 00:09:09.780

right. Do you think you found anything close to that in the D.C. area? Any favorite restaurants? I mean, I love food, I cook a lot myself.

00:09:09.990 - 00:09:17.790

Uh, yeah, I did find a restaurant near Rockville. It's called Chettinad, and, uh, they got great biryani and other stuff. Yeah.

00:09:17.790 - 00:09:25.350

So if anybody is willing to try, I would recommend them. Definitely. Yeah. Um, and then finally, what part of your culture do you keep with you?

00:09:25.350 - 00:09:40.350

Wherever you go? What do you think you like bring with you, whether physically? Metaphorically? Well, uh, few of the things we have as human or everybody keeps is, uh, I would say how you greet and meet people from.

00:09:40.350 - 00:09:44.520

Yeah. So that doesn't go away. Either way. You adopt and add good things to

00:09:44.520 - 00:09:50.610

that, uh, procedure. But I think the basic remains same how you meet and greet people. So that's important.

00:09:50.610 - 00:09:59.100

Like, for us Indians, you know, guests are kind of next to God. So basically, if a guest is coming down, you know, you treat them well. You made them.

00:09:59.100 - 00:10:04.860

I think that's how the entire eastern region follows. So that's one thing I definitely keep. Yeah. The food habit.

00:10:04.860 - 00:10:10.110

You. We always include different things from whatever foods you get. But yeah, I think the basic ramen,

00:10:10.110 - 00:10:19.980

I think I would say the guilty comfort food or something will always be your home own food. So that's something. And yeah, apart from that, you know, I absorb some of the new

00:10:19.980 - 00:10:29.160

things I learned from my friends. And I try to give the same thing, like some interesting facts about India or some interesting culture about India, uh, which other people can adopt.

00:10:29.160 - 00:10:37.140

And, you know, that's how you build a community, right? So that's the thing I would say. That's great. Is there anything else you want to add from your end?

00:10:37.350 - 00:10:48.960

Uh, well, uh uh, it's almost been a year since I came down to D.C. and, uh, to be very truthful, it's been an interesting year. Um, it snowed up pretty much. I mean, this winter, which

00:10:48.960 - 00:10:56.310

normally you don't see so much in D.C.. So, uh. Yeah, I got to. I mean, D.C. is an interesting place, to be very truthful.

00:10:56.520 - 00:11:05.250

One of the major reason is you can experience all the four weathers in the same day. So that's what I would say. So that's it.

00:11:05.250 - 00:11:07.590

Yeah. That's great. Okay. Thank you so much for coming.

00:11:07.830 - 00:11:09.930

Thank you. Daiki. See you in the office.