Dr. Mohan Natesan Interview, History 150 Spring 2017, Conducted by Varun Mohan, 03/24/2017.
- This interview was conducted primarily over the phone however prior to the interview I spoke with Dr. Natesan in person during Spring Break. This was done to inquire whether or not he would be comfortable with being interviewed and available to do so. The interview was recorded using the built-in “Sound Recorder” software on Microsoft Windows and was conducted over the phone. An obstacle that occurred however was difficulty scheduling a time to interview due to Dr. Natesan’s schedule. This transcript has been somewhat edited to better summarize answers from the interviewee.
- Mohan Natesan was born in a small town in India in the state of Tamil Nadu named Kallakurichi. A brother of four sisters and child of a stay at home mom and working class father, he is the only one from his family to have moved to a Western country. Natesan immigrated to the US in 1991 in order to continue his education and was married shortly after to a woman named Geethanjali Govindaraman(later Mohan) who was also from Tamil Nadu. They settled in Boston, MA for a few years after raising their daughter and moved to Virginia shortly after giving birth to their son. The citizenship and immigration process was relatively unobstructed due to Dr. Natesan being in a high-demand STEM field. He visits his family in India including his mother, sisters, and other relatives at least once every two years if not every year.
- India during Dr. Natesan’s upbringing and education there was relatively new in the majority of its fields having won its independence only 13 years prior to his birth(1960). As a result for the latter half of the 20th century it was still considered an underdeveloped country with a low HDI and GDP as well as high illiteracy rates and more. A lack of opportunities economically for high achieving citizens led to many individuals leaving India for better prospects in other countries. As the millennium came to a close however India had greatly turned itself around as foreign investors flocked to its cities and recruited scores of people as well as investing directly into the Indian economy. The Immigration Act of 1990 was also passed by the US to increase the flow of immigrants and lower barriers to entry and citizenship as well. As for Dr. Natesan, the increased standard of living, greater economic and social opportunity as well as the help of the Immigration Act all led to his immigration to the US.
Stone, Stephanie. “1990 Immigration and Nationality Act.” US Immigration Legislation, library.uwb.edu/Static/USimmigration/1990_immigration_and_nationality_act.html.
Goswami, Subhojit. “Development in India after Independence.” Maps of India, Compare Infobase Limited, 1 Aug. 2014, www.mapsofindia.com/my-india/india/ development-in-india-after-independence
- VM: Okay, so for introduction purposes please state your full name, current occupation and also where you currently live.
Dr. Natesan: Uh, my name is Mohan Natesan and I uh live at Lorton, Virginia. And I work as a scientist, as an investigator at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.
VM: Okay. Could you describe your early life in India, for example where you grew up family and some other general background information?
Dr. Natesan: Yeah I was born in India in a small town in southern part of India called Kallukurichi. It was a small town, about 30,000 people. And my education was uh my earlier education was a government-run high school and primary school and I uh have three sisters. My father and mother my father only had elementary school education my mother um did not go to school so I was first one to complete college education and then I went to complete Ph.D also.
VM: Where did you complete your Ph.D and stuff?
Dr. Natesan: I did my college education pretty far away from my hometown in another state and went on to do my Ph.D at the capital of India in New Delhi. At an institute called All India Institute of Medical Sciences and then came to US for post-doctorate education.
VM: What was your post-doctorate education?
Dr. Natesan: I did my PH.D in Neurology and Microbiology.
VM: Oh okay, so what were some differences or similarities you see between yourself growing up in India versus America?
Dr. Natesan: Oh I didn’t grow up here[unintelligible] being in India. So US children have more resources compared to the facilities when we grew up so its usually very very limited resouces in high schools and colleges. Whereas in US children have lot more resources and their learning environment is much better than in India.
VM: Mm, so were you the first person in your entire family to do college or anything?
Dr. Natesan: Yes my sisters only completed high school before getting married and settling so I was the first one to go to college.
VM: What caused you to immigrate to America?
Dr. Natesan: So I did my Ph.D and I wanted to do post-doctoral in a country where top-notch research is being so I selected the United States because it was number 1 in medical research and biological research. That’s the reason why I decided to come here.
VM: Ah okay, so you didn’t choose to go anywhere else like the UK or any other Western country?
Dr. Natesan: No I yeah actually only tried in the United States become many of my
colleagues and people who graduated before me that were my friends who were already here helped me to apply for jobs.
VM: Okay, so you were just following your colleagues.
Dr. Natesan: Yes.
VM: When you first came here what were some cultural differences you saw?
Dr. Natesan: Well the cultural differences […] I would say their food habits are different and their work culture is different. Here, everyone is very responsible you give work to somebody you expect them to complete it and they do complete it. There’s lot of personal responsibility which is kind of little bit lacking in other countries so that is a big difference. So culturally I would say that it was a little bit difficult to adjust to the culture due to the food as well as the language even though do we speak English. So the accent and the way English is spoken is completely different from what I used to speak in. So that takes time to adjust to.
VM: Were there any social differences or anything you saw?
Dr. Natesan: There are lots of social differences.
VM: What would be one that maybe stuck out to you a little bit when you first came?
Dr. Natesan: Yeah so cultural [meant social] differences I would say that very people are open-minded and talk to you and particularly between the two sexes. It’s difficult to interact with colleagues there[means India] there is no hierarchy. So people are very open here so that’s the major difference.
VM: So basically India is more traditionally cultured or-
Dr. Natesan: They are more conservative and there are more restrictions on how you interact with people and how you interact with [unintelligible].
VM: Okay, could you describe your first month in America? What happened when you got off the plane and what you went about doing your first few weeks here?
Dr. Natesan:When I first came, I came for a conference here but I ended up staying for a few weeks more to look for a job and I visited all of my friends. [unintelligible] I landed in JFK airport in US and it was the first time I saw so many lights in a city[laughs]. I’ve never seen it before. And then after I visited several cities, several states here. I went to Connecticut, Boston, Cincinnati, Kansas and New York. Those are the places I visited, so it was pretty a big surprise when you see the country as well as the people. First thing you notice is that everything in the US is big including the rivers, land, mountains everything is huge.
VM: When you first came, you said you were doing post-doctoral education so that’s why you were traveling so much yes?
Dr. Natesan: Yes I went to different cities to visit different universities.
VM: Did you run into any problems as far as Customs or Immigration or getting a visa?
Dr. Natesan: No I never had any problems most people were very helpful.
VM: In all your years here what was the number one thing you enjoyed as far as changes go from the India and the US?
Dr. Natesan: So US is much more open in terms of… you have a freedom to go anywhere and freedom to talk to people and people really try to help. So that’s something I really enjoyed.
VM: So in India it’s more-
Dr. Natesan: In India, people also help but they’re more reserved.
VM: Okay yeah because of the more conservative culture.
Dr.Natesan: More reserved, it’s kind of more reserved and also the language you go from one state to another is different.
VM: What’s maybe one thing you disliked?
Dr. Natesan: In US right now[chuckles], one thing I dislike is the healthcare. It’s getting very costly and its difficult to manage your health. The second thing is college education, the cost of college education is getting very high.
VM: As a previous immigrant to America what would you tell an immigrant or someone wishing to immigrate currently to help them come here or adjust?
Dr. Natesan: Yes, I think it takes time and if you’re patient you can really succeed in America.
VM: Could you describe the process of raising a family in the US and maybe some differences or similarities as to how you were raised in India?
Dr. Natesan: Yes, it’s relatively cheaper to raise a child in India compared to the US because the cost of living is much lower and the education is also free including high school as well as college education. Even up to Ph. D the government pays for all the education, you won’t have to pay for anything. My children were educated in state-funded schools, college education is not cheap, it is costly. Those are the differences but in terms of diversity, there are a lot more options for children to be exposed to different education as well as career paths. Whereas in India children’s paths are usually set in high school. Once you select a path you cannot change it, whereas in the US people can change their careers at any time so that is an advantage.
VM: Well I think that’s all the questions I have for you today, is there anything you’d like to add?
Dr. Natesan: No there’s nothing else, thank you.
VM: Okay, thank you.
- Overall I believe the interview went quite well, I managed to glean a rather large amount of knowledge about not only the process of immigration from India but also many of the changes and culture shocks that come along with it. One thing I believe that was done well was transcribing Dr. Natesan’s words as closely as possible, even with some grammatical mistakes in the answers most his answers were quite clear. I found it quite easy to go off-script, the whole process felt far less like an interview and more akin to normal conversation, and I feel that the detours allowed to give greater depth to the interview.