Re: What would you choose?

by Kris Sat Mar 23, 2013 1:22 pm

Vidya Bagchi wrote:just asked this to d'ter. her answer - i can't imagine a life w/o technology, although all those exquisite dresses of 19th century would be cool.

>>>>Yeah, but you guys are taking freely available indoor plumbing for granted. I would rate this significantly higher than even computers.

by pravalika nanda Sat Mar 23, 2013 1:44 pm

Kris wrote:
Vidya Bagchi wrote:just asked this to d'ter. her answer - i can't imagine a life w/o technology, although all those exquisite dresses of 19th century would be cool.

>>>>Yeah, but you guys are taking freely available indoor plumbing for granted. I would rate this significantly higher than even computers.

**ha! that only matters to people in cold countries where it is mighty hard to take a dump outside. we never "advanced" in that area in india cuz it's pretty relaxing to sit on our haunches leisurely evacuating our solid waste as we enjoy a warm breeze under the starry sky with a limpid moon, the leaves rustling, birds chirping, cows mooing. and in the morning, it's gone, all cleared up by the neighborhood pigs. it's all a part of the circle of life, why don't people understand this?

by pravalika nanda Sat Mar 23, 2013 2:48 pm

trofimov wrote:
Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:I have had a fairly privileged life despite low/middling intelligence, being born Indian. I attribute it to the fortune of being a particular caste which is really a 'macro' for a set of values, connections and coded nods to enter different portals. It was also a burden that closed other portals and forced me to confront and challenge my own performance levels in the past.

And internet!!! That is the tipping point that makes "now" such an attractive option compared to the first.

I also chose my real birth (lower middle class India) vs. "upper crust 100 years ago." My reasons:
- Lasik surgery, which has transformed the quality of my life.
- Internet, mobile phones, digital cameras, etc.
- World War I: Englishmen born in 1896 had a rather high likelihood of dying or being crippled before turning 25.
- My notion that the world is a much better place now than it was then.

** this is not really so much about technology and advances in medicine. the reason so many of you chose to remain indian is because you were not even born into terrible circumsatnces in the first place. you're discounting the fact that as an upper-caste person, you're already a privileged person in indian society, monied or otherwise. money matters upto a point and then it's effects plateau: if you have 60K, and you have health insurance, you are fairly happy, and any money above this sum doesn't change the quality of life a great deal, our level of happiness plateaus off, so being an aristocrat actually doesn't matter as long as you have two or three decent meals a day and family to sit down with.
** it's also easy to choose to be indian cuz you're not even living under indina circumstances, you're in fact availing yourself to the most advanced medical care in the world - american medical care. say you're an unemployed, illegeal mexican woman who is pregnant in america, you're given the same care as a chelsea clinton. we'll give you prenatal testing and say we find that you just have one lung, and as the pregnancy gets more complicated, you're unable to oxygenate well, and there is concern that the fetus is developing hypoxia, we will intubate you, hook you up to a mechanical ventilator, and wait, if that's not working, we'll fly in the top physicians in the country to get ECMO for you. ECMO is like dialysis to remove carbon dioxide from the blood and help with oxygenation.
**it's not just the times we're in but that we're in a country where the technology is available to everyone, even illegal, unemployed, non-tax-paying mexicanas.
** so the question for you patriots is - would you care to give up your caste and be a typical lower-caste, low middle-class indian in india under today's circumstances?? no lasik, no ambulances, no triage, no basic interventional cardiology, no easy access to the internet, no fancy window treatments, no ayahs, butlers, maids, drivers.

by Propagandhi711 Sat Mar 23, 2013 4:30 pm

pravalika nanda wrote:
trofimov wrote:
Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:I have had a fairly privileged life despite low/middling intelligence, being born Indian. I attribute it to the fortune of being a particular caste which is really a 'macro' for a set of values, connections and coded nods to enter different portals. It was also a burden that closed other portals and forced me to confront and challenge my own performance levels in the past.

And internet!!! That is the tipping point that makes "now" such an attractive option compared to the first.

I also chose my real birth (lower middle class India) vs. "upper crust 100 years ago." My reasons:
- Lasik surgery, which has transformed the quality of my life.
- Internet, mobile phones, digital cameras, etc.
- World War I: Englishmen born in 1896 had a rather high likelihood of dying or being crippled before turning 25.
- My notion that the world is a much better place now than it was then.

** this is not really so much about technology and advances in medicine. the reason so many of you chose to remain indian is because you were not even born into terrible circumsatnces in the first place. you're discounting the fact that as an upper-caste person, you're already a privileged person in indian society, monied or otherwise. money matters upto a point and then it's effects plateau: if you have 60K, and you have health insurance, you are fairly happy, and any money above this sum doesn't change the quality of life a great deal, our level of happiness plateaus off, so being an aristocrat actually doesn't matter as long as you have two or three decent meals a day and family to sit down with.
** it's also easy to choose to be indian cuz you're not even living under indina circumstances, you're in fact availing yourself to the most advanced medical care in the world - american medical care. say you're an unemployed, illegeal mexican woman who is pregnant in america, you're given the same care as a chelsea clinton. we'll give you prenatal testing and say we find that you just have one lung, and as the pregnancy gets more complicated, you're unable to oxygenate well, and there is concern that the fetus is developing hypoxia, we will intubate you, hook you up to a mechanical ventilator, and wait, if that's not working, we'll fly in the top physicians in the country to get ECMO for you. ECMO is like dialysis to remove carbon dioxide from the blood and help with oxygenation.
**it's not just the times we're in but that we're in a country where the technology is available to everyone, even illegal, unemployed, non-tax-paying mexicanas.
** so the question for you patriots is - would you care to give up your caste and be a typical lower-caste, low middle-class indian in india under today's circumstances?? no lasik, no ambulances, no triage, no basic interventional cardiology, no easy access to the internet, no fancy window treatments, no ayahs, butlers, maids, drivers.

I read some of that and almost died of boredom.

by nevada Sat Mar 23, 2013 4:55 pm

Propagandhi711 wrote:
pravalika nanda wrote:
trofimov wrote:
Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:I have had a fairly privileged life despite low/middling intelligence, being born Indian. I attribute it to the fortune of being a particular caste which is really a 'macro' for a set of values, connections and coded nods to enter different portals. It was also a burden that closed other portals and forced me to confront and challenge my own performance levels in the past.

And internet!!! That is the tipping point that makes "now" such an attractive option compared to the first.

I also chose my real birth (lower middle class India) vs. "upper crust 100 years ago." My reasons:
- Lasik surgery, which has transformed the quality of my life.
- Internet, mobile phones, digital cameras, etc.
- World War I: Englishmen born in 1896 had a rather high likelihood of dying or being crippled before turning 25.
- My notion that the world is a much better place now than it was then.

** this is not really so much about technology and advances in medicine. the reason so many of you chose to remain indian is because you were not even born into terrible circumsatnces in the first place. you're discounting the fact that as an upper-caste person, you're already a privileged person in indian society, monied or otherwise. money matters upto a point and then it's effects plateau: if you have 60K, and you have health insurance, you are fairly happy, and any money above this sum doesn't change the quality of life a great deal, our level of happiness plateaus off, so being an aristocrat actually doesn't matter as long as you have two or three decent meals a day and family to sit down with.
** it's also easy to choose to be indian cuz you're not even living under indina circumstances, you're in fact availing yourself to the most advanced medical care in the world - american medical care. say you're an unemployed, illegeal mexican woman who is pregnant in america, you're given the same care as a chelsea clinton. we'll give you prenatal testing and say we find that you just have one lung, and as the pregnancy gets more complicated, you're unable to oxygenate well, and there is concern that the fetus is developing hypoxia, we will intubate you, hook you up to a mechanical ventilator, and wait, if that's not working, we'll fly in the top physicians in the country to get ECMO for you. ECMO is like dialysis to remove carbon dioxide from the blood and help with oxygenation.
**it's not just the times we're in but that we're in a country where the technology is available to everyone, even illegal, unemployed, non-tax-paying mexicanas.
** so the question for you patriots is - would you care to give up your caste and be a typical lower-caste, low middle-class indian in india under today's circumstances?? no lasik, no ambulances, no triage, no basic interventional cardiology, no easy access to the internet, no fancy window treatments, no ayahs, butlers, maids, drivers.

I read some of that and almost died of boredom.

It is thought provoking, man. Read up the rest of the post.

by Propagandhi711 Sat Mar 23, 2013 5:04 pm

nevada wrote:
Propagandhi711 wrote:
pravalika nanda wrote:
trofimov wrote:
Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:I have had a fairly privileged life despite low/middling intelligence, being born Indian. I attribute it to the fortune of being a particular caste which is really a 'macro' for a set of values, connections and coded nods to enter different portals. It was also a burden that closed other portals and forced me to confront and challenge my own performance levels in the past.

And internet!!! That is the tipping point that makes "now" such an attractive option compared to the first.

I also chose my real birth (lower middle class India) vs. "upper crust 100 years ago." My reasons:
- Lasik surgery, which has transformed the quality of my life.
- Internet, mobile phones, digital cameras, etc.
- World War I: Englishmen born in 1896 had a rather high likelihood of dying or being crippled before turning 25.
- My notion that the world is a much better place now than it was then.

** this is not really so much about technology and advances in medicine. the reason so many of you chose to remain indian is because you were not even born into terrible circumsatnces in the first place. you're discounting the fact that as an upper-caste person, you're already a privileged person in indian society, monied or otherwise. money matters upto a point and then it's effects plateau: if you have 60K, and you have health insurance, you are fairly happy, and any money above this sum doesn't change the quality of life a great deal, our level of happiness plateaus off, so being an aristocrat actually doesn't matter as long as you have two or three decent meals a day and family to sit down with.
** it's also easy to choose to be indian cuz you're not even living under indina circumstances, you're in fact availing yourself to the most advanced medical care in the world - american medical care. say you're an unemployed, illegeal mexican woman who is pregnant in america, you're given the same care as a chelsea clinton. we'll give you prenatal testing and say we find that you just have one lung, and as the pregnancy gets more complicated, you're unable to oxygenate well, and there is concern that the fetus is developing hypoxia, we will intubate you, hook you up to a mechanical ventilator, and wait, if that's not working, we'll fly in the top physicians in the country to get ECMO for you. ECMO is like dialysis to remove carbon dioxide from the blood and help with oxygenation.
**it's not just the times we're in but that we're in a country where the technology is available to everyone, even illegal, unemployed, non-tax-paying mexicanas.
** so the question for you patriots is - would you care to give up your caste and be a typical lower-caste, low middle-class indian in india under today's circumstances?? no lasik, no ambulances, no triage, no basic interventional cardiology, no easy access to the internet, no fancy window treatments, no ayahs, butlers, maids, drivers.

I read some of that and almost died of boredom.

It is thought provoking, man. Read up the rest of the post.

I dont want to d i e

by confuzzled dude Sat Mar 23, 2013 5:30 pm

pravalika nanda wrote:

** this is not really so much about technology and advances in medicine. the reason so many of you chose to remain indian is because you were not even born into terrible circumsatnces in the first place. you're discounting the fact that as an upper-caste person, you're already a privileged person in indian society, monied or otherwise. money matters upto a point and then it's effects plateau: if you have 60K, and you have health insurance, you are fairly happy, and any money above this sum doesn't change the quality of life a great deal, our level of happiness plateaus off, so being an aristocrat actually doesn't matter as long as you have two or three decent meals a day and family to sit down with.

** so the question for you patriots is - would you care to give up your caste and be a typical lower-caste, low middle-class indian in india under today's circumstances?? no lasik, no ambulances, no triage, no basic interventional cardiology, no easy access to the internet, no fancy window treatments, no ayahs, butlers, maids, drivers.

Great post Nandamma. The OP was addressed to the wrong audience, pretty much everyone on this forum belongs to upper caste or a privileged (relatively) person. I suspect this guy Palwankar Baloo, despite his acheivements would've opted for option #2 who actually belonged to 1896 era. Below are a few excerpts from Wiki page

"A Hindu club in Pune challenged the Europeans to a cricket match, creating a dilemma over whether or not to include the obviously talented Baloo in their side. The (high-caste) Brahmins in the Hindu side were against it, but some Telugu members argued for his inclusion, as did Captain Greig. This seemed to settle the matter, for Baloo was invited to play with the Hindu Club.

On the field, Baloo played cricket as an equal, but off it he was segregated from the Europeans and the higher caste Hindus during rest and meal breaks. While his team-mates dined inside the pavilion on fine china, Baloo was left outside to eat and drink out of disposable clay crockery. Despite this treatment, he bowled well and took plenty of wickets, leading his club to several victories almost single handedly.(Guha 2002:93)"

by Kris Sat Mar 23, 2013 10:51 pm

pravalika nanda wrote:
Kris wrote:
Vidya Bagchi wrote:just asked this to d'ter. her answer - i can't imagine a life w/o technology, although all those exquisite dresses of 19th century would be cool.

>>>>Yeah, but you guys are taking freely available indoor plumbing for granted. I would rate this significantly higher than even computers.

**ha! that only matters to people in cold countries where it is mighty hard to take a dump outside. we never "advanced" in that area in india cuz it's pretty relaxing to sit on our haunches leisurely evacuating our solid waste as we enjoy a warm breeze under the starry sky with a limpid moon, the leaves rustling, birds chirping, cows mooing. and in the morning, it's gone, all cleared up by the neighborhood pigs. it's all a part of the circle of life, why don't people understand this?

>>>Granted, all this evokes a certain bucolic, back-to-basics splendor, but no!

by Guest Sat Mar 23, 2013 11:06 pm

pravalika nanda wrote:
Kris wrote:
Vidya Bagchi wrote:just asked this to d'ter. her answer - i can't imagine a life w/o technology, although all those exquisite dresses of 19th century would be cool.

>>>>Yeah, but you guys are taking freely available indoor plumbing for granted. I would rate this significantly higher than even computers.

**ha! that only matters to people in cold countries where it is mighty hard to take a dump outside. we never "advanced" in that area in india cuz it's pretty relaxing to sit on our haunches leisurely evacuating our solid waste as we enjoy a warm breeze under the starry sky with a limpid moon, the leaves rustling, birds chirping, cows mooing. and in the morning, it's gone, all cleared up by the neighborhood pigs. it's all a part of the circle of life, why don't people understand this?

u imagining all this, or u have seen this?

by Kris Sat Mar 23, 2013 11:09 pm

Vidya Bagchi wrote:
pravalika nanda wrote:
Kris wrote:
Vidya Bagchi wrote:just asked this to d'ter. her answer - i can't imagine a life w/o technology, although all those exquisite dresses of 19th century would be cool.

>>>>Yeah, but you guys are taking freely available indoor plumbing for granted. I would rate this significantly higher than even computers.

**ha! that only matters to people in cold countries where it is mighty hard to take a dump outside. we never "advanced" in that area in india cuz it's pretty relaxing to sit on our haunches leisurely evacuating our solid waste as we enjoy a warm breeze under the starry sky with a limpid moon, the leaves rustling, birds chirping, cows mooing. and in the morning, it's gone, all cleared up by the neighborhood pigs. it's all a part of the circle of life, why don't people understand this?

u imagining all this, or u have seen this?

>>>PN has a very romantic view of India, VB. It happens sometimes.. Smile

by pravalika nanda Sun Mar 24, 2013 8:45 pm

Vidya Bagchi wrote:
pravalika nanda wrote:
Kris wrote:
Vidya Bagchi wrote:just asked this to d'ter. her answer - i can't imagine a life w/o technology, although all those exquisite dresses of 19th century would be cool.

>>>>Yeah, but you guys are taking freely available indoor plumbing for granted. I would rate this significantly higher than even computers.

**ha! that only matters to people in cold countries where it is mighty hard to take a dump outside. we never "advanced" in that area in india cuz it's pretty relaxing to sit on our haunches leisurely evacuating our solid waste as we enjoy a warm breeze under the starry sky with a limpid moon, the leaves rustling, birds chirping, cows mooing. and in the morning, it's gone, all cleared up by the neighborhood pigs. it's all a part of the circle of life, why don't people understand this?

u imagining all this, or u have seen this?

** oh, vidya bagchi, i speak from personal experience. if you haven't done this yourself, you must, the next time you go to india. you're not fully indian without this rite of passage.

by Idéfix Mon Mar 25, 2013 1:44 am

pravalika nanda wrote:
trofimov wrote:
Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:I have had a fairly privileged life despite low/middling intelligence, being born Indian. I attribute it to the fortune of being a particular caste which is really a 'macro' for a set of values, connections and coded nods to enter different portals. It was also a burden that closed other portals and forced me to confront and challenge my own performance levels in the past.

And internet!!! That is the tipping point that makes "now" such an attractive option compared to the first.

I also chose my real birth (lower middle class India) vs. "upper crust 100 years ago." My reasons:
- Lasik surgery, which has transformed the quality of my life.
- Internet, mobile phones, digital cameras, etc.
- World War I: Englishmen born in 1896 had a rather high likelihood of dying or being crippled before turning 25.
- My notion that the world is a much better place now than it was then.

** this is not really so much about technology and advances in medicine. the reason so many of you chose to remain indian is because you were not even born into terrible circumsatnces in the first place. you're discounting the fact that as an upper-caste person, you're already a privileged person in indian society, monied or otherwise. money matters upto a point and then it's effects plateau: if you have 60K, and you have health insurance, you are fairly happy, and any money above this sum doesn't change the quality of life a great deal, our level of happiness plateaus off, so being an aristocrat actually doesn't matter as long as you have two or three decent meals a day and family to sit down with.
** it's also easy to choose to be indian cuz you're not even living under indina circumstances, you're in fact availing yourself to the most advanced medical care in the world - american medical care. say you're an unemployed, illegeal mexican woman who is pregnant in america, you're given the same care as a chelsea clinton. we'll give you prenatal testing and say we find that you just have one lung, and as the pregnancy gets more complicated, you're unable to oxygenate well, and there is concern that the fetus is developing hypoxia, we will intubate you, hook you up to a mechanical ventilator, and wait, if that's not working, we'll fly in the top physicians in the country to get ECMO for you. ECMO is like dialysis to remove carbon dioxide from the blood and help with oxygenation.
**it's not just the times we're in but that we're in a country where the technology is available to everyone, even illegal, unemployed, non-tax-paying mexicanas.
** so the question for you patriots is - would you care to give up your caste and be a typical lower-caste, low middle-class indian in india under today's circumstances?? no lasik, no ambulances, no triage, no basic interventional cardiology, no easy access to the internet, no fancy window treatments, no ayahs, butlers, maids, drivers.

You are right for the most part. If I was born in the bottom rungs of Indian society, I would not have had access to most of the technological advances of the 20th century (Lasik, computing, aviation, the internet), -- not to speak of smartphones and GPS that reached mass markets in the 21st.

My parents may have lacked money and academic degrees, but they placed a rather high value on education. Without the bets they made trying to get me a top-notch education -- bets that the parents of many of my school friends did not make -- I might have become an "electrician" who makes $20 on a great day. Actually electrician was what I aspired to be during most of my boyhood years, because I was thoroughly fascinated by electricity.

My parents placed a high value on education because they knew people who had lifted themselves into the middle class and above on the basis of their academic accomplishments (and caste connections). And they knew such people because people from the caste I was born into were over-represented in academia and bureaucracy. The parents of most of my classmates did not believe in education because the "success stories" within their own communities were not the result of academic accomplishment. For many of them, formal education was a waste of time for their sons and daughters, something which alienated their sons and daughters from traditional learning acquired on the farm and in the household, where they acquired strange ideas that were useless in real life. So my classmates were not encouraged by their parents to do well at school. The few "lower" caste classmates who were encouraged to do well at school by their parents did actually do very well in their careers, and most of them are well-established here in the US.

So to your question, "would you rather be at the lower rungs of 21st century Indian society than be a middle-class English person born in the 1950s," my answer is an unqualified "sign me up to sing 'God save the Queen,'" although I believe in neither God nor Queen.

by pravalika nanda Mon Mar 25, 2013 9:15 pm

trofimov wrote:
pravalika nanda wrote:
trofimov wrote:
Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:I have had a fairly privileged life despite low/middling intelligence, being born Indian. I attribute it to the fortune of being a particular caste which is really a 'macro' for a set of values, connections and coded nods to enter different portals. It was also a burden that closed other portals and forced me to confront and challenge my own performance levels in the past.

And internet!!! That is the tipping point that makes "now" such an attractive option compared to the first.

I also chose my real birth (lower middle class India) vs. "upper crust 100 years ago." My reasons:
- Lasik surgery, which has transformed the quality of my life.
- Internet, mobile phones, digital cameras, etc.
- World War I: Englishmen born in 1896 had a rather high likelihood of dying or being crippled before turning 25.
- My notion that the world is a much better place now than it was then.

** this is not really so much about technology and advances in medicine. the reason so many of you chose to remain indian is because you were not even born into terrible circumsatnces in the first place. you're discounting the fact that as an upper-caste person, you're already a privileged person in indian society, monied or otherwise. money matters upto a point and then it's effects plateau: if you have 60K, and you have health insurance, you are fairly happy, and any money above this sum doesn't change the quality of life a great deal, our level of happiness plateaus off, so being an aristocrat actually doesn't matter as long as you have two or three decent meals a day and family to sit down with.
** it's also easy to choose to be indian cuz you're not even living under indina circumstances, you're in fact availing yourself to the most advanced medical care in the world - american medical care. say you're an unemployed, illegeal mexican woman who is pregnant in america, you're given the same care as a chelsea clinton. we'll give you prenatal testing and say we find that you just have one lung, and as the pregnancy gets more complicated, you're unable to oxygenate well, and there is concern that the fetus is developing hypoxia, we will intubate you, hook you up to a mechanical ventilator, and wait, if that's not working, we'll fly in the top physicians in the country to get ECMO for you. ECMO is like dialysis to remove carbon dioxide from the blood and help with oxygenation.
**it's not just the times we're in but that we're in a country where the technology is available to everyone, even illegal, unemployed, non-tax-paying mexicanas.
** so the question for you patriots is - would you care to give up your caste and be a typical lower-caste, low middle-class indian in india under today's circumstances?? no lasik, no ambulances, no triage, no basic interventional cardiology, no easy access to the internet, no fancy window treatments, no ayahs, butlers, maids, drivers.
You are right for the most part. If I was born in the bottom rungs of Indian society, I would not have had access to most of the technological advances of the 20th century (Lasik, computing, aviation, the internet), -- not to speak of smartphones and GPS that reached mass markets in the 21st.

My parents may have lacked money and academic degrees, but they placed a rather high value on education. Without the bets they made trying to get me a top-notch education -- bets that the parents of many of my school friends did not make -- I might have become an "electrician" who makes $20 on a great day. Actually electrician was what I aspired to be during most of my boyhood years, because I was thoroughly fascinated by electricity.

My parents placed a high value on education because they knew people who had lifted themselves into the middle class and above on the basis of their academic accomplishments (and caste connections). And they knew such people because people from the caste I was born into were over-represented in academia and bureaucracy. The parents of most of my classmates did not believe in education because the "success stories" within their own communities were not the result of academic accomplishment. For many of them, formal education was a waste of time for their sons and daughters, something which alienated their sons and daughters from traditional learning acquired on the farm and in the household, where they acquired strange ideas that were useless in real life. So my classmates were not encouraged by their parents to do well at school. The few "lower" caste classmates who were encouraged to do well at school by their parents did actually do very well in their careers, and most of them are well-established here in the US.

So to your question, "would you rather be at the lower rungs of 21st century Indian society than be a middle-class English person born in the 1950s," my answer is an unqualified "sign me up to sing 'God save the Queen,'" although I believe in neither God nor Queen.

** i'm surprised, ra, that nuuvu intha thvaraga manasu marchukunnavani, also, you were a good sport and na prasana ki samadhanam icchecvu. actually, i don't know what i'd choose. ink okasari alochinchu: no more lungis, no more junnu, bellam aavakai, perugu annam, kabbadi, ajanta pencils, zandu balm, bhogi with pidakalu, megastar, ammayilu in cheeralu with malle puvvulu, herds of animals living their life even if holding up traffic. animals in india have freedom and get respect. are you sure you want to leave all this behind?
** okay, chaduvu kovali. enno pareekshalu.

by pravalika nanda Mon Mar 25, 2013 9:44 pm

Propagandhi711 wrote:
pravalika nanda wrote:
trofimov wrote:
Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:I have had a fairly privileged life despite low/middling intelligence, being born Indian. I attribute it to the fortune of being a particular caste which is really a 'macro' for a set of values, connections and coded nods to enter different portals. It was also a burden that closed other portals and forced me to confront and challenge my own performance levels in the past.

And internet!!! That is the tipping point that makes "now" such an attractive option compared to the first.

I also chose my real birth (lower middle class India) vs. "upper crust 100 years ago." My reasons:
- Lasik surgery, which has transformed the quality of my life.
- Internet, mobile phones, digital cameras, etc.
- World War I: Englishmen born in 1896 had a rather high likelihood of dying or being crippled before turning 25.
- My notion that the world is a much better place now than it was then.

** this is not really so much about technology and advances in medicine. the reason so many of you chose to remain indian is because you were not even born into terrible circumsatnces in the first place. you're discounting the fact that as an upper-caste person, you're already a privileged person in indian society, monied or otherwise. money matters upto a point and then it's effects plateau: if you have 60K, and you have health insurance, you are fairly happy, and any money above this sum doesn't change the quality of life a great deal, our level of happiness plateaus off, so being an aristocrat actually doesn't matter as long as you have two or three decent meals a day and family to sit down with.
** it's also easy to choose to be indian cuz you're not even living under indina circumstances, you're in fact availing yourself to the most advanced medical care in the world - american medical care.
** so the question for you patriots is - would you care to give up your caste and be a typical lower-caste, low middle-class indian in india under today's circumstances?? no lasik, no ambulances, no triage, no basic interventional cardiology, no easy access to the internet, no fancy window treatments, no ayahs, butlers, maids, drivers.

I read some of that and almost died of boredom.

** actually, baava, i was talking to my uncle about this and the point is that you have excellent health care in america and that's why my uncle migrated to america, he wanted to be a part of it. obviously, not at the receiving end of it. he does a lot of work with vents and stuff and he loves to teach me, he makes me so proud, i try to spend as many weekends as possible with him cuz he's the smartest man i know. he makes everything sound so simple. of course, i do a lot of paperwork for him in return during my spare time.
** anyhow, i don't know if my kids (in case i have any) or your kids will have access to these same technologies cuz frankly we're running out of money. my uncle told me that managing this one one patient cost his hospital .5 million. that's our taxpayer money for people who came in illegally...of course, all human beings should be treated equally but i'm not sure it is appropriate to h'age the system like this.

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