Join us on this episode of the Indian Community Podcast as we delve into the remarkable journey of Burt Thakur, a man whose story is as inspiring as it is unique. Born in New Delhi and raised amidst the rich wilderness of India, Burt's early experiences laid the foundation for his resilient character. His remarkable journey took him from the national forests of India to the esteemed Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania, and further into the heart of the United States Navy as a nuclear power reactor operator.
After serving honorably, Burt transitioned to civilian life, leaving a mark in various sectors, from MMR Power Solutions to managing large-scale construction projects for data centers. His heartfelt appearance on Jeopardy! in 2020 not only captured the hearts of millions but also highlighted the profound impact of empathy, family, and the pursuit of the American Dream.
Now, Burt Thakur is making headlines as he runs for election to the U.S. House to represent the 26th Congressional District of Texas. With a unique perspective and solution-oriented approach, he aims to bring about positive change and inspire others to believe in the power of their dreams and actions.
Tune in to explore the multifaceted life of Burt Thakur, from his time as a young immigrant from India to the U.S. Navy and now his venture into the political arena. Witness how one individual's journey can serve as a beacon of inspiration and a reminder of the profound impact we can all make.
#indiancommunity #burtthakur #jeopardy #amitgupta #rahulmehra #vivekramaswamy
Join us on this episode of the Indian Community Podcast as we delve into the remarkable journey of Burt Thakur, a man whose story is as inspiring as it is unique. Born in New Delhi and raised amidst the rich wilderness of India, Burt's early experiences laid the foundation for his resilient character. His remarkable journey took him from the national forests of India to the esteemed Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania, and further into the heart of the United States Navy as a nuclear power reactor operator.
After serving honorably, Burt transitioned to civilian life, leaving a mark in various sectors, from MMR Power Solutions to managing large-scale construction projects for data centers. His heartfelt appearance on Jeopardy! in 2020 not only captured the hearts of millions but also highlighted the profound impact of empathy, family, and the pursuit of the American Dream.
Now, Burt Thakur is making headlines as he runs for election to the U.S. House to represent the 26th Congressional District of Texas. With a unique perspective and solution-oriented approach, he aims to bring about positive change and inspire others to believe in the power of their dreams and actions.
Tune in to explore the multifaceted life of Burt Thakur, from his time as a young immigrant from India to the U.S. Navy and now his venture into the political arena. Witness how one individual's journey can serve as a beacon of inspiration and a reminder of the profound impact we can all make.
#indiancommunity #burtthakur #jeopardy #amitgupta #rahulmehra #vivekramaswamy
Hello and welcome to the Indian Community Podcast. I'm your host Amit Gupta and with me today is my co host Rahul Mehra. Today we have the privilege of introducing a man whose life history is as inspiring as it is unique, Burt Thakur. Born in the heart of New Delhi, Burt was raised amidst the rich wilderness of India by his grandparents Jagdish and Indira. His childhood was deeply connected with the national forests and tigers. That laid the foundation for his resilient character. In the late 1980s, Burt embarked on a new journey, moving to New York, and attended the esteemed Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania. Burt served in the United States Navy as a nuclear power reactor operator, on board the USS Harry S. Truman. After six honorable years with the United States Navy, Burt transitioned to civilian life in California. where he made his mark at MMR Power Solutions and later in managing large scale construction projects for data centers. Soon in 2020, during a heartfelt appearance on the television show Jeopardy!, that Burt captured the hearts of millions. His tribute to his grandfather Jagdish and the late Alex Trebek resonated across the nation, reminding us all of the profound impact of empathy, family, and the pursuit of the American Dream. Burt's story doesn't stop there. He's currently making headlines as he runs for election to the U. S. House to represent the 26th Congressional District of Texas. As a member of the Republican Party, Burt is on the ballot in the Republican primary on March 5th. Aiming to bring his unique perspective and solution oriented approach to a broader platform. Join us as we delve into the multifaceted life of Burt Thakur from his time as a young immigrant from India to the U. S. Navy and now his venture into the political arena. All while inspiring and reminding us of the profound impact one individual can make. Welcome to the show Burt.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:Thank you so much for having me, and
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:nice to nice to virtually meet everybody on here.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:One of these days we'll meet in person too. Burt, um, let's start from the beginning. Uh, you, uh, you're a very popular man and, uh, a lot of us know about your story, but that's the story that we've read or we've heard, uh, in different forums. But this is an opportunity for us to hear from you directly. Uh, what is the most cherished memories that you have about growing up in India and, um, the time that you spent with your grandparents, Indra and Jagdish.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:It's a, uh, that's a beautiful question. I mean, where do I begin? Do I do, I talk about the leechy trees that grew in the backyard, or the jackfruits, which would sway in the wind. Uh, or the Emily tree that we'd climb in recess during school to, uh, snack on, or the, uh, the sugar cane peddler that we would go and stop and get a sugarcane juice with a couple of rupees here and there or riding in the bush with my papa as, uh, we'd go from game reserve to game reserve with the other wardens and seeing leopards in the wild, or, uh, having baby elephants in the compound. In rachi. We're driving the ambassador car, sitting in the back seat, bored, looking out the window as we'd go to dilly and stopping at that one restaurant. My grandfather would get a special occasion of butter chicken. You How do I begin or thinking about the temples of nessi. Or going, uh, with my grandmother to seroni the village in ban where we're from, where my great-grandmother would feed me Ladu, after the monsoons drinking chai seeing the Milky way over the Gao when the power would fail. And we'd have nothing except stories of Abbi, Manu, and Behe, and the Raman and the Mahar as I would go to sleep. Hearing the somber and the garb Moo in the middle of the night and all the jungle sounds, HH how do you get rid of, how do you get rid of those memories? How do you pick a favorite one?
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:It is difficult indeed. I mean, not just one. I think everything that you said
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:the smell of the chalk, of the paint of the rung that was thrown at holy. You know that this is very unique
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:very distinct. Yes,
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:You know how do you get rid of that? Or those, remember those cheap plastic roses that you would get at the weddings that would smell so nice. Those, you know how do you get rid of the, how do you get rid of the sounds? The noise, the bustle, the rickshaw, the dinging, dinging. The chai wall is running in the street. The dust the, the hoop at three o'clock in the afternoon as you're drinking cold. Thumbs up, looking at a poster of Amitha Chen,
Track 1:all that has a charm of its own. Yeah. And
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:Excellent. There's one thing that I would also remind you of is the.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:Oh, I, the most interesting thing about growing up and being a bihari and spending my summers next to the kaloi, uh, or, going to Kathmandu when I'm a kid. Uh, seeing my elders get their genin right. Being there for funerals, for weddings, for, we were one big family, and the concept of family, I think is something that is so Indian in nature that it, there is no comparison to it anywhere else in the entire world. Right. When you think of family, right. That notion, I think it's, there's nothing like, uh, an Indian mother's love. There's nothing in this world like the respect we have. For our papas. There is nothing in this world like the reverence we hold for adii or baah. There, there's some things that are so uniquely Indian and it's ingrained in our very DNA, one of, um, one of my, uh, closest friends, uh, she's become, a bit of a confidant, a bit of a spiritual guide also, but she's someone who believes in me dearly, and she's Nepalese and she's connected to the royal family. She came here years ago One of the things, uh, that she gave me is this, I don't know if you can see it.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:The,
Track 1:blue drugs.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:the
Track 1:He is
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:Right? and it's got a seed inside of it, right? And it's fr it's from Nepal, right?
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:I wanna show you mine as well. So I always have one handy. Uh, and then I always wear one as well, so reduction is always close to my heart.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:I I always carry this with me in my pocket. Because you know when you think about what this is, right? Raha, right? As, as Shiba is sitting and meditating and trying to contemplate We can interpret the story a bunch of different ways, but the way I see it is ultimately the only way he could get the ultimate weapon is if he defeated himself. If he defeated the fear inside of himself.
Track 1:Right.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:The pain of that realization made him cry. Tears both out of joy and out of pain. Right?
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:That is correct.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:Think about the history of our people. Think about, just think about the concept of that story in of itself. You look at our civilization, which goes back, I. Arguably tens of thousands of years, if not longer. Right. And I'm, I'm using I'm using timescales older than recorded history, right? We're finding, If the mom bought it and the ram remind, they talk about that. They talk about things that transcend recorded history. But think about it, there, there's something intrinsic about it in our culture, inside of our DNA, there are things, our language is, uh, comes from Sanskrit and proto Sanskrit, uh, languages, all these Sanskrit is the, is the root of languages that range all the way from Greek to Russian to, to the Norse languages. You can actually trace the etymology all the way down to Sanskrit, right? And so there's this pervasiveness of our culture, and for some reason it ended up in the subcontinent. And perhaps it was because it was ensconced by an ocean. And by a range of mountains on both sides. The Hindu Kush, the Himalayas, maybe it's because of that isolationist aspect that it allowed India to retain its Indianness, if you will. I mean, there was something so special about it. Even Alexander the Great stopped conquering the world when he got there, right? So, when you ask, when I was a child, what memories do I have? They come in flickers, but the feelings are so deep, and every time I think about it, I smile and I can't pick a single thing. I can't I, how do I separate a sound from a smell, from a feeling, from a taste, from a touch? It's who I am and I love it.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:I love this answer. I was expecting, uh, one or two but you've given, you were in fact taken me down, uh, uh, memory lane with so many different, uh, uh, things to think of Yeah. So it is beautiful. Um, I love that response and, um, and I love to see that side of you because, uh, when we hear about you and, uh, this is a side which I don't think, uh, I have seen, uh, in everything that I know about you. So I thank you for that
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:Of course. Thank you for asking.
Track 1:Yeah. So, uh, but your name Burt is not a common name in India. Right.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:it's, I thought it was a very traditional Indian name. Nah.
Track 1:Yeah, it's because now you have tradition you're the of tradition to the Indian tradition to the world now. So, but what is the story behind.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:that, uh, well, uh, okay.
Track 1:Oh, s that.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:That's what it is. On the birth certificate. And I was, uh, the, there was some complications with me being born. So when I was born, my grandfather exclaimed, I had a nickname and my nickname was Sonu, right? So, so Sonu was, wait, don't tell me. Come on. Okay. Nickname. Nickname was Sonu. Sonu. Beta. Beta. So beta, everybody in the family knows me as Sonu, uh, Shar, because my grandfather named me after Buddha. Right? And. I, uh, when we moved here, we moved to Long Island, we moved to Mineola and my mother didn't want me to get made fun of, at that time there weren't a lot of Indian people in my neighborhood, let alone in the school. I think there was one other kid, and if I remember, he was, uh, he was Abraham. Okay. He was from Kerala. I think his name was John Abraham. Uh, if I could be mistaken, but it's been years ago.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:There's a movie star by that. name.
Track 1:John
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:There is, uh, the, the last movie I saw Johnna, Abraham's Inn. He lifted a motorcycle and threw it. unbelievable. So, but anyway it, uh, my mother changed it because like a lot of other people in the dia in the diaspora, I think she, you want your kids to have the best opportunity that you possibly can. And she was always a
Burt Thakur:fan of AlBurt Einstein.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:She thought if she'd
Burt Thakur:made me AlBurt when we moved
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:here, that I would grow up to be smart. Okay. So that's the reason behind it. But when I was, when the Navy, my name was always Thacker, it was the last name, right. Thacker, whatever. I never really associated myself with Everybody had called me Thacker my whole life. Uh, and when the time came for Jeopardy, my favorite SNL episode of all Time McDonald's playing Burt Reynolds on Celebrity Jeopardy. It's a very funny skit. So I did it as a joke. I just said, okay, my name's Burt. Not thinking anybody would be any wiser. Next thing you know, I got on Jeopardy. They
Burt Thakur:accepted as Burt. And I'm
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:thinking, okay, so this is what it is. So
Burt Thakur:now it's Burt, and, and I picked Burt because I always thought Burt Reynolds
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:was one of the coolest guys ever. He was one of the coolest movie stars. I would've picked Amitha, but it would've been, I can't who I, I can't compare myself to the greatest.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:That's a really interesting story.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:so I, in a sense, it's it I was thinking about this the other day. My, my name sort is representative in a lot of ways. Of the identity of the Indian diaspora that moved here to the United States. You came here with an identity, then you had to integrate into a society. At some point, society decided what you were gonna be, and somewhere along the line you had to come out and create an identity for yourself and carve your own niche into this world. And in a lot of ways, my name changing until it became a name that I became comfortable with until it was a name that I liked until it was a name that represented my brand, if you will, is representative of so many people who come here. And like a lot of people who came in the eighties and the nineties, you had one foot in India, you had one foot in the United States, and there was an enormous amount of confusion, if you will, especially amongst the younger people. Am I Indian? Am I American? Where do I stand in this? In this menagerie. Of, uh, of the United States. Because where we come from, think about it. If you know somebody's last name, you virtually know everything about them. Right. If you know the first and last name, Right, You If they're Muslim, if they're from what part of India, they're generally from, if they're South Indian, they're North Indian, you usually can even tell what cast they're in. You can sometimes even decide, okay, they speak this language, they speak that language, immediately it, it's kinda like a military uniform. I always joke about this, like, by looking at a uniform, I instantly know how many years somebody has been in, what their rank is, how much they get paid, what they do, where they're located, if you will, uh, what kind of equipment they work on, and if they've been a good or a bad person. And I can instantly tell by looking at a uniform, right? Well, in the same way in India, you could tell a lot about somebody just by their name. Right. You come here to the United States. You don't know anything. In fact, I remember asking Papa, we were on a 7 47 that was coming in, uh, at, I remember I saw white people for the first time. You Before then I'd only seen on a black and white television, and I remember I saw white people, I saw black people. I'd never seen people who looked different from me. So I said, how do I tell who is an American? Because I wanted to make friends. So, how do I tell who the American is? My grandfather had said, I'll never forget what he said. He said, the Japanese are hardworking. The Germans are punctual, but an American, you can trust them with a handshake. Wow. Think about that. That was the ethos of what this country was Away at the end of the 1980s. That was the level of respect in the world that the United States had. Right? Good luck going anywhere in the world today, and finding that ethos, right? So somewhere along the way. I realized, um, and this leads into me joining the military, I realized I love the United States. I really enjoy this country and I wanted to serve in the military. Part of this was I became very patriotic about the United States. I learned about the history of the United States. I learned about the fact that this is the only place on earth where you could be anyone and you could rise up to be anything. I mean, think about the notion of the United States. If a homeless person went up to Bill Gates and Bill Gates says, lick my shoe, right? That homeless person could swear at him six ways to Sunday, and the homeless person would be edified as being the hero in that story. Anywhere else in the world, that homeless person would get beaten within an inch of his life throwing jail, right? thought that was, that was pretty cool. When I learned about the Constitution of the United States, when I learned about the Declaration of Independence, when I learned about the turbulent history, the intern war that took place in the United States over slavery from 1861 to 1865, where hundreds of thousands of people died in order to flee free black people. When I learned about civil rights, when I learned about the mindset of a can-do attitude that this country produced, and then when I learned, wow, I can be part of this creative thought process that America is, I fell in love with this place. So I joined the Navy, I enlisted a month after my 17th birthday in 2000. I I think part of it, in addition to the patriotism was the, there was a spirit of adventure. You know, It was gonna be cool. I was gonna sail the oceans and be a sailor there was a chance I would be a nuclear reactor operator, and I would be serving on ships with F 14 tomcats and, I'd be part of a military force. I always thought that was cool. And my mother and father were very apprehensive. Somehow I convinced them to sign away because, if you're under 18, you have to get the parents' permission. So I joined a month after my 17th birthday. I graduated when I was 16. I listed in the Navy I did, fairly well on the exams. So I got picked up to be in this, in the nuclear power program. Um, and what I basically did was I gave up my Indian citizenship and I became an American citizen and I got my security clearance and I became a navy nuke. And then, you I was deployed in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and during that time, the day I became an American wasn't when I got my citizenship, it wasn't, when I got the passport and all that, the day I became an American in my eyes was when one morning the ship was, uh, when you're operating the nuclear reactor, you get to see all the crazy bells, and what I mean by that is the ship is going really fast and it's going slow. And we're like, what the heck is going on? Aircraft carriers like to maintain a certain speed because planes are taking off and landing, right? You don't generally slow, slow down, speed up unless there's something strange going on. So next thing they rack me out. I'm sleeping in my bed. So they go to my rack and they're like, exactly, get in the office. I go in the office, I'm thinking, okay, what did I mess up? Is this, the only reason somebody would yell at you to get in the office is, what did I do? Okay. I get in there. Everybody who is in the chain of command is in there. My officers, my, the head of the department, all the, everyone's in there. It's very somber. I'm like, uhoh, I'm in trouble. Well, turned out a ship had been chasing us throughout the entire night, And the story goes, supposedly it's packed full of explosives. So on the aircraft carrier I'm the only one who speaks Hindi, So they need me to go translate. Now think about that. Think about how different America is today than it was back then. Where on a ship of 5,500 people, first of all, the only nuke nuclear reactor operator who's Indian is me.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:me.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:yet on a crew of 5,500 people, I'm the only one they could think of that speaks Hindi, that the intelligence officer knows. That speaks Hindi or Urdu, right? Thing you know I go up on the bridge and the bridge of a United States Navy aircraft carrier during a mission is an awesome site. And it's one of the few times in my life that I've directly seen what power is. Let me explain. When the captain whispers something, Bunch of other people whispers, and then this 1100 foot ship turns,
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:Oh my God.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:It's silent except for one whisper. And it's one of the few instances where I actually saw physically what power was. So the CO is there with the Admiral and all these other people. They're like, Mr. Thacker, do you speak Hindi? We're about to blow the ship out of the water. I immediately go I don't think I speak Hindi that well, sir. Right? But anyway we get up on the microphone. I start talking to these three, three, uh, fishermen. They ended up being. they said they were sick and they'd been chasing us because one of their shipmates was very sick. So next thing you know, the co goes, you ever been on a helo? I say, no, sir. You ever want it to be on them? Absolutely. Air Boss make it so
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:Okay.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:they take me down, they kick me with gear. Next thing I'm on a helicopter. We take off from the aircraft carrier, we fly to the destroyer of the Monterey. We land on the Monterey, it's eight foot seas. I go into the war room. The war room opens up. Next thing you know, this team comes dressed head to toe in black with full beards, CIA operative guys sitting there with a fishing vest and sunglasses. Next thing you know, they start taking off all my name tapes, anything that says US Navy. Then it hits me, oh my God, I'm gonna be going with these people on this ship.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:On the ship, right.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:you kidding me? Okay. And the reason they take anything off is because, hey, we're not supposed to be there. So if something were to happen to me, I wasn't there. If something was to happen to me with the ship, I wasn't there. So there's credible intel that this dow, this sh this fishing boat is full of explosives. So climb down the cargo net. Looks easy in the movies. It's not very easy. It's very scary. Especially, at, and I'll tell you that, uh, I learned very quickly that day that maybe seals had something I didn't have. It's called courage. Because they move, but we get on the rib boat. Next thing you know, we're making our way onto the shipping boat. And the trick is that you have to jump on the boat. You gotta time it with the swells. But they told us, look, there's a high probability that the ship will explode when you get in here. I'll never forget the thought I had. As we got near, I remember I crane my head forward I said, okay, if the ship blows up, at least it'll go through my head quickly. Right? And I won't feel anything, right? So I remember I craned my head, I took a deep breath, nothing happened. And next thing we jumped on the ship and the seals get out, get, or yelling. Cut down. And what I noticed immediately were three people who looked like me, who look like you, who are in a state of Penry that I cannot, I can't begin to describe. I'll never forget that smell. The smell of somebody dying. And they had been chasing us for the most human of things. They'd been chasing us because their friend couldn't lift their head up off the deck and they didn't want their friend to die.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:Today
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:The bravest person I've ever met in my entire life was the captain of that fishing boat who chased down a United States Navy aircraft carrier to save his friend's life.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:could.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:Right? And you know what the seals did? You know what the CIA guy did? You know what the doctor did? They didn't hurt them. They gave them aid, they gave them IVs, they gave them medical treatment, they gave them food, they gave, they clothed them. They gave them safe passage back to harbor. We asked a few questions for sure because we're obviously doing terrorist interdiction and all that, but kindness that was shown by the tip of the tip of the spear. These aren't Salvation Army Santa Clauses collecting money for toys. These are killers at the tip of the tip of the spear. And yet the amount of compassion they showed to three people who nobody would've known any of the wiser was something that took my breath away and the sun was setting and there wasn't a dry eye on that boat. And I remember thinking to myself, my God, this country is good. The United States in the middle of Operation Iraqi Freedom in the middle of flight ops stopped an entire carrier battle group to save three Sikh fishermen. Be an island of mercy in an unforgiving sea. That's the day I became an American.'cause I saw how good we were and how good we could be. And that's part of the reason why I'm running for Congress, That goodness that might, if you will, that strength, that conviction, it comes from compassion. The only way you can be truly the most dangerous army in the world is if you have the largest heart and can show the most restrain and compassion people will follow you to the end of the earth For that, I don't know what we were talking about before, but I think it bears it. It bears a very important lesson in life that at the end of the day, we lead in existence where we have a finite amount of time in this world. We're born. We live a life, we have a history inside of our world where we think, and rightfully so, that the world around us is the most important thing. And then our time is gone. And somewhere along the way there's a realization that we are aware of everyone else's mortality except our own. Everyone So when I pass, I can't take any of this with me. All I can do is leave this place a little bit better than I found it. All I can do is try to be like that pilot, like that captain of that boat who faced death in the face to make sure his friend didn't die. That's a pretty cool guy. And if anything, the United States to act in kind with mercy, that's something that is beyond worth protecting. That is worth preserving. Enhancing and making sure that it's becomes the best version of itself.
Track 1:absolutely
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:That's an incredible story.
Track 1:Yeah, it's incredible.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:But I think, um, you touched upon, uh, how Shar became Bert and also the Roka K aspect, right? I mean, uh, somebody joining the Navy, um, and not just the Navy, right? So yeah, somebody joined the Navy. Great. But you are going on to work on a nuclear, uh, power reactor. That's a completely different league altogether, right? And then you find yourself in a situation where, uh, I would say you were, you acted like, uh, your original name, like Shar, like, just like what Buddha would do and not just you, but you were also able to get, uh, everybody, uh, to understand, uh, the that's the word that you used. Uh, that was there, which kind of brought up the human Uh, side of, uh, this beautiful country that we live in. So, again I would say there are so many layers in that story. Um, it is difficult for me to process all of that right now. I'm gonna go back and play back and listen to it once again because I. There was suspense, there was a lot of different emotions that I can tell you that I was also going through when I was listening to those words. So thank you again for sharing that. And, um, I think there's one other aspect of you, which is, uh, when 14 million people saw you, uh, and in that final episode with, uh, Alex Trebek on Jeopardy, right. Uh, if I'm I think the number must be higher, 14 million is what is being published, but I'm sure that number is much higher because, uh, since then, even a lot of people have seen that episode. Uh, and, uh, I just wanted to understand how was your interaction with, uh, Alex Rebek, uh, how did that change your perspective on both life and success? Because I I think everybody in America knew you after that episode, so how did you feel about it and how did that change you?
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:I had a. An experience that is very unique. There's no, uh, parallels in a sense to what I experienced. There's no, well, this happened to somebody else and this is the way you should handle yourself. This is the way you should feel. And what made that moment special to me was Papa was my grandfather. So Papa was my favorite person who ever lived. My, my wife, it's a very close second, but he was, Papa was my heart. He was my strength. He was the person who believed in me more than anything else. I remember there was a th there, there was a famous story that he, uh. Showed up. He would always be very punctual. That was his thing. He was punctual. Mitch Rigie would show up, he would be punctual, and every day on the dot, he would be there at eight 30, not eight 30, in 10 seconds, he would be there exactly as the clock. The second would hit eight 30. He would walk into the office every single day without fail. One day, uh, after he came back from lunch, he noticed all the clocks were wrong. Okay. And so what happened was that he had showed up at 8 35 and everybody in the office assumed all the clocks were wrong. So they had changed the clocks by five minutes. Okay. When he moved to the United States with us, when I was, he would come and stay with us for six months at a time to help because I was his beta, there was a kid who got trapped in the, there was a park that we would go to and there was a reservoir with a fence and the kid was trying to get his ball and he cut himself very badly and he was trapped and he couldn't get out. Papa jumped in there, held the kid up, ran, took him back. I saw papa once, stare down a bull elephant in must as it was charging us. And he stood, me, made us all sit in the Jeep, we're cowering in the Jeep. And he stood as the elephant mock charged time and time again and held his ground. And he didn't move, he was just one of those very special people. And I don't care if he was special to other people, he was special to me. Right. So when he died, it ripped out a piece of me that I can't begin to tell you. The ache, the hurt, the feeling of betrayal, the feeling of loss, the feeling of. Pain because I would never get to see him again. I would never get to share my life with him. I wouldn't get to see him grow old. I wouldn't get to show him my new things in life, loves, my fears. He was gone. So the sunlight in my world set and for a long time, I ran away from that pain for a long time. I tried to fill it. So I used to sit on my on Papa's knee when we moved here to the United States, and then we'd watch Jeopardy time and time again. That's why I don't speak with an accent. I would copy Alex Trebek. I learned a lot about Americana by watching Jeopardy, and I would copy Alex Trebek to get not only rid of my accent, but also to learn English.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:learning.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:And Papa would always tell me, you're going to, you're gonna get on that show one day when you get on that show. Make sure you thank that, man. So I would joke around, I would joke around. And when the testing came for Jeopardy I called my friend Elaine. It's like, Hey, you think I should take the online test for Jeopardy? Okay. So I did it and I sent, I clicked send, and then I called Elaine back. I said, Hey, wouldn't it be interesting or just weird if this ended up being his last episode? My God, how weird would that be? Right? So fast forward, I do the episode, and when Alex asked me if anybody at home is watching, I had it all planned out. I was gonna say yes. It's my, my mother, my sister, my everyone's rooting me, all my friend, ugh. And for some reason, I don't, I can't even tell you why. I just remember sitting on Papa's knee and I started telling the story, and then it hit me. Papa had never left me. Papa had been there the whole time. And the thing about love is there's a poem by Khalil Gibran. It's on Love. And it says, it says on love, love is the dough that God needs to make his bread. Love is something that causes you to have all of your laughter and cry, all of your tears. And when you have love. God's not in your heart. You are in the heart of God. So for me, that moment was a confluence of fate, of God, of love. But more importantly for me, it showed me that people like seasons come and go. But the impact, the love, that's what remains. And what it taught me was that we spend a lifetime building up walls all around us to protect our light, if you will, brick by brick. But the reality is it takes nothing to, over and light somebody else's wick. It does nothing. Your light doesn't extinguish. In fact, it propagates out into the universe. I. And strong gust of wind may come and blow your light out, whatever. And if you're lucky, somebody might, reach over and try to light up that wick again. But even if it doesn't, your light has emanated into the universe radiance has spread. And once it's there, it never goes away. I connected with a lot of people during that time, and a lot of people wrote tales of love, forgiveness. It came right after arguably the most contentious election, not just in the United States, arguably in the entire world, a 2020 election. Joe Biden, Donald Trump, I mean, everyone is still feeling its reverberations across the entire world. And that story catapulted to number one on Twitter, and it was the number one search term on Google News in the United States following the week of that election. And the messages I got were. I forgive my neighbor for voting Democrat. I forgive my brother for voting for Trump. I forgive. I love my family. And I think what that experience taught me is as opposed to worrying about what life is supposed to be as opposed to worrying what we should be doing in life, I was reminded of the fact because I had to deal with two people's deaths, suddenly one that was very close to me and one who had come into my living room every night for the better part of 20, 30 years that I, had imagined this person to be. And guess what? This person was that? Very much so. Alex Trek was very much the person I imagined him to be, and I was confronted with his death, uh, every single. Day for a period of days because people ask me to relive that moment and relive the issues that came about. And what I realized is that we spend 60% of our life living somebody else's dreams. 60% of our life. All we have is this one life. And so why not start to live our own frames? Why not start to realize that we have as much of a right to this life? And to quote William Earnst intensely, we are the captains of our own ship. We are the masters of our own fate, right?
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:Okay.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:Why not? Why not? Why not get busy living? Why not realize that we are a combination of so many people who fought and died or were killed or lived? They loved, they feasted, they cheated, they stole. They. Millennia and millennia of people, of our ancestors did that not only to themselves, but to each other and we're a combination of so much of that, and we have this chance right now to make sure their sacrifices and their gifts and their lights and their darkness was not in vain. So why not live? So that's what I learned from that experience.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:It is, um, it is very interesting because I think a lot of us, uh, when we look back at that episode, uh, we're only looking at the success and the fame. Uh, but there was this other angle, uh, which was, uh, more emotional, uh, to you and all. There, there was also joy, uh, because it was, uh, what I would say, uh, your papa's dream, right? Uh, and, uh, maybe the blessings for you to be on that show one day. Um, so I think somehow these stars aligned and made sure that you were there, uh, and you were able to express that, uh, in front of Alex, right? So I think even when Alex would go back home that night, uh, he would've also felt special and fulfilled for all those years of service that he, uh, gave to that show. So I, I just think that it was meant to happen. And, um, it was so beautiful to hear about the other side of, uh, how you, uh, evolved after that episode. So thank you again for sharing that.
Track 1:And me also, it was very thought provoking, very emotional last, uh, statements, what you made. And actually very inspiring for whoever is, I mean, uh, it provokes and you know about life when you said about life that uh, it's only a short life and 60% of the times people, I mean, it's influence of others, what we are dreaming and what we are doing. So yes, I mean, everybody knows that. But what happens is we keep on doing it because of the grind of the life. We don't take time out and think about all this. So this was quite thought provoking, at least for me, myself, and, uh, so, but I had another question. Like, uh, no, you have your roots in India. Okay, so. At the moment right now, how do you perceive the evolution of, uh, India's global presence and, uh, its diaspora influence worldwide?
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:I think this is a very tenuous time. Let me explain what I mean by it. Since, uh, since Modi took over, uh, I remember, I don't know, 20 13, 20 14, I think there was a push, if you will, for a 4% per annum growth rate. Was Modi's dream. At that time, everybody laughed, everybody said, oh, 4% is insane. How are you gonna do it? India barely has a, GDP that allows it to, we're talking first world statistics, India is second world, et cetera, right? Okay. You have these big plans. You're, how are you even gonna, uh, fix the energy grid of India? How are you gonna deal with population growth? How are you gonna deal with feeding the masses? And Modi, I think, took some very controversial steps. Okay? So first and foremost, getting rid of the underground currency, if you will, Right. The 500 rupe notes, right? For good and for bad doesn't matter. But like, regardless of how you do it, there were major social upheavals, if you will. Then
Track 1:were, I was not happy. I was not happy. at
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:that's right, that's right. That's, like I said, the for good or for bad, there were major upheavals with that. Right? Then you're coming down to naming the names of the cities Their pre-European colonization names with Hindu bent. Right.
Track 1:Correct.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:Then you're going to this concept that, okay, now we're gonna have a space program out of the blue. Right. And I'm not saying India didn't have an advanced space program, but it was more so like, I can't even compare it to the Japanese space program, but it was it was, uh, it was something where it, India was always piggybacking off the infrastructure of other nations. Okay. Whether it was, Uh, the Soyuz, the Russian infrastructure or what have you, India had some, but not nowhere near the astonishing ability to land a rover on the south pole of the moon. Okay? That is next level. Okay?
Track 1:right. Right.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:Then you're talking about physics, then you're talking about the education system. Then you're talking about research, then you're talking about banking. Then you're talking about, how do you become a major player in bricks? That, all of these things are not exactly small metrics. These take decades. If you take a look at what China did, it took China almost, well, let's see, 1972. It took a, it took them almost 50 years. Uh, and the reason, the reason I'm using that number is because in 1972, China Through, through Den Jing and, and bushes and all that, and opened up this, worldview, this, and even if you were to take a look at China, let's say post 1990, post Clinton, where China and the U-S-A-G-D-P started to trend, it still took over 20 years for China to become this absolute juggernaut. I would argue that India was in a state that China was in the mid nineties, at the beginning of 2010. Okay? If you and the reason why I go with that metric is you have a couple large conglomerates. You have ban, you have Tara, you have, a few telecom companies here and there, but overall not exactly a global player. of a sudden, Modi comes along and the only way a nation can start harnessing it's true potential. By realizing that the most valuable asset it has is human capital, period. I would argue that is the reason why the United States had such a boom post-World War ii, because it invested so heavily inside of the growth and created a sense of nationalistic pride, the likes of which had never been seen. I would argue that is the same thing that happened with the ccp I'd argue the same thing happened in post Weimar Germany, In India's role, what India managed to do without going full totalitarian, without having this sense of uh, um, the, there's a difference between jingoism and nationalism. There, there's a difference between a, an arrogant pride
Track 1:Right?
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:proud of what you are building. Okay.
Track 1:Yep.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:The Indian people right now. Have a In this world, the likes of which has never been seen. And I think lover hate Modi, he has masterfully, uh, navigated the myriad complexities of the world. Let's not forget when Modi invited Xi Jinping and they had the sit down, the beautiful photo op moment where they're sitting down and Xi Jinping is telling this wonderful story, oh, my ancestors came here. And when that you remember that. And then,
Track 1:Yeah.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:and then severely undercut India's role and then started attacking the forces in Laak. And everyone started laughing at Modi. But you take a look at what Modi did this last year with the G 20 summit, you And managed to show up. And every single European power, including the United States and Biden administration has been notoriously unfriendly to Modi for the last couple years. But even. They decided that Modi is okay, this is a real player. You can't have bricks now without India. India launched 200 satellites for$80 million. These are not insignificant forces. So when I said what is tenuous about the growth of India, there's a lot of people in Europe who are not liking what's happening with India. There are a lot of people in China who are not liking what's happening with India. Klaus Schwab, I believe, uh, got up and said that Modi is arguably one of the most dangerous, Modi has to be stopped. I think that there is a wave of populism that needs to be, that needs to be nurtured. Okay? A flame. Ha. Have you guys ever started a fire? Like, have you ever gone camping and started a fire on your own?
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:Yes.
Track 1:Yep.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:Okay, so, so, after you get that little tiny ember,
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:Mm-Hmm.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:You have to nestle that ember, right? You can't just blow on and vigorously it'll go away. to, you have to put it in kindling. You have to make sure that you create a home and then you have to blow on that kindling so the fire erupts. If you mess that up, you lose the fire.
Track 1:Yes.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:Right Now, India's in the stage where it is in that kindling, and the people of India, citizens of India must protect India make sure That flame starts to rise, and I think it is incumbent upon the West. It is incumbent upon people like me when we do get into office to ensure there's an absolute ironclad partnership between the United States and India. The only thing stopping the One Belt One Road initiative of the CCP is going to be this union, because make no mistake about it. The CCP is building a new Silk Road. India stands in the way. Israel stands in the way. There's certain African countries that stand in the way Europe has fallen. Let's just face it. And the United States needs to create that partnership and this trapezoidal defense that we're seeing in the South Pacific and in the Indian Ocean, it can only work so far. But if the Chinese are building bases like a string of pearls, you saw what happened at the end of Mount Islands. You're seeing what's happening in the Maldives. You're seeing what's happening over in Pakistan.
Track 1:Yep.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:seeing what's happening in the Gulf States. Qatar, for example, Qatar just uh, uh, said it was going to execute the eight Indian Do you guys know about this?
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:yes.
Track 1:Yep. Yep.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:I mean, think about it. The population of Qatar is 25% Indian. One out of every four people in Qatar
Track 1:Yeah.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:right? I would argue that the largest, one of the largest trade partners for Qatar is India, whether it's in the Capital or just in tax expenditures alone. And yet, because of India's support of Israel, there's this reticence, and they're not even saying that these guys were spies or anything, but to publicly come out and say, it's one thing to do it in secret. But to me I notice things whenever people are a, are unafraid of publicly declaring something, that's when trouble happens. So when you asked what is my opinion about India in this emerging world, I think there is an enormous potential for arguably freedom, a hybrid of Eastern and western civilization, to And form this global identity, if you will, through a partnership between India and the United States. India now is the fourth largest economy in the entire world. And I That a partnership between the United States and India and Israel would create an alternative to bricks. And that currency, uh, uh, restructuring and bo and Buttressing Basically act as shock absorbers to anything in the market. And if you could create a platform where manufacturing, engineering, and trade starts appearing between these three nations, it could replace the dominance of the Chinese manufacturing and marketplace in the entire world. And I think this partnership needs to spread to, uh, emerging markets, not only in Africa, but also as alternatives, uh, into emerging governments in the Middle East, let's just call it for what it is. And I, I think the next issue is of the only ways that India's going to be able to survive, though. As if it gets fresh water So fresh water is going to be massive, uh, issue, uh, especially now that India, I think is, it's already hit 1.4 billion people. It's the most populous now as of April last year. Right. So when you have the CCP effectively controlling the Tibetan now Plano and the Himalayas and all the snow melt that comes off the Himalayas, that's a massive amount of water that India cannot use. So we either have to figure out ways to renegotiate or, put pressure on them to either share the water or figure something out. To invest heavily in desalination plants, offshore desalination plants so you can provide water to the farmers. I think that one of the, one of the key takeaways that I'm trying to, think about in terms of app Parallel Lover hate Moy, he's done a lot for India. Okay. I don't think there's any disagreement on that, but who's gonna replace him? That's where, that's right. And so is it going to be Gandhi? Right? Because that prospect in of itself is, carries a whole lot of worry for a lot of people. It carries some hope for a lot of other people. But at the end of the day, what I care about is ideology aside. You have to, I'm very deliverables based. Ideology aside. Let's take a look at the amount of progress that's been done. Okay. And so If we're gonna be taking three steps backwards To consistently live in the past and right the wrongs of X, Y, and Z, well, okay, then we've learned nothing from being colonized by Europeans. Uh, I mean, in that mindset, okay? And so This notion of victimhood, this notion of, uh, that we can't do this and we need to be subservient and this and that. This is a mindset, and I say it here in the United States, this is the mindset that the left, that the current iteration of the Democratic Party uses, where it wants to engender people to be victims. If you're looking at everything through the lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion, as opposed to a true merit based system, right? You're gonna go nowhere. I mean, at the end of the day, one of the craziest statistics in the United States, we are number 24th, 36th and 38th when it comes to literacy, mathematics, and the sciences. You know who, number one is Shanghai. When the average high schooler can't tell you what the integral of X square DX is, integral of X squared with respect to x. I mean, that's easy, right? You should be able to immediately, or even understand what an integral is or a derivative is. These aren't racist things. I I put that tweet out. There was a whole subset of people who called me racist, and every name under the sun. For saying, oh, I've never used calculus. I've never used math. Well, shame on you. Okay. I'm sorry that you are, that. At least go understand to see how beautiful the concept of an integral is. How beautiful the concept of a derivative is. Do it just out of curiosity that there's nothing racist about it. Right? But that infection is taking over India as well. If you look at the major newspapers in India, every single virtually major newspaper or the recent Supreme Court rulings are framed with the lens of, well, you can call it racism, you can call it casteism, but the this almost in a colonialistic sense of righting the wrong, as opposed to figuring out that they're more concerned with the morality of the issue than debating the efficacy of the solution. And so when you're stuck in the philosophical gamble of the morality of an issue, everything withers on the vine. That is why I'm saying. India is in a very precipitous place right now. It is right on the cusp. And let's not forget, the devil never comes for you when you're at your lowest. The devil comes for you when you're at your peak, right?
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:That's an excellent, uh, answer Burt and. You also mentioned about, um, the literacy that is, uh, in America, right? Especially in the stem. Uh, so there's science, technology, math, um, and I feel a lot of Indian immigrants, especially, the children of Indian immigrants are really excelling in these areas, right. Or in these disciplines because they're also learning from their parents who have had to study, uh, stem and, struggle and finally make their way over here on H one B visas. So what do you think are the biggest challenges and opportunities for these Indian immigrants, uh, here today who are also struggling to become, uh, permanent residents or citizens?
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:It, it never shocks me. Whenever I speak in front of a crowd and I was speaking in front of a thousand people day before yesterday and ask them, do you know how long the wait time is for an East Indian has been here legally on an H 1D Visa to get their green card? And somebody, every now and then I'll get the most egregious answer, which is 20 years. Every now and then. Every once in a while. Usually most people say two to five years. Somewhere in there the collective gasps. When I say between 150 to 200 years and the look of anger and disgust on everyone's face is justified because the fact of the matter is right now, it is easier, I would say, for somebody to cross the border illegally and get asylum in the United States than to go through the legal channels. That's the fact of the matter what the Biden administration has done, and there is no sugarcoating this, it is this administration period, every administration added to it in some way, shape, or form. But what this administration has done in particular has been one of the biggest human it has been. It this is a human crisis on a scale of the likes of which has never been seen. So on January of this past year, Joe Biden signed an agreement. I. With Justin Trudeau and Louise Obrador of Mexico. It was a declaration, but in reality it's a treaty because it builds upon many other agreements, and it's called the Declaration of North America. And what it says in this treaty, if you will, the declaration is that migrants who are coming here across the border illegally, they're coming here because they're in search of work and building upon the Los Angeles agreement, which was signed last two years ago in June and building off of UN Agenda 2030. These migrants have been displaced because of climate change and therefore, our ass who are seeking work and they deserve to cross the border freely. They deserve housing. They deserve food. They deserve respect. They deserve this. They deserve free travel. They deserve to travel freely across all three borders because they are migrants. Who are seeking work. I have made this argument time and time again. Immigration is different from asylum, and immigration is different from invasion. The majority of these people who are coming across the border are military aged men who are not fleeing war torn areas. Okay. If you're 22 years old and you're coming from Tunis in Tunisia, and when they're interviewing you and you're like, well, I play video games in Tunisia. What about your parents? Oh, they're fine. I'm sure they're gonna miss me. What do you plan on doing? I plan on being an Uber driver in New York and starting my own Twitch channel. Okay. If you're making$15 a day on a farm in Mexico and you come here to the United States to make$15 an hour, that's not asylum. That's immigration. A top level engineer in India makes$25,000 a year converted with rupees to the United States. Right. And you come here and you make$250,000. That's not asylum. That is immigration. And when you have translators in Afghanistan who fought with special forces and translated for special forces, and now their lives are in danger because the TAL leaves are going around systematically killing them and imprisoning them, and they cannot get visas to come here to the United States because of the state department's incompetence. But somebody who crossed over the Rio Grande with kids in tow seeking a better life gets asylum before then. The system is not just broken, it is abominable. So one of the things that I want to do is I want every year for there to be a six month moratorium on all immigration. And let me tell you why. Doesn't matter if you're from Sudan to Syria to whatever. The backlog right now for H one B visas is being caused because 50,000 H one B visas, H four B visas, et cetera, are being given per month. But because of the country cap and this, fuck this lottery nonsense that we're having, only 7,000 are being processed every single month. So that's what, 84,000 a year? Well, let's do some simple math, but if you're giving 50,000 a month, but you're only processing 84, but you have 600,000, so the backlog each year grows by effectively 420,000 per year. Per year. And now you have a backlog of almost 2 million people and it's gonna take 150 years to get to them. How is that fair? So one of the things I'm proposing is day one to issue a bill to have a six month moratorium. Okay, let's fix this problem. Let's it, to me it's unfair. I had a young man come up to me, his name is Vijay. He's been here, he's now 18. He's gotta register every single, three years in order to keep his H four Alive. You know how much it costs for his community college Over$50,000 a year just to go to community college. If you go I challenge you. Go on MIT's website right now. If go on MIT's website, you know what it says. If you are DACA or you are an illegal immigrant, your education is free. So why is it that if you're coming here, if you're an illegal immigrant, you're daca, you're this, you're that. You can get Border Governor's waivers, your highest your community college. The highest it'll be is the in-state to highest in-state tuition. But you'll get a border Governor's waivers. You'll get this, you'll get that. Your college, your ed, your basic education is free.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:Correct.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:So why is that not the same? And I'm tired of the racism that's being shown to the Indian community. One of the big reasons why I'm running is. The single largest, you probably saw this in my Vivek Ram Swami video, but the single largest ethnic donor group to the Democratic Party is the East Indian community in the United States. We are less than 6 million people across the entire United States. That's arguably one of the 1.5, 1.6% of the entire United States, yet we contribute$150 billion a year in taxes, and we were the single largest ethnic donor group once again to Joe Biden. And one night through small dollar donations, we contributed over$10 million to Joe Biden's campaign. That is unheard of in political history. And yet, what do we get for in return, 150 year wait times we're treated through arguably the American caste system through racism when it comes to getting into Ivy Leagues, right? There's affirmative action where the bottom of the list. Through the lens of diversity, equity, inclusion. You saw the CEO of FedEx. Shame on him. He's Indian, but he said that if you're Indian, your diversity quota puts you at the bottom of the list. You are the first to be fired. Shame on him when it comes to the border, when it comes to immigration, when it comes to the caste system, why is the caste system an issue? You've lived here in the United States. Have you ever heard of anybody applying the metric of the caste system in your entire life since you have been here? I'll tell you I'll skip the answer for you. The answer is no. Okay. Never once have I heard anyone care about whether I was Brahman, somebody's ria, some, never once. Okay. And yet you have these radical assemblies trying to pass this bill in California that makes the caste system illegal, which is an attack on Hindu phobia. You have people in Rutgers University who are white professors. Right who you know in, in my opinion, I'm like, okay, cool. Just because you did a yoga class with somebody in Malibu and now you have a guru, and now you're given a name that is longer and more complicated than any Sanskrit name that I've ever heard in history. And now you're a self-professed expert in Hinduism, and now you're saying in teaching that, or is the founder of modern India and the uniter of India, you are the definition of crazy. And so this is the, and but see, in our community, no, nobody gets up. Nobody ever says anything about it. Because you take a look at what happened in New Jersey. You have areas which are predominantly Indian, but you have Indian candidates who can't get Indians to come out to vote for them. We still want to show up in droves when it comes to a photo op with somebody white when it comes to somebody else in power. But when it comes to one of us, oh no. We won't donate to a political campaign. We won't do. Okay, fine. That's why we always get smacked with the Donda. And so when I said this before, and I mean this sincere, sincerely, and this is an inflammatory statement, I don't care because nobody's gonna whitewash our history. We have so many jawar als in our community, so many, but how many Shabash Chandra BSS do we have? How many freedom fighters do we have? How many people are gonna, will are willing to stand up and fight for a basic rights? How many people are willing to say, look no more? Because it's one thing. The worst thing that colonialism can do in my opinion, is it's one thing to assimilate, but it's another thing to dissolve. We cannot ever forget the blood that flows in us, the culture that we have. I'm fiercely proud of my Indian roots, but I believe in American growth. I. Until we realize we have so much to offer this country, until we realize that the concepts that we are bringing, not only a family of kindness, of compassion, education, respect for our elders, a civility a feeling of beneficence for the common good. These are all things that America deserves to have. And quite frankly, I'll argue this, that we have more in common with conservatives in the Republican Party than we do the other side at this point. Because to what this party, the one that I belong to believes in is God, family, small government, individual rights,
Burt Thakur:constitutional liBurties, freedom
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:and freedom of speech. Okay?
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:Excellent. I think I I wanted to ask you, what are the core values that you aim to bring to the table? You actually answered that question. Uh, that is what I was thinking of. So this is brilliant. Uh, but you also mentioned, uh, wewe, uh, Rammi. Right. Uh, and, uh, he's also, uh, gathering a lot of attention for everything that he's saying, and he, uh, also standing up for, so what are your thoughts about we.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:Vi Ram Swami managed to do something which no other Indian managed to do in American politics, which is normalized being an Indian. He is fiercely proud, like I said, of his Indian roots, but he is viciously American and he is undeniably conservative, and what he's proposing is something so fresh because it's all about deliverables, right? There's no time for games, there's no time for woke him. The and let me define what woke ism is to me. Woke ism is a belief that everything is caused due to systemic issues, systemic racism, the strain of, uh, racism and color theory and critical race theory applies and it's, um, injected itself into the very rubric of everything. So therefore, we need to reject tradition. It's a fancy way. It's a, it's Marxism with a lot of extra steps, which basically says that we should not work, we should not be based off of merit. Other people should do the work for us. How are we gonna get other people to do the work? Well, we don't know, but we'll figure it out as we get there. By the way, let's destroy the United States that's ultimately the end goal of esm. Okay. Vivek rejects that. Also, another thing that I think that Vivek was, should be very commended for, is. Unlike the other Yahoos running in the race, he never made fun of Trump. He like Trump, the other people, whether you love hate Trump or you're irrelevant about him, no denying this, in my opinion, whether it's by appointments, whether it's by thought, whatever the case is, our country was significantly better under President Donald Trump. The dollar was performing very well. I mean, heck, you had peace in the Middle East. You had Israeli airlines l al flying over Egypt for the first time in history. You had North Korea coming, you had Kim Jong-un coming out of the hermit kingdom, uh, shaking hands with the president of the United States officially ending the Korean War. You had Soleimani who was blown to Smither Reeds of the Middle East, and arguably, in my opinion, the greatest press conference in history. When Obama killed Bin La leaders and gentlemen, uh, OSS Bin Laden has been killed in action when Trump came out and said. He died like a dog. Right? To me, it's still one of the greatest. It's funny, but at, to me there, there was a certain, there was a certain, there was a certain force that was starting again in revitalizing America. This notion, okay, we can be great. We had a couple hiccups. Let's get the, engine rolling. Let's start moving. Let's start get. Vivek to me, represents that, that movement with refinement. He's articulate, he's young, he's got a beautiful family, and he is not saying anything that's false. He's keenly aware of the dangers that China is bringing into the country. He's keenly aware of our energy crisis needs, and also to me, what he's done as an Indian I've been saying this for a while. We can have one side of the political party all day, but unless we have representatives on both sides, nobody's gonna take us seriously. Conservatism frankly, is I think, appropriate for our time in the world. We need to have a bit of a reset. We need to go back to family values. We need to go back to a merit-based system. We need to go back to engineering. We need to go back to building and back to creating. And I think we need to have a smaller federal government with oversight. We, what with Vivek is talking about is we have government agencies in the United States that wield an enormous amount of power, and Vivek is one of the few people who's calling them out. And the other thing about Vivek is. There's a very famous person named Do Donna Braze. She was the Democratic strategist. Okay. She was a very powerful person in the Democratic Party and she appeared on a very famous show on the Bill Marsh Show. And so when she got on that show, she purposely made fun of EV's name. Not only did she mispronounce it a whole bunch of Diva Vivic, AMI, what's his last name? So when you asked why
Burt Thakur:is my name Burt, it brought
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:me back to that moment because she did to a presidential candidate who's arguably one of the most well-known faces, and she definitely knows his name. She made fun of him on national television with his name to his grill. That's something any, every one of us who grew up in the United States in the nineties with a funny sounding name from India had to deal with, even Vivek had to deal with that, and he handled it with Grace. But it just goes to show you he didn't. Kowtow away from it. That's the kind of opposition I see. One of the brightest political lights, especially in the Republican party. Uh, and hopefully the future of the United States will debate. I want, man I would love nothing more than for Trump to pick him as his vice president. I think that would be one of the, that would be, I, if I could have a political dream for the president and the vice president, that would be my ticket.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:Excellent.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:I want Vivek to be president in 2028. That's what I want. I.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:That, that would definitely be interesting. Thank you so much, Burt. I think, um, uh, we are all looking forward to how the, uh, next direction shapes up. So, uh, it is gonna be an interesting journey, uh, definitely even for uh, because, uh, yes he's, uh, he is, uh, he's fighting a lot of, uh, perceptions, uh, but he's doing it gracefully. So, uh, we really appreciate that.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:look, let me explain something. They came from nowhere. Came from left field. I remember when I first started campaigning at the beginning of last year, somebody sent me his video, but no one had heard about him, right?
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:Good.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:And they were like, you know what? You were, remind me of him. Have you looked into getting in touch with him? Et cetera, et cetera. He, the reason why he's resonated with people is probably the reason why I'm resonating with some of the constituents in my, large number of the constituents is because. John F. Kennedy had a really good line. He said Mothers want their favorite sons to grow up to be politicians. They just don't want them to grow up and become them. There's something refreshing about someone who's not a politician. I'm not a politician. I'm a troubleshooter. I work in engineering, I work in construction. I have a life. Part of the reason why I'm doing this is because I see a tremendous need for somebody like me in government who has compassion, who has ideas and wants to drive, move the needle. Because I I see I see a very big problem right now, at least in the United States, and maybe you guys are sensing this, uh, in other parts of the world, but I see a deficit of inertia. Maybe covid caused it, maybe being isolated from other people, causes maybe the. The hustle and bustle of us emerging back into contact with other people after years of isolated. But there is a definite deficit in self-starting in hope, in, in, in reverse engineering the future, if you will. So what Vivek represents on a national level, the difference I would say ultimately between a federal candidate for, so, a person running for Congress or a person running for governor or for, uh, the president is the ability to have hope for something bigger. Maybe I sound a little different because for me, philosophy and religion and spirituality and God and family, and, life has played so much of a part of this. But fundamentally, it's refreshing to see somebody who's running for the president of the United States to quote Rudyard Kipling. Being able to walk with kings nor lose the common touch. And I'm so excited to see what he's gonna do, man. Like, yeah. I, when he comes out to Dallas, I'm, uh, I'm definitely gonna try to meet him and hopefully we get to shake hands and laugh a little bit.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:that will definitely be fun. Thank you. And Let's move on to some lighter topics. Uh, we have a few rapid fire questions for you. Um, oh, and let's go for that now.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:You guys rock and roll. Ask away.
Track 1:Yeah, you starting Amit?
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:Go ahead, Ron. Okay,
Track 1:Okay. Okay. So, but, uh, six questions in all. Nothing much. So it's, yeah. Uh, nothing very serious. What Bollywood movie can you watch over and over again?
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:I did not expect that one. I did not expect that one.
Track 1:He comes from that time in India. So I understand Okay, the second one is a fun fact, uh, about you that, uh, not many people know about.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:Fun fact about me. Uh, let me see. Love cooking. I play the guitar. I sing karaoke very well. Uh, fun fact about me, uh, you probably don't know. I did a lot of movies. Uh, I'll text you the photo, uh, with Chara Khan when I was in, my name is Khan. Okay. So, uh, hopefully you guys can spot me. If you
Track 1:We would actually like to put that on the show. So
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:Okay? Okay. I'll text it to you,
Track 1:Yeah. So if there is only one Indian dish that you have to eat for whole of your life, what would that be?
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:Okay. It's not an Indian dish, it's a British dish. But, okay. Yes, chicken ticket masala, but butter. But butter chicken, but specifically the butter chicken that I used to get at that hotel, that it's a very specific flavor. The chicken mach and also so paneer, I mean, I like pane is so paneer and, uh, My grandmother's cooking, anything my grandmother made, I would eat.
Track 1:Great. Great. What is your go-to activity when you need to unwind?
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:I enjoy, uh, lifting weights. So I, uh, I used to box for years. Uh, but now I, uh, my, my biggest stress reliever is an exercise called the Deadlift. So I deadlift my record, uh, so far is trying to go up, but 405 pounds is my deadlift record. So far. And then I like bench press. I like dead lifts and I like squats and, I like to
Track 1:a healthy,
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:Yeah.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:I I wouldn't say healthy, but I like lifting heavy things off the ground. That's I, stress
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:and I've seen those
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:I, the other, huh.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:I've seen those shoulders, so I know. Yes.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:But I also enjoy, uh, meditating. So, uh, my, my other thing to do is, uh, before I, uh, I go to sleep, I always, uh, I always meditate.
Track 1:That's great.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:so nowadays I like to go inward,
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:Nice.
Track 1:So which book has a lasting, has left a lasting impact on your life and the reason behind it?
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:uh, many books. Um,
Track 1:Any specific one which you can highlight
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:yes. Oh no. I mean, I'm a voracious reader, but, okay, so from a religious standpoint, obviously the Gita. Um, and the Bible. Uh, I think both of those have had a profound impact, uh, in my life. Um, I would say another book would be, um, I like, um, there, there's a book, there's a book called Chra, uh, by
Burt Thakur:Gregory David RoBurts. Okay. But
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:he had a it's arguably the most beautiful description of India I have ever read. And it was written by a guy from New Zealand and It had a line in there that said The world is run. Uh, I could be wrong about the numbers, but, uh, it said the world is run by a million evil men, 10 million stupid men, and a hundred million cowards. And I always thought that was a very accurate line. It's on the first page and it made a very big impact. Another book that made a very big impact on me is The Little Princes, uh, by Wan de Exer. Um, I just love that book. And, uh, the Da Ching by Lasu, uh, had a line in there, which I really like. It said that what is a, uh, what is a good man, but a bad man's teacher? What is a bad man, but a good man's job? And I realized from reading that it's my duty to work on myself every day to be a better man tomorrow than I am today. So, Very big impact. I also like, uh, a lot of the Farside books by Gary Larsson, they make me laugh and asterisk sin obelisk. That used to be my guilty pleasure when I was a kid.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:I will take the last one,
Track 1:Last one.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:I'll take
Track 1:Uh, you take a.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:although I know the answer and uh, but I'm still gonna ask you this, who's that one person that you look up to for inspiration and guidance?
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:Uh, papa,
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:I.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:but, uh, also, um, my wife, my mother, I have many teachers around me. Uh, my sister, I love my family, but I think, uh, I think one of the most humbling ex lessons that I've learned in life is there's something to learn from everyone, whether it's the homeless person down the street to the wealthiest person, most successful person you could think of and I know this sounds kind of trite, at the end of the day, everyone's just having a human experience. And so. There, there's something to be learned about life from everyone. It's true.
Track 1:Yeah. But there it is. It is.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:Thank you so much for this, Burt. Um, as we bring our time together to a close, I I just wanted to thank you, uh, on behalf of my entire team and the listeners of our, uh, the Indian Community Podcast. Uh, it's a sincere and heartfelt thank you for you joining us today. You've reminded us of the power of our dreams and the impact one individual can make to the entire society. Um, so again, on behalf of the Indian community, thank you. Thank you for your service, uh, the courage that you're, uh, you're demonstrating and the commitment to make this difference. Uh, we are all richer for having heard your story, um, and everybody who has influenced your life. So we carry forward these lessons and the spirit that you've shared with us. So thank you once again on behalf of the Indian community. Go ahead.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:May I share, uh, a poem which has made a very big impact in my life.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:We would love to hear that. Yes.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:Okay. If you can keep your head about you when all around are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowances for their doubting to if you can wait and not be tired of waiting or be lied about, don't deal in lies or be hated. Don't give way to hating and yet not look too good or talk too wise if you can dream but not make dreams your master if you can think but not make thoughts. Your aim. If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same. If you can bear to hear the truth, you've spoken, twisted by naves to make a trap for fools, or watch the things you give your life up for broken and stoop and build them up again with worn out tools. If you can make one heap of all of your winnings and risk it in one turn of pitch and toss and lose, start again at your beginnings, but never breathe a word about your loss. If you can force your heart and nerve and sin you to serve your turn long after they're gone, and so hold on when there's nothing left in you except the will, which says to you, hold on. If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue or walk with kings nor lose the common touch. If neither loving friends nor foes can hurt you. If all men count with you, but none too much, if you can fill the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds worth of distance run, then the earth is yours and all that's in it, and which is more. You'll be a man, my son. Those are the words that I try to live by. They were spoken to me by my favorite person in the world. And if it helps somebody else along the way who needed to hear it, uh, that's my gift to you. So please be kind to yourself. Be kind to your friends. Be kind to your family, and when you look in the mirror, realize you're a combination. If you're good and you're bad and you have so much to offer into this world, God bless you.
Track 1:Thank you. Thank you. But thank you so much. You have been very inspiring. You are a glowing, beaming man, and with a multi-centered personality, I must say, because there is, you have spoken so very well today, and, uh, we actually wish you from the heart that you succeed in all your endeavors, especially for your political endeavor this time. Wish you all the best.
squadcaster-c8ac_1_01-07-2024_201449:Thank you, sir.
amit-gupta_3_01-07-2024_211449:Thank you. Na.