India Dreaming and Streaming

In the world today, the Indian population is on the rise in the United States. More and more citizens are migrating over to the States in order to pursue better opportunities for themselves. Indeed, parents often come here in order to raise their child in our elite academic system, which is renowned worldwide and has given birth to some of the greatest minds in history. But in coming to a whole new world, those Indians lose much of their former culture. Food, lifestyle, environment, daily activities. One must adapt to the new life that they have acquired here, which requires sacrifice.

As a first generation American, my parents moved from New Delhi to Massachusetts in order to pursue different dreams for themselves, and for me and my brother. Growing up, I witnessed them adapt to American life. Even though they had given up much of their former lifestyle, they adapted well. They filled the kitchen with ingredients to replicate the culinary life of their homeland. They managed to grab a hold of many movies from Bollywood. My dad started up his own Indian Grocery store, which brought much of the local Indian community to us and created our own little India here in America. But the one thing they still lacked was television programs from India. The internet was not as reliable in delivering those shows to us, and the time difference was brutal on trying to keep up with everything.

But the savior came in the past few years with streaming devices. Very recently my mom and dad bought the Roku device, which enabled them access to DishWorld, and by buying this service, they were able to watch all of their Indian channels, local time, at their convenience. And just like that, technology built another bridge to connect worlds thousands of miles apart. I believe this is the most critical aspect of companies today. Roku was smart in that it branched out, targeting a whole new segment of the market. International immigrants desire to reconnect with their old lifestyle, such as television. By being able to give them what they want, Roku and Dishworld have been able to accrue an enormous customer base, simply because they were able to supply this demand.

From my personal experience using it, it is akin to Apple products because it is quite simple to use. The Roku device connects to the TV as a gaming console would, and from there you simply bring up the main interface. This interface gives you access to a plethora of channels, such as Netflix, Hulu Plus, ESPN, etc. Simply accessing the channel gives you the option to go to one of these. Clicking on DishWorld enables you to go into the channel and from there, you are at the international channels you desire. (DishWorld is primarily international channels). And that is it. Simple to access and simple to use. This is another tactful decision on the company’s part. With many immigrants not as technologically literate as most Americans, a simple to use device enables much happier customers and in return this can lead to word of mouth advertising, which increases the number of customers. My own parents got a Roku simply because a family friend preached on its efficiency and superb performance. Pricing is not a dealbreaker, as my parents paid $14.95 for the first three months, which is cheap and fair to most customers. And at the rate my parents are pleased with this product, they will surely continue to pay for it and use it for a long time coming. Roku and DishWorld have created a bridge to other countries, and are dominating the international market, which more companies struggle to do as the world is transforming into more of an international economy. It is excellent that we live in a world today where technology enables to connect countries thousands of miles apart.