Product Description

Foreword by Nandan Nilekani, CEO, Infosys.

"An Indian in Cowboy Country is a must read. Pradeep has done an amazing job, with great simplicity, in chronicling an Asian Indian’s journey in an alien society, simultaneously maintaining one’s cultural moorings and moral center."
—Nandan Nilekani, CEO, Infosys Technologies Limited

"Pradeep Anand has put together a collection of highly enjoyable stories about the many challenges of being a brown-skinned techie in Texas. Immigrants everywhere will relate to this perceptive and relevant book."
—Chitra Divakaruni, award-winning author and poet

"Pradeep Anand has given voice, in a very sincere, real way, to the phenomenon of overachieving Indians assimilating into the fabric of American life. He seems to effortlessly capture the essence of their struggle to fit in while retaining and celebrating very different roots. This journey is comical, poignant, and—until now—little known outside the world of those experiencing it. A good read, whether you grew up in India, the U.S., or anywhere else!"
—Michael Berry, Mayor Pro Tem, Houston, Texas

"Businesses, business schools, and cultural studies departments at schools and colleges will benefit immensely from this book. Pradeep Anand weaves, with fascinating simplicity, warm and authentic stories about Asian Indian immigrants and their experiences in America."
—Amar Bhidé, Lawrence D. Glaubinger Professor of Business, Columbia University Graduate School of Business

"There is a sense of genuineness about the book. I had a strong conviction about the author's enthusiasm for the worth of attributes such as integrity, cultural diversity, honesty, diligence, and a sense of humor and humility, to temper it all."
—Jonathan K. Hustis, EVP-Legal, MetaSolv, Inc.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #484959 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-15
• Released on: 2006-11-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 196 pages

About the Author
Pradeep Anand is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology, a prestigious engineering school in Bombay, India, and has an MBA from the University of Houston. He is president of Seeta Resources and lives with his family in a Houston suburb.

Customer Reviews

More than a business book
Excellent work, I bought it as a business book hoping to learn more about the people I work with, but I gained so much more. I compare this quite favorably to the novelized business book, The Goal. That book used narrative as an effective means of communicating Goldratt's management ideas, but IICC accomplished that and more because the characterization was so vivid. Mr. Anand communicated his management ideas but also managed to say something about life. The Goal is merely a business book, this is a true novel that has business as a theme. We also learn about Indian culture, life, family and courage. I'm going to recommend it to some of my b-school professors as a course reading.

I think I liked most how he advocated for his current profession as a placement consultant. I saw Satish's job search not as a means to pursue purely material ends, but rather as a person in pursuit of fulfilling employment. Clearly Mr. Anand has a passion for helping people achieve life satisfaction. Of course, proper pay, responsibility and recognition are a part of that, but they are means to that other end. It was the best advertisement he could have written for himself, but even that was not heavy-handed, it was the natural result of an author pouring his passion into the story. Well done, and the perfect message for students. I actually played a little game while reading, trying to guess with each episode how much of Satish was his personal experience, how much was based on events that happened to his acquaintances and how much was from his imagination.

I also appreciated the portrayal of Houston and Sugar Land (I live there as well). I think the word associations most people have are Houston=redneck, suburb=sterile white flight and they just aren't true at least for these communities.

Indian in Cowboy Country Review
To the many Indian engineers who came to the United States as graduate students and then stayed on to work, this book is practically autobiographical. Pradeep Anand describes scenes that make you ask: How did he know that about me? Reading through the book is like reliving your early years.

Pradeep vividly describes stories that make you laugh and others that make you cry. Especially poignant is the subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, discrimination that is pervasive in the work place. Pradeep shows how we Indians have had to overcome this hurdle with grace and dignity; and how, despite this handicap, we have excelled in our professional lives.

Once started, the book is difficult to put down. This book is recommended not only to the many immigrant engineers, but also to those who work along-side them.

Boring book. Should have skipped it.
Too many redundant things...and the author doesn't keep the reader in focus of what his fictional character is thinking. Coming from an engineer turned writer, Pradeep Anand is good at describing places, people, and conversations but not the feelings and thoughts of his fictional character.

In the last chapter, the author mentions for 4 pages about the dinner that he had with his boss but didn't mention how he came up with his life changing decision and what was it.