In this section of the website, I want to help and get help from the Indian (Indian American / South Asian) community living in the US. How is this 'NEW' in any manner?
We (Indians) have our preferences owing to our roots. Mainly, we need Indian grocery/food, instruments and 110/220V electronics. We want to hold on to our culture & traditions, want our children to understand them, want to go to temple(s), want to send money home and want to make regular international calls to our family/friends. And to be able to do all these, we need a common place which can help us in our pursuit.
What am I trying to do here?
Yes, there are so many websites, community boards/discussion forums, associations (grouped and ungrouped) and local clubs which do the same. When you have a question and want to know something, you first ask someone where to find the solution for it and typically get a few websites/places from them. Then you hop on to the internet and start posting your question in the discussion forums/boards hoping for an answer OR you start looking for answers from the already existing postings. And once you find your answer at one website you forget about the question..,and sometimes the website too. So, the next time when someone asks you, you give the same list of websites saying, try in all of these and you would get an answer. And for sure we all find answers but the process is not easy when you don't have that person to tell you where to go and how to find it out.
No. I am NOT creating another website like Sulekha/Eknazar/Localfiles. as I do not believe in reinventing the wheel. All those portals are doing extremely well and I too am thankful for their effort which made things a lot easier for Indians in the US. My intention and all my effort is to tell you or an Indian, where to go, when you have an issue and are looking for options. If I ask, which is the best place for Immigration related issues, everyone replies immihelp.com and some of them murthy.com. Where can I listen to music? Raaga.com, Smashits.com and then ???. And this information is not documented in a single place like our old fairy tales of the moon as Sulekha doesn't talk about EkNazar and Raaga doesn't care about Smashits. How do you find it....using the 'not so good' old way of typing 'Indian Music or Songs' in the 'Search Engine's' text box.
So, I am trying to compile information of where to go and look for answers, also posting answers I know of, for things you are always going to look for like I did, during your stay in the US. If I spent the time and know it, I can as well save some time for you. Check my Roommates page to see all the different portals, with almost the same goal but there are so many and you wouldn't have known all of these. So, in my words, I am not re-inventing the wheel but am discovering the wheels that are already invented ;-). Wouldn't google do that? No, not yet. It gives too many websites, as google doesn't understand what we need unless you ask the same thing using all the words in your vocabulary, in multitudinous ways. Some of the websites might not be active at all. So, you then you click on each link to make sure it relates to what you asked for and then keep clicking through. It is like asking every passenger you come across in a railway station "when does the train depart?", instead of going to the Enquiry booth and getting a for sure answer.
So keep checking this website, which will "try" to give you directions/links on how to make the best of your stay in the USA. If you know of something that is not listed here,please post it either in the Feedback or in the Forum. I am NOT a know-it-all and most of the things here, are those I have accumulated from other people.
I am sure you will find this useful. My goal is to make this 'Life in US' section, a single place to look at, for all Indians in the US based on my experiences, for everything they would ever need. For when you need something, you should not be alone. Pointifying, as you may call it, I call it "compiled documentation", there is a slight difference - as I wouldn't say, "go here" instead I would say "here are the most likely places you can find an answer" and you can make a choice.
Unbiased reviews always make their point...don't they?