For November First Friday, we took a little (mental) field trip to India…
This month’s guest speaker was Spark Plaza’s newest member, Shashank Mohan. Shashank tried to, just tried, to compare political, social and economic issues that shape and continue to shape India with those that shape and continue to shape the United States. The format was fully interactive – collecting audience questions about India first (and their perception) and then discussing those questions and perceptions one by one.
Some of the most popular topics were education, minorities, religion, and you guessed it, elections. With Shashank’s help, we discovered a lot of new similarities and differences between the two countries. Some interesting finds were that India has a Parliamentary system, similar to the Untied States’ legislature, but with a single ruling party and a more centralized federal government. India also has the longest Constitution in the world — nearly 150,000 words in 450 articles. India also has a better minority protection rating in the workplace than the United States does, due to longstanding religious diversity and integration.
In keeping with the theme, we served some of Shashank’s favorite Indian dishes courtesy of Sahib Indian Restaurant. While it may not be the same as at home, Shashank says that Sahib’s food is by far the most authentic in the Tri-Cities.
After lunch, downtown JC First Friday events include music in Founder’s Park as well as a spooky ballet performance of Dracula: Ballet with a Bite by City Youth Ballet in the amphitheater. See you there!
Finally, Spark Plaza also has TWO available spaces right now, so if you know anyone in need of an awesome new office space, you know where to send them!
Happy November!