Suguna Narayan: An ‘ABCD’ Who Shames IBCDs with her Telugu
Next time you hurl an insult at a second generation Indian American (I consider the term ‘ABCD’ as a minor insult, OK?), I want you to think twice. Well, I can go on ranting about why ‘ABCD’ is an insult, but I will be brief. When you call someone ‘confused,’ that would mean that you are a person with clarity of thought and a clear vision. Are you? Forget ‘vision’ part. Do you at least know your own ABCD (no pun intended)? A better way to pose the same question: మీకు మీ “అ, ఆ, ఐ, ఈ” సరిగ్గా తెలుసా?
In this interview, I talked to Suguna Narayan, a Colorado native and a second generation Indian American. Suguna was born and brought up in US, and she speaks flawless Telugu. She was one of the select few students who won the Presidential Scholarship in 2005 – a distinction only two students in every state gets in any given year.
Keep aside her academic achievements and language skills, she made her parents proud, and the community proud by simply being an ‘educated citizen’ and by rightly questioning a powerful US Congressman, Bill Berens. Thanks to her letter to a local paper and the subsequent mishandling of the situation by Berens, the congressman lost the election in Nov 2006.
Enough intro! Listen to this young lady speak her mind with such a clarity. She is AB alright, but not a CD! [BTW, I am happy that she is making a contribution to TeluGlobe. You can find Suguna’s articles here.]
Originally broadcast on Teluguone Radio: 2009-05-02
Audio language: Telugu
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:17 — 15.8MB) | Embed
Mohan garu,
She is absolutely amazing. She doesn’t sound like a 21 year old. She is way ahead of the game. She has a bright future and I wish her the best.
Chakravarthy
hello mohan garu & suguna garu,
chaala chaala baagundandi mee sambhashana.very very interesting topic.
subhabhinandanalu.
ratna
Great interview! Very interesting.
Its still ABCD , American Born Confident Desi.
New definition adirindi mastaru!
wow!!!! no accent which generally found in NRIs.this proves the proverb”where there is a will there is a way”.
A wonderful interview! Interesting range of topics. A very frank discussion. Superb!
[off-topic]
I couldn’t find a contact e-mail on this site, for general complaints/suggestions.
The RSS feed of the site is broken. It spits out garbage with every post. Please look into this.
[/off-topic]
I am a bit tech-handicapped. I will try to fix RSS. The e-mail to reach me is mohan@teluglobe.com
A wonderful interview! Interesting range of topics. A very frank discussion. Superb!
I couldn’t find a contact e-mail on this site, for general complaints/suggestions for the site.
The RSS feed of the site is broken, and I get garbage with every post. Please look into this.
HI mohan and suguna garu,
mee smbhshna chala bagundi.
suguna garu mee telugu chala bagundi.