Interview with Abhinav Bajaj

By Carol Massahos

Abhinav Bajaj is known here in the US as Abbie.  He has an undergraduate degree in Pharmacy.  He chose the co-op work-study program at Northwest Christian University for an MBA degree, with a concentration in Health Care Management.  He says the coursework is challenging, but he takes pride in pushing himself to succeed.  He is constantly working on deepening his understanding of English and improving his American English accent.

Abbie was born in Delhi, India.  He and his family moved to a smaller town in Madhya Pradesh when he was young.  After seventh grade, he attended school away from home, only returning home for summers and holidays. 

Abbie’s father is a doctor and his mother a housewife.  He has one elder brother who works for IBM in Qatar.  Family is the most important thing in his life.  To be with his parents and brother is always his first choice.  It has at times been difficult and lonely being away from them during his stay in the US.  He wishes he had a friend to speak Hindi with here in Eugene.

Abbie is enjoying the green trees and landscape in Eugene, Oregon, and appreciates how good the roads are.  He is very impressed with how friendly, generous and caring people in Eugene seem to be.  His observation is that Americans appear to always be busy and happy.  “Americans are also very punctual,” Abbie said, “if they say they will meet you at 2:00, then they are there at that time and will only wait for ten minutes for you.  In India, people are a half hour to an hour late, and that is normal.” 

He was surprised that the professors all want the students to call them by their first names.  In India, he would never do such a thing, and would always address his elders as Sir or Mam.  It has taken some getting used to.

Abbie works part time for HTIR, helping answer student questions and giving visa interview advice.  Abbie welcomes any student who has questions about the work-study program to email him.

 After graduation, Abbie plans to return to India and start his own company.

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