How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels • Hacker News Board

Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

#211

Post by r_singh » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 7:24 AM UTC

sumedh wrote: post #153

pm90 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Gujaratis are known for being very enterprising folks. It is culturally respected in the community to have your own business, whether it is a small corner shop or the biggest corporation. India’s biggest private corporations (Reliance Industries) was started by a Gujju. Gandhi and the current PM also hail from this state.

> The Gujaratis are known for being very enterprising folks. The downside is that some of the biggest and famous crooks are from the same community as well.

I'm not sure such comments are appreciated on HN. All communities and groups in the world have crooks.

Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

#212

Post by iamgopal » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 7:44 AM UTC

duxup wrote: post #189

My understanding is that immigrants often have a high rate of entrepreneurship. It's always nice to hear about people coming to the US and not just taking a chance coming to the US, but also taking advantage of those freedoms to take the risk of starting a business and the massive amount of work that it takes to do so.

The environment back home is so fud up, that , whole family working 12 hours a day seems like real stress reliever. My uncle who went USA and doing the motel thing, used to have business in India. i.e. they were well to do also in India and went there not for more money but lifestyle and education opportunities that India can not provide.

Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

#213

Post by iamgopal » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 7:52 AM UTC

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #17

Can someone tell me why the surname of Patel is so predominant in the hotel owners? The article doesn't really explain why.

Patel here, Patel as a community has farming background, and usually are quite industrious people, and so are generally in the middle or upper middle class in India also. Most who are coming to USA already have good amount of money or somehow have access to it, but they do not have first world skill for high tech job or business, so for doing business, this is the only option, or grocery store or petrol pumps.

Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

#214

Post by jlg23 » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 8:37 AM UTC

pard68 wrote: post #145

jlg23 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you have some references, I'd call this a "nice theory" (to be read with a British accent). Spontaneously: * South America appeared to be more catholic than any Western European or US-American place I've visited, but family and extended family are still a big thing. * Calvinists seem to be much more "open" than catholics to me. * Damn, I want the secret recipe that lets me set a policy and enforce it in vast a…

By Calvinists I assume you are referring to Protestants? Or are you actually referring to Calvinistic Protestants? Just curious, outside of Christian circles and history I don't think I have ever seen someone reference Calvinists.

I received a protestant education and as such Calvinism is part of the curriculum.

Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

#215

Post by IkmoIkmo » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 9:31 AM UTC

pard68 wrote: post #145

jlg23 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you have some references, I'd call this a "nice theory" (to be read with a British accent). Spontaneously: * South America appeared to be more catholic than any Western European or US-American place I've visited, but family and extended family are still a big thing. * Calvinists seem to be much more "open" than catholics to me. * Damn, I want the secret recipe that lets me set a policy and enforce it in vast a…

By Calvinists I assume you are referring to Protestants? Or are you actually referring to Calvinistic Protestants? Just curious, outside of Christian circles and history I don't think I have ever seen someone reference Calvinists.

Might be different in the US, in Europe it's not too uncommon to talk about calvinists, particularly in certain countries like the Netherlands it's a well-established term (which is even used there to describe Dutch behavioral culture, because it's deemed to be so fitting), and separate from other forms of protestantism.

Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

#216

Post by anad7 » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 10:00 AM UTC

While it's certainly true that people from Gujarat are business minded, I have observed that they are equally narrow minded, especially when it comes to selecting whom they work with and they almost always select a fellow Gujarati.

I have personal experience with this, I had a Gujarati classmate and we had plans for starting up after our college, he later went on to work for his brother in law (who you already guessed it worked in the hospitality industry), he only told me later when I asked that he was pressured by his family to work with them exclusively. You may think that this is a one off example, but it's not, nearly all people I came across had similar mindset.

Also they contributed largely to the election of Modi as a PM in India, who is also (drumroll) a Gujarati, now this may be good or bad depending on how you look at it.

After living in western countries for well over 50 years (calling themselves American, Canadian and British etc), they ooze pride about their entrepreneurial heritage; but they still vote and contribute money towards electing a man whose past screams bloody murder and that is plain hypocrisy!

Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

#217

Post by igravious » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 10:21 AM UTC

I look forward to the next National Geographic article in this series where they document in detail how American Jews came to run a substantial proportion of U.S. media!

edit: I need to put this more judiciously :) run => exercise control over

Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

#218

Post by sumedh » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 10:33 AM UTC

r_singh wrote: post #211

sumedh wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Gujaratis are known for being very enterprising folks. The downside is that some of the biggest and famous crooks are from the same community as well.

I'm not sure such comments are appreciated on HN. All communities and groups in the world have crooks.

I am talking about some of the biggest and famous crooks in India not just any crook.

Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

#219

Post by lotsofpulp » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 10:44 AM UTC

selimthegrim wrote: post #165

automated_toast wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Non-Patel Hindus that are of the same caste as Patels would have a hard time getting Handshake loans. It is really tribal. Within Patels themselves, there are extensive intra-Patel clans.

I know, but I mean there are Muslim Patels too, is what I was driving at.

You wrote “non-Patel Muslims”.

And Patel is just a common name, it doesn’t mean you’re in the same tribe. Especially since in the old days tribes were frequently family oriented and religion was a big part of family.

But tribes keep changing. When everyone was immigrating and desperate, they acted as one and helped each other. Now, the successful ones and 2nd generations americans who can stand on their own have become their own tribe. They’re not going to reach out to their 2nd cousins who are poor and don’t know English well.

Now there are new tribes, mostly split along socioeconomic and education lines, regardless of religion.

Re: How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

#220

Post by 0xcafecafe » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 11:53 AM UTC

newhotelowner wrote: post #125

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #17

Can someone tell me why the surname of Patel is so predominant in the hotel owners? The article doesn't really explain why.

Patel + Hotel owner here. We are from Indian state Gujarat. Patel is the most common last name in Gujarat. 90+% of Patels I know immigrated to the USA through chain migration. My dad's sister-in-law's sister (A) & her husband came to the USA in last 60s early 70s. Sister (A) applied for the immigration visa for my dad's sister-in-law. My dad's sister-in-law and my dad's brother immigrated to the USA in the late 70s.…

>>Patel is the most common last name in Gujarat.

Fellow Gujju here. It is "one" of the most common last names in Gujarat. Probably it might be the most common last name of Gujjus outside Gujarat but I doubt it is so inside the state.