Interview with a foreign person Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Interview with a foreign person - Essay Example I had spoken to him on the phone and at my behest he had agreed to be interviewed by me. He is 24 years of age and was working with a management consultancy for the past 2 years in the US. He had come to the US in August 2000 to attend Undergrad courses at Middlebury College. Majoring in economics he graduated with honours in 2004 and was offered a decent job with a respectable American consultancy firm in their Boston Office. After his exemplary performance in the Boston office he was shifted to their Washington D.C Office in late 2005 where he was working till his resignation this February. He will be returning to Pakistan in the first week of March and has been hired by an International Bank with operations in Pakistan. His name is Imran Quershi and he is a Muslim by birth. Being brought up in the port city of Karachi he moved to the United States in 2000. His family is a well educated, upper-middle class family and both his parents are practicing Surgeons and moderate Muslims lik e him. As per the census survey in 2000 the number Pakistanis living in the United States were 0.1 % of the US population. ("Pakistanis" are defined as people who marked their ethnic origin as "Pakistani" on the Census survey).On the other hand as a Muslim he belongs to one of the fastest-growing religions in the United States of America. By the year 2010, America's Muslim population is expected to exceed the Jewish population, making Islam the country's second-largest faith after Christianity. The American Muslim community is a mosaic of cultures, its members having come from all of the five major continents; in fact, a recent survey showed that most Muslims are immigrants-77.6% versus 22.4% U.S. born ("Zogby International"). Section 1: Objective Observations Imran's main reason for coming to the United States of America was to pursue further education at an international college in an academic environment while learning to become independent. It was a combined decision made not only by him but by his parents as well. He wouldn't have been able to afford the education had it not been for the generous scholarship and aid provided by Middlebury College. Although college and university education was available in Pakistan but an American or British education was looked upon very positively in the Pakistani business circle. Not only was it looked upon positively but it would open various opportunities and enable him to earn a higher remuneration as compared to his locally educated peers. It was this combination of reasons that led him to the economic superpower of the world i.e. the United States of America. He came to the US as a teenager with an image of America that was built up by a combination of watching Hollywood blockbusters and CNN. His idea of America before he actually came here was a place where he would have freedom to do what he pleases without the religious norms of the Islamic republic of Pakistan. This is what scared him as in Pakistan he didn't have to make a choice to follow his culture and religion whereas in the U.S it would not be his choice to follow it or to digress from it. Like everyone else he also felt that he was heading to the land of opportunity where he would be bestowed a world class education which would benefit not only him