The recent incident involving Indian students in the United States is becoming worrisome and unfortunate for many people. Indra Nooyi, the former CEO of PepsiCo, has offered her advice to them. The Consulate General of India in New York on Thursday morning shared a video of Nooyi advising Indian students for being in United States.
The 10 minute video record by the CEO of PepsiCo. In the video, she advises Indian students coming to the US to remain watchful and avoid engaging in activities that finding themselves in unfortunate situations.
How Indian students can improve the situation
She mentioned that people in the US are multicultural and friendly towards foreigners, especially Indians. The US is a big country with different cultures and a wide range of education facilities.
“When you choose to come to the US to pursue education, please choose your university and course carefully. Also remember studying in the US is expensive, it is not cheap and would not necessarily secure a job here today. It is not guaranteed. Nor should it be your objective in this globalised world, where India itself is offering huge numbers of opportunities for educated people,” she said in the video.
She added that “ coming to the US is the sea change, but for all of you it will be a cultural sea change because you don't have the comfort of your families. You don’t have the comfort of your communities and ecosystem.”
She further emphasised students coming to the US to be very watchful in their initial month of their landing here and asked them to look at who they select as friends.
“It’s very easy to get caught up with all the freedoms you have and think that you should experiment with everything but be very very careful,” she adds.
Highlighted the drug matter
Nooyi urges students to be aware of the resources that are available to them. She strongly suggested they engage with the university support system, the local Indian consulate and local Indian Americans to seek their support when needed.
Highlighting the drugs issue she said, “while Indian students are known for their hard work and success, there are also incidents of some youngsters experimenting with and eventually getting addicted to drugs such as ‘Fentanyl’. This is lethal. Let me repeat, this is lethal. These are extremely harmful drugs impacting mental and physical health and will definitely be detrimental to your career prospects here.”
While suggesting to focus on the law of the country and verge not to delve into this whole area of experimenting with dangerous stuff. Most importantly, do not partake in unlawful activities, understand the law and stay within the law.
She said, “many international students are not familiar with the law and regulations of the host country. It is important to know the consequences of your actions and hence you have to stay alert all the time. You need to know your visa status and its permissibility towards part-time employment. Do not violate the law.”
Nooyi also urged students to be aware of the areas in the city in which they are residing or travelling. Lastly, she appealed to the students to beware of scam artists, money mules, and social networking sites that are bound to scam. She requested not to provide personal information to anyone and requested to stay connected with friends, families and support groups. “Mental Health is important, please do not neglect your mental health. Education system in the US is rigorous, and it's unfamiliar,” she concluded.
Hyderabad student missing
The emergence of this video is related to the case of a 25-year-old student from Hyderabad who has been missing in the United States since March 7. His family in India claims to have received a ransom demand. The student, Abdul Mohammed Arfath, is currently studying for a Master's degree in Information Technology at Cleveland University. He was last seen on March 7.
Whereas, his father, Mohammed Saleem, received a phone call from an unknown number, where the caller identified themselves as part of a gang. The Consulate has stated that they are collaborating with local law enforcement to locate the missing Indian student, Mohammad Abdul Arfath, in Cleveland, who has been missing since the beginning of this month.
