3 minute read
A History-Making Visit
from SEEMA July 2023
by SEEMA
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to the United States in June was lauded and lavish Democracy is one of our sacred and shared values. It has evolved over a long time, and taken various forms and systems. Throughout history,
It was a matter of pride for millions of Indian Americans when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was invited on a state visit to the United States by President Joe Biden. The focal point of the visit was cementing the relationship between the oldest and the largest democracies in the world.
Throughout the visit, the two countries signed agreements to solidify their partnership in technology, defense, clean energy, and more.
The Prime Minister kicked off his official visit in New York on World Yoga Day and led the event attended by a record-breaking congregation of 135 nationalities participating at the spacious lawn of the United Nations building. The rest of the visit was spent in Washington, DC, attending official functions as well as public and private events. The most spectacular event amongst them all was the official welcome ceremony at the White House on June 22. For the first time, the gates of White House were open for the public to attend the official ceremony, and thousands of Indian-Americans took advantage of the rare opportunity to show their support.
The lavish state dinner hosted by the President and the First Lady was attended by almost 400 special guests, including prominent Indian-Americans from fashion, tech, sports, and entertainment alongside lawmakers Pramila Jayapal, Shri Thanedar, Ro Khanna, Ami Bera, Raja Krishnamoorthi. The visit is being lauded as productive and significant, and both leaders promised to build a stronger partnership grounded in respect for human rights and the shared principles of democracy.
Key Outcomes of Modi’s Visit:
-Recognizing the demand for travel, both sides announced the intent to open two new U.S. consulates in India in the cities of Bengaluru and Ahmedabad. India also agreed to take steps to operationalize its new consulate in Seattle, WA and open two more consulates at jointly identified locations in the United States.
-The U.S. Department of State will launch a pilot program to adjudicate domestic renewals of certain petition-based temporary work visas later this year, including for Indian nationals, with the intent to implement this for an expanded pool of H1B and L visa holders in 2024.
-A joint task force has been established to expand research and university partnerships between the two countries. These key developments and announcements would surely please the large Indian-American community.
W-I-N-N-I-N-G
The Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion is of South Asian descent (again)
By Abhijit Masih
The Scripps National Spelling Bee champion for 2023 in June, again crowning an Indian-origin winner, this time Dev Shah, a 14-year-old 8th grader from Largo, FL. The competition has been dominated by the South Asian community for decades. This was not the first attempt for Shah who had tied for the 51st place in 2019 and for the 76th place in 2021. The winning word which he spelled correctly was ‘psammophile’ much to the delight of the audience, his schoolmates in Florida and family watching in New Jersey and India. The winner shared his preparation schedule in the last five months, “Wake up at 7 in the morning, study till 9, go to school until 5, and then study till midnight or 1 am. This would leave me with mostly 6 hours to sleep. It isn’t healthy but at least it was worth it. Now I have the summer to catch up on sleep.”
Deval Shah, the proud father, recalled the first signs of his son’s love for words, “During kindergarten and first grade, while driving him to school, I used to ask for the word of the day in Merriam-Webster, and Dev used to look it up on the smartphone. This was the beginning of his strong vocabulary journey.”
The national rounds of competition welcomed 231 spellers from across the country and what comes as no surprise at all—dominated by Indian-American kids.
The annual competition, held each year since 1925, has become the favorite cerebral sport for the South Asian community—one in which they excel. From 2008 to 2019, the spelling bee winner was of South Asian descent. In 2019, seven out of the eight co-champions were Indian-American.
The phenomenon can be attributed to the importance of education given by the highly skilled immigrant parents of these word wizards. Putting high value on education and encouraging their kids to opt for academic activities like spelling bees. Scott Remer, the specialist who trained Dev Shah and three more champions before him, considers the community’s value of hard work and education as the reasons for this domination. “The fact that India is multilingual and the fact that most people in India speak at least two or three languages definitely helps,” Remer says. “So learning another language or learning other spelling patterns is not really that hard, they already have the habit.”
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