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I don’t mind them at all. I see them as a pragmatic yet traditionalist community that slowly but surely adapts with the local culture, language, and environment.I live in Sugar Land, TX— located in the Greater Houston Area— where one of the nation’s largest Indian American community thrives. I would describe Sugar Land as the nucleus of an ever-growing Asian American ethnoburb that continues to expand across the newly-built suburbs of Southwest Greater Houston. Being a Second-Generation Pakistani American myself, I’ve interacted with Indian Americans more than any other racial or ethnic groups in the United States. Even more so, I’ve observed the lifestyles, ethics, social structure of Indian Americans as their community bears many similarities to my own Pakistani American community.A Brief History of the Indian Americans of Houston1970-1980: Thousands of Indians who belonged to upper-caste Punjabi, Gujarati and Tamil communities, spoke English fairly-well, and had attained a college education in India settled in Houston. Many established businesses, while others steadily gained employment in the IT or Petroleum and Gas sector. They settled in lower middle class areas such as Alief and Sharpstown and established the first temples, mosques, and gurduwaras in Houston. This generation pushed their kids to do well in academics, major in STEM fields and seek employment in the best companies.1990–2000: Tons of Indian Americans immigrated to the US, settling in Houston especially since the Petroleum and Gas Industry was booming. The first batch of Indian Americans were moving out of lower income areas to middle class suburban neighborhoods in Southwest Houston. The opening of Raja Sweets in Hilcroft—now called “Mahatma Gandhi District”—created a business enclave for South Asian Americans, restaurants, cinemas, grocery stories, and shops opened which catered to the growing Indian community. In this decade, Sugar Land developed from a giant pasture into a booming city outside of Houston, home to an affluent upper-middle class. Thousands of Indian Americans took advantage and moved to Sugar Land.2000-Today: Multiple master-planned neighborhoods have been built in the ever-growing city of Sugar Land. The original community gets wealthier and wealthier with each passing generation. Every 15–20 years Indian American families move to even wealthier neighborhoods within Sugar Land, leaving behind their large middle class homes for the recent immigrants. Most Indian American students do exceeding well in high school, going onto attain STEM or Business careers at Rice University, Texas A&M, and UT Austin. The Sugar Land area has the city’s largest temples and mosques which are funded by wealthy South Asian Americans. The ethnoburb expands every year, causing some Indian Americans to relocate to Katy and The Woodlands — equally wealthy and prosperous areas.The story of Indian Americans is inspiring and motivational. They’ve been able to utilize their cultural ethos to establish wealthy, educated, and powerful communities across the nation. Indian Americans among other Asians Americans are clear indicators of the limitless possibilities of the “American Dream”.My parents are anti-immigration despite being immigrants themselves. In their perspective, a surplus of South Asian Americans can lead to extreme competition in education and the workforce. Despite having a valid reason behind their opinion, I disagree with closing off borders; I believe the legal immigration from talented, hardworking, and ingenious nations should be encouraged.

Well, guess it’s my turn to use it.Don’t ask why till you’ve asked if… Or is it do in this case?Liberals in the US tend to focus in and around highly populous cities and they tend to have a grasp of society in those big cities, as long as they’re talking about their city;Nearly half of Americans don’t live in the city, and not all of the cities are liberal as it is.When I hear them talking about places that aren’t the big city their conversations reek of bigotry and ignorance. They don’t know what it’s like to live anywhere else than their cities, and their grasp rural life is laughable at best.Sometimes I see them present even more ignorant views about American culture than normal. Lets take one that got a lot of ridicule this year.All of these cartoons are common depictions I see from liberals of Texas, and all of these are about Houston Texas in particular. Let me show you some things about Houston.Houston Texas is one of the nation’s largest cities, coming in at 6.3 million people in its metro area, the fifth largest US city. It is the third most diverse city in the US with 145 languages spoken, and a third of all Houston speaking a language other than English at home. 31% of the city has a bachelor’s degree or higher. Does this sound like ignorant white cowboy hat wearing hicks?Houston has a GDP of 478 million dollars, Of the 260,000 small companies in Houston, 155,000 are owned by minorities, and median average income was $47,000 while cost of living is an estimated $33,000 Does this sound like a city of the poor, as those cartoons depict?And those cartoons make Houstonians look helpless.This is a line of people waiting for work assignments to help their neighbors. Is that the image of a helpless society?And hell, to top it off, Houston is a fairly liberal city, though it has a rather Texan flavor to it.So you want to ask why Liberals have a broader perspective of American society? What’s next, will you ask me why Liberals’ shit doesn’t stink?They don’t. It’s why they still don’t understand why half of the voting Americans voted Trump.

Moved from London to Houston 3 years ago.First impressions: eugh, what is up with this summer weather? I don't have a car, everything's so far away, I'm going to have a heat stroke walking to the bus station, I'm a prisoner in my own home. People don't know fashion, southern hospitality is weird.Then I visit New York. It will feel like London right?No... too dirty, too busy for my tastes, the subway makes the tube look posh. Why must I always queue an hour for food? Had a few good meals in some fine establishments but I imagine I would be very lonely living here.Now: hmm, Houston's not actually that bad... driving is awesome, I don't have to decide which jacket to wear, just dump them all in the car. I don't notice the humidity anymore, was never as bad as Hong Kong anyway. Everybody works 9-5. Cheap shopping! Cheap food! Cheap houses! Wow, I can actually save a bit of money on a grad student's salary. Thought I would notice the lack of Michelin stars but I don't: Tex Mex, Cajun, Japanese, Indian, and the Pho is to die for (English pub food still sucks but what can you do). There are cool bars and clubs to go to, you just need to look harder and actually drive there (Washington Ave/Midtown/Downtown).Having a car was the key to unlocking the best of Houston (and avoiding the summer weather).I still miss London but Houston is absolutely fine.Maybe I'm just getting old.​