Joel Stein, Rajini Movie and a misplaced outrage.

For nearly one month a Time magazine column on Indians in Edison NJ is still on the most emailed stories (today's rank 9). Time ran a cover story on Thomas Alva Edison as part of a series on great Americans that is a special on every July 4th week's issue. Joel Stein, a supposedly satirical columnist, in his infinite wisdom decided to do his take on Edison NJ (My Own Private India )just because the town was indeed named after Edison other than that the column has no topical relevance to the issue.

The first week I landed in USA, 12 years ago, I subscribed to Time magazine. I used to be in awe of Time and New York Times when in India. In recent times I've felt Time is becoming tabloidish, the language is pedestrian, the stories are blatantly liberal, a sort of dumbing down a topic is freely indulged in. In particular Joel Stein is one who never got me hooked like Lance Morrow or Roger Rosenblatt or Charles Krauthammer all masters of the art of essay.

The column invited an internet deluge by offended Indians who saw an outright racial assault, insensitive comments, foolish theory on why India is poor and every other imaginable offense that a column can  incite. I did not find it the least bit offensive, I did not find it worthy of any response. Joel Stein, born and brought up in Edison NJ laments how Indians changed Edison. Now what would I argue with a columnist who laments "My town is totally unfamiliar to me. The Pizza Hut where my busboy friends stole pies for our drunken parties is now an Indian sweets shop with a completely inappropriate roof. The A&P I shoplifted from is now an Indian grocery. The Italian restaurant that my friends stole cash from as waiters is now Moghul, one of the most famous Indian restaurants in the country. There is an entire generation of white children in Edison who have nowhere to learn crime...." If that is racism Indians just  managed to define racism in a very light headed manner. If that column had instead a tone like "Oh Edison used to be clean now it is....", "oh crime used to be low not it is ...". What can you tell a guy who thinks that white kids have no place to practice stealing pizzas?

What is racist about "(Edison) has become home to one of the biggest Indian communities in the U.S., as  familiar to people in India as how to instruct stupid Americans to reboot their Internet routers." In fact if I was a white American I should be more enraged at all this than Indians.

The only part that could be genuinely offensive is "For a while, we assumed all Indians were geniuses. Then, in the 1980s, the doctors and engineers brought over their merchant cousins, and we were no longer so sure about the genius thing. In the 1990s, the not-as-brilliant merchants brought their even-less-bright cousins, and we started to understand why India is so damn poor".

When CBS ran a special program on IIT's and called it more exclusive than Harvard every Indian exulted to glory. When Indian students become spelling bee champions and are invited to Presidential audience, starting with Rediff every Indian talks about how the white kids go for ballet classes and lacrosse while Indian kids slog it out at Kumon (a tuition center). How often have we heard Indian parents boast about how focused on academics they are and without a pause they would worry if their kids would be influenced by the white kids at school who are thought of as slackers. By and large Americans think Asians, especially Indians, are academically accomplished, if not geniuses.

Joel Stein captured the arc of any immigration pattern. In the early days in 70's-80's immigration to USA was mostly restricted to those who came to pursue higher education. Today nearly 40% PhD's are foreign born. The H1B program opened the flood gates and sort of 'democratized'  the immigrant profile. Thousands, like me, came to USA. The H1B profile is technically labeled "highly skilled immigrant labor". The operative word is "skill". Thanks to H1B and outsourcing today native Americans shun computer science in an alarming trend that made Bill Gates go to colleges  to encourage students to opt for Computer Science. I've worked in teams that had ZERO American (white or Black). If such a demographic shift had occurred in India due to immigrant labor there would be blood in the streets. Imagine a bunch of workers talking in alien languages shouting from one cubicle to another, opening up lunch boxes with a distinctive odor, women dressed in garish strangely draped dresses (now its becoming common for women to show up in Churidhars) and now think of the plight of an American.

Joel Stein had a very valid complaint when he lamented that Indians do not assimilate. Its so easy for Indians to remain Indians in USA now thanks to numerous Sangams, streets dominated by Indian shops bringing in an India to the capitals of US states. A Brussels exhibition pointedly asked "they are immigrants when they come, they are immigrants when they live here, when will they become us".

Here comes a rub. Indians are very smug about the supposed superiority of their culture. As much as Indians are irritated by Joel Stein's stereo typing how many use very unfair stereo typing of Americans especially on the morals of the common American. How many Indian movies use "American" as short hand to portray anything negative about Western Culture? 

4 Indians sat down for lunch (my colleagues and me) and the discussion turned towards the column and Edison. None of us had a kind word for Edison. We lampooned the shops, the lack of customer service, dirty roads, honking horns, rudeness etc etc. Just the other day another Tamil friend spoke with horror of an apartment complex in Edison that is practically a cesspool of dirt. 

12 years back when I went to see a HIndi movie in Woodbridge I was stunned by a slide that announced "Please do not spit on the floor, if this practice continues, we will stop screening Indian movies". 

Watch the following links for sheer hooliganism by these supposed techies in Seattle and NJ during the release of Rajini's movie. The Seattle version shows hooligans practically hijacking a mall's parking lot, hooting, hollering, lighting a pumpkin, waving a trash bag. If you were an American witnessing this spectacle how would you react. Madonna, Britney Spears etc appear at Madison Square in NYC I've not seen this hooliganism by the concert goers (remember thats a concert not a movie)

 Sivaji release in seattle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb6k1OaEYCI

Watch the following that capture the moments INSIDE the theater as the opening scene starts. These are mostly H1B's, techies...

Audience reaction in NJ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZR-jPRbApM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_vL2J8X-Xs&feature=related

Coming to assimilation. I totally agree with Stein that Indians are proving to be poor in assimilating to US culture and mainstream. I have nothing but contempt for the various Sangams that  tom tom linguistic chauvinism and indulge in mediocre entertainment masquerading as propagating Indian cultural values. I've absolute disgust for this "cultural values" shenanigans. USA is what it is today thanks to a set of unique cultural values that has not only made it prosperous but has enabled people like me to come on board, share and contribute to its prosperity, treat me and my family with utmost dignity far better what my birthplace did for me. This is culture. NRI's have no business to talk about how good Indian culture is. If they think so please take the many flights back home and let America be America.

In fact I'd say that Joel Stein was very charitable in skewering Indians. Time printed a "regret" note and Indians immediately exulted "Time Apologizes to Indians". NO such thing. Stein also printed a very back handed apology.

In the same week as Time's column an international report said that 8 states of India (including WB, MP, UP, Bihar etc) have more people who are in abject poverty than 26 African countries COMBINED. The surprising inclusion is WB, that citadel of marxism. The reaction from India and Indians was a stoic embarrassed silence. Indians hated "Slumdog Millionaire" but nobody has a reaction to this. [See my earlier blog http://contrarianworld.blogspot.com/2009/02/slumdog-millionaire-art-or-sell-out.html ]

Sri Lanka: Would the wounds heal? Is there a tomorrow?

It’s been more than a year since the conclusion of Sri Lanka’s civil war and the din just refuses to die, for good and bad reasons. Its good in as much as there is continued focus on rehabilitating the war destitute and being vigilant on human rights abuses by a not so magnanimous victor. This continued noise about Sri Lanka in India and elsewhere by Tamils and Tamil expatriates is more counter-productive and in fact it’s mostly divorced from reality.

If Hutu’s and Tutsi’s can make peace in Rwanda I see no reason for Sri Lankan Tamils for not making peace with Sinhalese (or vice versa). If Jews can still live in Germany I see no reason as to why Tamils cannot live in unified Sri Lanka. If Kurds can live in Iraq and Armenians in Turkey (Turkey still denies to call the Armenian Massacre a genocide, in fact calling it so is a punishable crime) what compelling reasons do Sri Lankan Tamils have for vivisecting a land to which they had emigrated to? Sikhs and Muslims still live in India despite organized pogroms. Dalits still live in Tamil Nadu despite Tamil Nadu ranking 5^th in anti-Dalit violence. Brahmins and Forward community people still live in Tamil Nadu despite the most oppressive policies that exclude them from education and jobs (and they did not even think it’s ok to get violent just because they don’t get college seats). 

A little perspective here. Dravidian parties rose to prominence on the back of a virulent hate filled agenda built around anti-brahminism. That Brahmins and sections of, supposedly, other communities (all collectively labeled Forward Community) held most government posts and constituted the most of educated population was pointed to as gross imbalance. Quota based reservation was championed as “positive discrimination” in favor of hitherto backward communities. In 2008 not a single Brahmin student gained admission in the state Medical colleges. Not a single one. DK, a neo-Nazi type organization, crowed that this was victory. Brahmins and by extension fellow Forward Community were often  portrayed as having gained access to portals of education by currying favors with the British and entrenching a system that used merit as fig leaf to cover casteist aspersions. Today Tamil Nadu has 69% reserved seats. Not just in undergrad. It continues to PG, Jobs and promotions too. The only thing left out of quotas is reserving a plot in the cemetery.  

The Sri Lankan situation was the reverse. Native Lankans saw that Tamils had cornered much of the government jobs and far outnumbered Sinhalese students in colleges. So they decided to do their own ‘positive discrimination’. In fact their reservation quota system was more sympathetic towards Tamils than the system in Tamil Nadu is towards to FC’s. Also their reservation system has been revised and in fact discontinued even while the quota in TN continues unabated where we see children of ministers and doctors claims “backwardness” and enjoy the quota. Disenchanted with being denied life blood, access to education and jobs, the youth became restive and seethed with rage. Added to this was the language policy promoting Sinhala the native language spoken by the majority. Tamil chauvinists saw this as an attempt to relegate them to secondary citizen status. Now every state in India is promoting its own language with almost no toleration for others and especially English. 

In a nutshell take the policies championed by Dravidian parties and paint it Sinhala and there you have it. I used to live with Sinhalese when I came to USA. I had no problems, one of them was the finest human being I had seen. During a chance conversation a girl narrated how Tamils used to dominate Sri Lanka and how Sinhalese were marginalized and how certain policies were put in place to address that imbalance. I could close my eyes and imagine a DK/DMK fascist talk about Brahmins. For every time she said "Tamil" I could easily substitute "Brahmin". She claimed that Tamils, under the cloak of meritocracy only gamed the exams and even gave out the question paper in advance. Now, I've heard this accusation verbatim, hurled at Brahmins by a non brahmin.


Throw in a few more crumbs like Indira Gandhi’s desire to thwart American influence to appease her masters in Kremlin. India uncannily sought to fish in that troubled waters. Indira had a fetish to create Frankensteins. Prabakaran and Bindranwale. She and her son paid a very tragic price for those adventures. A Sri Lankan Tamil friend put it succinctly that Prabakaran was indeed seen as a hero initially, especially in the aftermath of the July ’83 pogroms (which itself was a reaction to Prabakaran’s adventurism in killing 13 Sinhala soldiers). The rest is history and I shall not waste my breath or your patience on rehashing the familiar story.

What is the status today of a people that feel vanquished, under threat and practically clueless. Quite often with sickening regularity Eelam sympathizers talk about how Jews got Israel. Ironically many are strong Palestine sympathizers and practically adore Yasser Arafat (another failed leader like Prabakaran). It is sad to see these misguided and ill-informed, but well meaning, sympathizers even go to the extent of adopting what used to be a Jewish slogan “next year in Jerusalem”. Now we hear “next year in Eelam”. Most do not even know the basic history surrounding the creation of Israel and the odds overcome by giants in leadership. Theodore Herzl, David Ben Gurion, Golda Meir, Chaim Weizmann etc are sheer giants in pragmatic leadership. An infant nation smaller than Kerala faced the sea to one side and three countries that were armed to the teeth who vowed to push the Jews into the sea. To think that Israel became a nation courtesy the US and US provided assistance is childish at best. 

First the question of Rajapakse. There is clamor to have him declared as war criminal and haul him off to some prison. In real terms this will not happen. Also, if one looked at it coldly, he just prosecuted a war ruthlessly where neither side was a saint when it came to human rights. Actually the Prabakaran worshippers are the worst in this because they turn a willful blind eye to how Prabakaran held his own people as human shields, recruited child soldiers, tortured would-be deserters, harassed families for donating soldiers etc. 

Throughout history this clamor to label somebody, especially the victor of a difficult war, as war criminal has been persistent. Winston Churchill in a very defiant speech in fact promised that he would mete out to the German more than the equal measure of what they inflicted on Britain. The bombing Dresden is still debated as an act of vengeance by the Allied forces. George Bush was sought to be tried for supposed war crimes by millions across the globe. 


Indicting an elected head of state as war criminal is a very arduous task bordering on impossibility. Also the legal requirements are daunting. To indict Rajapakse as war criminal it has to be proved that he issued orders for ethnic cleansing, that he issued orders for bombing known civilian areas with no provocation. Are his hands clean? Certainly not. In a war where neither side respected norms of Geneva conventions its difficult to just indict one side. Hospitals were indeed bombed but hospitals were used by LTTE as launch sites. 


The other question is about the "genocidal war". While the riots of '83 etc would qualify as pogroms, a riot aimed at an ethnic race the war certainly does not qualify for the tag "genocide". I find it objectionable to bring in comparisons with holocaust where a race that was law abiding and never contemplated violence against the state was murdered by the millions. What happened in Sri Lanka was civil war. An aggrieved ethnic community resorted to armed struggle and lost the day. In a war that was prosecuted with no concern for norms by either side its facetious to label it as genocide. Also its pertinent to note that Obama's administration steadfastly refuse to call the ARmenian massacre a "genocide" just because US does not want to infuriate Turkey a key ally in a troubled region. In a world like this calling the Sri Lankan war a genocide is unnecessary complication.

What is really pernicious is the attempt by the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora and especially Tamil NRI's to engender a state of perpetual hostility while safely tucked in the comforts of well paying jobs. Imagine you are a Sinhala in Lanka and if you see the diaspora push countries to institute trade boycott of Sri Lanka made goods, you would naturally think "well the Tamil brethren are trying to starve my country so why should I spend our taxpayer money to pay for any reparations and why should I reconcile, after all I won the war that I did not start".

Rather than work with Sri Lankan government or NGO's on reparations and rehabilitations that require lot of effort its easier to rouse the rabble in front of embassies. More travel between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka should be encouraged. Travel by industry people, ordinary folks, cine artists, human rights organizations and the like.

China, in its race for markets and resources, is establishing foothold everywhere across the globe and human rights is not a concern at all. Well after Tianenman square can the CHinese do that? Whether its Sudan or Sri Lanka human rights is simply not a concern. In a geo politically convoluted world this angle cannot be ignored by India. Also let us bear in mind that Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of state, has categorically stated that in dealing with China, USA is not concerned about human rights (imagine the reaction of left wingers if Donald Rumsfeld under Bush had said that).

A parting word for those who still clamor for Eelam. Despite the sub human condition of Afro-Americans never once did Martin Luther King desire to dismember US. Instead he called upon America to live up to its promise.

A big tragedy for Sri Lankan Tamils is the absolute lack of good leadership that is visionary. The blame for that is to be squarely laid at the feet of Prabakaran who methodically eliminated all moderate leadership in cold blood

For those Prabakaran worshippers out there. Sit and ponder why a guy, who controlled practically 2/3rd of Sri Lanka's coast line and had all the land he pretty much wanted, lost it all and died senselessly. THey also have to answer for the numerous transgressions of Prabakaran, murdering leaders of his own people, expelling thousands of Muslims from Jaffna, child soldiers, forced conscriptions, absolute tyranny etc. Prabakaran was another Yasser Arafat, did not know when to take a compromise and build a better future for his people. But then did he ever desire peace and progress for his people?

Bottom line is that Sri Lankan Tamils have to adjust to reality. At best they can hope for a federal structure. Separate homeland is a dangerous utopia. Also its unfair to Sri Lanka to dissect their homeland.

Americanized or just finding harmony.

When I got one too many brickbats for my postings on India I needed a reality check and turned to a friend whose judgment I value. I asked him, "do you think I am unduly harsh?". He said "I don't think so. What you wrote is reality but the only criticism that a reader might say is you are completely Americanized". I am sure he does not hold it against me for that or thinks ill of me for being Americanized. That said I want to look at the question deeper and July 4th is very apt for that.

Am I Americanized? Of course yes but only on the surface. I'd say that I had a core self that was in harmony with western civilization. America, the land I came to inhabit, is just the best of that Western civilization. A teenager who consumed Francis Bacon, Will Durant, Ayn Rand, Arthur Koestler, John Gribbin, English Poetry, Shakespeare, Churchill, Beethoven, Bach and much more. This is not to suggest that I grew up in some cocoon studying in some international school watching English movies or listening to Pop and reading only Wodehouse. Far from it. I've had my share of weekly Tamil movies, Ilayaraja, Sivaji Ganesan, Vikatan, Kumudam, Doordarshan, Oliyum Oliyum etc. I've read my share of Tamil novelists. Jeyakanthan, Balakumaran, Sujatha, Lakshmi, Sandilyan, Kalki, T.Janakiraman, Mu.Va etc.

 How did one influence win over the  other? Simple, politics. At every turn the government and the society at large kept reminding me that I am a, supposed forward community, and I should be punished for my birth. And punish they did. When my brother joined medical college we as family were clear that he would leave the country for postgraduate studies. Those who scream about his subsidised education at taxpayer cost can go fly a kite. An FC student getting a PG admission in choice disciplines was a distant oasis. My case was less clear because, thanks to reservation system, I ended up in Engineering. All that was just one factor. Irrespective of what I read or watched or listened in Tamil a constant thread was that much of it was far inferior to what the west offered. The west, with its penchant for merit and excellence stood in opposition to stifling mediocrity that not only existed around me but was in fact encouraged and extolled as virtue.

For those who would rush to charge that I was not instructed in the glorious history of India I'd say hold on. I used to be obsessed with anything written by Nehru and digested with avarice anything to do with Gandhi or Freedom struggle and India's history. Problem was that the best readable biography, then and now, of Gandhi is by Louis Fisher. The best readable book on India's moment of triumphal freedom was by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. [Other good books on India's history are all by westerners like Stanley Wolpert]. Bharathi remains dear to heart but reality was different. Jeyakanthan always extolled Russian literature and Western Classical. Khushwant took delight in taking down Indian jingoism. Sujatha always quoted western authors and liberally borrowed from western books for his writings on science. Then there was Tavleen Singh who was a columnist in Indian Express. Tavleen Singh was untiring in tearing down hubris of Indian politicians and Indians in general.

By the time I graduated I knew I had to leave India. That my cousins had mostly left for USA made USA the choice. America with  its H1-B program opened its golden gate.

What do I love most about USA? Why do I love America? Let me phrase this succinctly. In the past 12 years in USA, despite the occasional rise and fall of personal fortunes, I've not seen even ONE aspect of America, excluding Indian food, where I could say wistfully 'this was better in India'. Am I criticizing India because of what I had seen or experienced  in US? Not at all. Every day I used to drive in my scooter in Korattur on a road that was nothing but an obstacle course I would swear 'not for long'. I did not have to come to US to realize what was wrong with India.


There is so much hollowness in the understanding of many Indians in USA about how and why America became what it is. Most have not even bothered to read elementary history of the country they chose to live and raise families. When I hear people say "oh they were advanced technologically, had a subway system in 1901", I feel like yelling in their ears, "Have you wondered WHY?". Has anybody wondered about the beauty of a constitution that placed limits on Congress stifling liberty 300 years ago? Has anybody wondered about people Alexander Hamilton or John Adams or Thomas Jefferson? How many have pondered on the magnificence of the Declaration of Independence? How did Magna Carta become the cornerstone of modern law 700 years ago? Why does America have 7 out of top 10 universities in the world for decades passed? Could just having money make a university become Harvard?

Is America without blemishes?  Of course not. What redeems America is its ability to address its blemishes and constantly reinvent itself. In a zeal to understand the country I sought out and read quite a number of books on American history and every book only made me love the country deeper and better. A biography of Benjamin Fraknlin would leave me stunned at the man's gigantic intellect. Reading many a book on the history behind America's constitution would leave me starry eyed. A biography of Alexander Hamilton and the origins of American capitalism would make me admire how a man of such humble origins could come about to architect the foundations of America's greatest strength. People,people and only people matter. America's biggest gift was its founding fathers. America's good fortune was through out history other leaders renewed their promise.

What can I say in admiration about a country that had founding fathers who thought that a library of all books published should exist just so that its legislators can have recourse to any book to consult for their own benefit and for the benefit of their country when they legislate. The Library of Congress website says "The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress." What a country. "Research arm of the congress". Just pause and think. Legislators read books and do research for legislating and it was thought that legislators should read books. This in 18th century. Just run your eyes over the web page http://www.loc.gov/about/history.html that gives the history of that library.Does not this country deserve to be a super power?

Pulitzer Prize, Smithsonian museums, NASA, Ivy Leagues, Mac Arthur Genius awards, Scientific American magazine (published for layman for over 100 years), Congressional hearings, Senate confirmations, Presidential debates, checks and balances for power, ability to hold election officials accountable, transparency, basic honesty of general population, Museum of modern art, Rockefeller, Jefferson, Feynman, Washington, Teddy Roosevelt, Lincoln, Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Princeton, Carnegie Music Hall, New York Philharmonic, National Parks, Freedom. There is so much of America that I simply love, adore and respect.

At the height of health care bill negotiations the President called for a bi-partisan summit. For 8 hours both parties and the President debated thread bare a legislation that would touch every living American on live TV broadcast  on all channels. As an American I have differences with the bill but watching my elected representatives discuss in detail a historical bill made me respect the poltical system. The bill went to vote on a momentous day with 100% attendance in the house. The final voting completed past midnight. After a victorious vote that delivered history the President went to address the nation at 12:30 AM. What a country. Legislators wrestling with a bill for 12+ hours, discussing arcane finance implications, analysing budget deficits, worrying about federal debt and finally a President who was watching it all into the wee hours. Karunanidhi and his cabinet spent 8 hours watching vulgar dances.

So to answer the question of whether I am Americanized? Unambiguously, Yes. Did I forsake my soul" Not at all, not in the least. My ideas and principles just found a home. I was primed to be an American. A brief word on Indians who keep prattling about Indian values while enjoying American hospitality. I simply detest such hypocrisy. For all those who keep saying "oh this country is no different", I can only say "if  you think so please hand over your citizenship and go back to your beloved India at least then you would not be betraying both countries, the country of your birth and the country that welcomed you". I did not come to America leaving behind much of what I had to known to live as an Indian. I came here to be an American.

I do not agree with Indians celebrating Indian Independence day as American Citizens. As Americans I've but only flag and America gives me the liberty  to fly it from my rooftop or wear it as T-shirt. I do not think immigration is a right. Every country reserves the right to give it or deny. I am thankful to America for allowing me the privilege to enrich it. My only request to Indians in USA is please do not make a India out of USA like asking to ban stuff you do not like, like not collecting sales tax in stores you run, like honking horns, like spitting betel nut in theaters, like yelling in Hindi/Telugu/Tamil across the hallway in office etc.

Once Ayn Rand was asked why she was more zealous about America she answered "because I chose to be an American". Tomorrow is July 4th. God Bless America.

India: Criticisms and Solutions

A management cliche is "be part of a solution". It does not help telling a manager what the problem is alone, give a suggested solution alongside. A few well intentioned readers have indeed asked me that regarding my blogs on India. There is another Indian phrase that I mulled in that context. "Constructive criticism". We are often told criticism should be constructive. There is no such thing, its either fair or unfair period. V.S. Naipaul wrote 3 books on India, very searing commentaries that left Indians fuming. Not one page of what he wrote had "Indians can rectify this way or India can try that". It is service enough to show what is failing. The biggest tragedy in India is much of its failures are WILLFUL and CONSCIOUS inflictions. Does not a government servant know that asking for bribes is wrong? Does not a PhD professor know  that bribing a minister for Vice-Chancellorship is wrong? Does not a VC know that telling a CM that his crappy writing is Nobel worthy is sheer sycophancy? Does not a doctor know its wrong to get a cut from a laboratory? Does not a motor cyclist know that he should stop on red signal? Does not a contractor know its wrong to use incorrectly mixed cement? Does not Manmohan Singh know that spending Rs10,000 crores for games is sheer villainy in a country where millions live on less than a dollar a day? Does not MuKa know what a waste his conference? Does not every NRI who emigrated know that so much is wrong with their beloved motherland which is why despite its 'charms' they emigrated so eagerly begging the gods for a US visa (then a green card, then citizenship)?

Then there are certain ills that are the concretely institutionalized. Inability to sue a patently corrupt CM, inability to criticize judges irrespective of how corrupt they are, a system that constantly reminds the ordinary poor citizen that his rulers are a 'privileged' class apart. Ministers can, by law, allot gas stations, get seats in schools, get seats in trains and much more. The Indian state, with assent of courts, can suspend Habeas Corpus, the cornerstone of modern civil law. The Indian state has promulgated the most draconian laws of detention that make Rowlatt act look like child's play (and the US patriot act like a Utopian dream). An Indian Supreme Court judge writes that "Intellectual Property rights" are alien to Indian culture of dispensing knowledge freely (that web page was copyrighted though). Private property is held at the will and pleasure of a state that can snatch it at will (Kerala seized a private Golf course so that not only the rich can play in it, the Supreme court assented).

I can say only one parting suggestion. Indians think that the problems in India are very unique to India and are without precedence. I've almost every problem in USA that in some way can suggest solutions to India. Indians first have to accept that they need to learn and look around.

Many of my blogs, with all humility, do contain very valid insightful observations but I've very little hope of anything being corrected. The comparisons that I incessantly draw upon are themselves prescriptions.

I can go on and on. Will India become Africa? Certainly not. India is not Congo. Will India come close to being a developed country? Certainly not. India is not mature. Will that happen in some distant future, well as Alexander Pope says "hope springs eternal in the human breast". After all in an evolutionary time scale if monkeys can become man why not???

India: Toll Road Exemptions and Allure of Power

Why does the average Indian love to see leaders abuse power? Abuse of power is a virtue in power drunk India. In fact if an MLA or a SP's car stops for traffic he/she is seen as "effete". This is not only true of semi-literate Indians. Supposedly well educated Indians in USA swear by "Kalaignar" or "Naidu" or "Modi" etc irrespective of their blatant abuses of power. What is worse these NRI's would abhor many such abuses by politicians in their adopted land.

When travelling from Trichy to Madurai on a nicely laid toll road I was surprised to see a huge board listing people who are exempted from paying tolls. The list included President, Prime minister, chief justice, CM etc. Think for a moment, the poor farmer taking his goods from Trichy to Madurai has to pay Rs 50 but the chief Justice need not. In USA probably only the President zips past a toll road, if he ever travels by one, that too only for security reasons. Our NJ governor pays tolls. Can we imagine Jaya or MK paying tolls even when not exempted by law????

Throughout the Indian citizen's life he/she is constantly reminded that the elected representatives are not 'representatives' but 'rulers'. If the common man accepts a bribe he can be investigated but to investigate a CM you need governor's approval. God help you if they both are of same party. Constitutionally and otherwise the Indian citizen is constantly reminded that the "ruling class" , politicians and bureaucrats, is entitled to different set of rules.

America's founding fathers were adamant in treating the would-be elected rulers on par with citizenry in fact the elected representatives are, by custom, held to a higher standard. The average American expects his governor or President to be judged by a higher bar than he applies to himself. The average Indian does the exact opposite. A politicians peccadilloes would disgust an American, for an Indian it is "macho". Bill Clinton paid a very heavy price for his Lewinsky fiasco.

Indians hate abuse of power only when it is not by their beloved leader. For a Dalit Mayawati's abuse of power is just "giving back to the upper caste". Jaya, Indira, Mayawati and Mamata proved that women are equally capable of being unscrupulous, corrupt, mean and venal like any man.

An American understands that a senator being frisked at the airport is no big deal. For an Indian its sacrilege that his matinee idol was questioned (not harassed as its done by Indian officials). Barack Obama and Bill Clinton would pay up from their pocket when they buy a burger or a book. A famous incident was when Bill Clinton was told by a bookshop assistant that Clinton's credit card had expired and Clinton borrowed money to buy the books. How many Indian politicians would buy a book about a country they are about to visit let alone pay for it?

The Tamil conference is the most shameful exhibit of the craven nature of Tamils. This is the state that supposedly was recast in the crucible of "self respect movement". No aspect of a Tamilian's life is devoid of sycophancy. Long back I was watching Tom Hanks receive a "lifetime achievement". Many of his co-stars who spoke poked fun at him and Tom was grinning from ear to ear. American politicians rub shoulders with the citizenry as equals. One of the signal moments after 9/11 was when Bush took the bull horn from a fire fighter and spoke to the world with his hand resting on the fire fighter's shoulder. The fire fighters standing next to the US President stood relaxed, deferential yes but not a bit obsequious. If it had been anybody but the President even that bit of deference would not have been there.

I was traveling by car in a very crowded street. Vehicles could barely move. Horns blared. Suddenly a jeep pulled along side us and the driver, apparently a policeman driving his superior, glared at our driver. He felt his authority was undermined by having had to yield to a citizen's car.

What is tragic is all this show of "power" is enshrined constitutionally and "THEREFORE" otherwise too. Paula Jones was a non-descript woman who sued a US president and caused his downfall. The US President is often rhetorically referred to as 'most powerful man on earth'. I'd say the MLA in any Indian assembly has more power than any US President. Of course that depends on how "power" is defined.

India: A litany of excuses

We took the Guruvayoor express to Chennai from Trichy. We had booked a/c sleepers. When we stepped into the a/c coach a distinctive stench hit our noses making Hydrogen-sulphide (chemistry textbooks call H2S as rotten egg smell) look like perfume in comparison. Near the toilet a chart duly noted that “Pest Control Department” last checked for pests on some date. Right next to it a passenger, presumably Indian, wrote “too many cockroaches”. If Indians can feel ‘too many cockroaches’ it REALLY has to be many. I was not disappointed. One look at where they stash the blankets and pillows made me puke. Only when I reflected I realized that I had paid only Rs 318 for the journey. Rs 318 for a 250+ KM train journey, in a/c “sleeper” with blankets provided. That is $7.5 approx. Even by Indian standards that price is ridiculously low. In a country where one liter of petrol is Rs50+ and an auto ride from Adyar to Egmore is Rs100+ this is dirt cheap and so no wonder it was dirty. Its impossible for Railways to maintain the coaches let alone modernize. When Indians work themselves upto a lather because Laloo “turned around” a loss making Railways not many pause to think what they got. When year after year fares are “maintained” and in a/c is made more affordable nobody pauses to think. Yes the fares are ‘maintained’ but the coaches are not.

During a couple of drives from Adyar to elsewhere Rowena saw Marina beach and wanted to visit it. I also wanted to take her to Marina just to see the colorful life on a beach. We often go to beaches in New Jersey but no beach in USA would have vendors selling stuff right on the beach its only done away from the beach area, no flying kites, no horse rides etc. Marina is colorful that way. Despite our tight schedule we made time for a beach visit on Friday evening around 7 PM. Contrary to my fears parking was easy. The beach road with its expanse, the sodium vapor lights in the median divider, the statues is quite a sight to behold on a nice evening when the weather is balmy. 

We spotted a horse ride and Rowena got on the horse with immense joy. I brought out my canon SLR to snap pictures. After seeing me take pictures the horse ride guy (jockey ???) told us “Sir  you have to pay me Rs 20 for each snap you take”. Of course we did not pay and we put him in place. What amazed me was how fast the guy cooked up a scheme to get money beyond what was his due. I’ve taken horse carriage rides in NYC, Amsterdam and elsewhere. Nowhere did anybody come up with such an excuse to extort money. In Amsterdam I paid 25 euro for a 30 min ride, our driver was a woman who did not utter a word as I snapped away to glory. I had a similar experience in 1999 when as a newlywed I stepped out in Egmore with three large suitcases. The porter demanded Rs 400 to take the suitcases a few feet to the taxi stand. I asked him why. The reply was simple “sir you are going to America”. How did he know. “who else carries these types of suitcases”. Just because I was going to America he felt “entitled” to get more than his due. The taxiwallah demanded Rs1000 to go from Egmore to Purasawalkam (an auto would charge Rs 30 those days for that trip). Again the reason was “you are going to America”.

That people feel “ENTITLED” to your money just because you earn more, considerably more, is a malaise that can be traced to the roots of our cinema culture where the hero is always “robbing the rich to pay the poor”. In a country like India where, until recent times, the rich were mostly landed gentry, zamindars, it’s not easy to comprehend or pay regard to the fact that people could get rich by hard work, honest work and be honest tax payers. “Poverty” is another excuse that I am tired of hearing. The woman in Amsterdam who drove us was not rich, she knew we were tourists, yet she did not feel ‘entitled’ to our money. A cabbie in NYC is not rich and getting a taxi license in NYC is so expensive (and corrupt too) but he does not feel entitled to my money beyond the meter. 

The favorite excuse of Indians is “population”. “we are a large country, population is a problem”. Until recent times population was only a “problem” but India’s demography is fast turning into a ‘mixed blessing’. India reaps by the tons the benefits of its rich demography, an eager and mostly young workforce by the millions is a boon that is transforming the country. In many other spheres the population is a challenge and in certain spheres it is a malaise. BUT Indians use it as a blanket excuse for all and sundry. Coming out of Meenambakkam I thought about the population question. If I told any Indian about the deplorable state of the airport I’d get a shrug “population”. Little do we realize  that Newark Airport or JFK or Brussels, uncluttered car park, the clean exit ramps I was back to civilization.

 

“Population” has got nothing to do with many ills that plague India. What has “population” or “poverty” got to do with a guy urinating near a 400 year old Mahal right under the “do not urinate here” sign? First of all why would there be a need for such a sign. Has anybody ever seen a “do not urinate here” sign in any other part of the world. What makes it ok for literate teenagers to scribble on the walls of a protected monument, again, right next to a “do not scribble on the walls”?

I went to a bookshop in the new mall “Chennai City Center”. This was a branch of the biggest bookstore in Chennai. The store had a cramped design and in places books were just piled on the floor. The shelves were crammed with titles. The Tamil DVD’s were in flimsy sleeves and stacked like they are done in Burma Bazaar, no sequencing  either. Most of the books were by western authors and local editions of foreign publications. Indian publishing industry is still in its infancy and is mostly just a “printing press”. Though India does have some reputable publishing houses like Penguin, Oxford University Press etc nothing to match the prestige of a Simon and Schuster or Harper Collins etc.  

Buying books is still a luxury in India. Any good book easily crosses Rs 500. For a salaried lecturer in Trichy its a princely sum.  Take Trichy for example. In US it would be typically called a "University Town" to emphasize the preponderance of premium educational institutions. But there is not a SINGLE book store that is good, let alone public libraries. Yes REC has a good library but I can bet the engineering student there does not have access to the latest NY Times bestseller on a number of topics. But then the student first should want to read those, he/she is stifled by a curriculum that thinks a tech student should only learn circuits and bridges. For the common Tamilian reading habit is what he/she most  grazes in the morning and some pot boilers.

Indians repeat ad nauseum about how the British left the country in a hurry and in a mess. As much as that is true little do we pause to think how "BLESSED" India was at its moment of birth. Indians did not have to 'invent' constitution writing like US, the country was linked from end to end physically, very importantly it was linked end-to-end administratively. India had the unique of strength of a wonderful administrative cadre schooled in the best institutions, India's leaders-to-be were also schooled in the best institutions.Above all the emotional unity, not withstanding the communal carnage in the border states, was amazing given India's historical fragmentation. Yet, Indians have unexceptionally squandered each and every advantage and what is worse turned every blessing into a curse.

I am often told, why keep complaining, can you say something as a curative suggestion. I shall address that in my next blog.

NRI's: Betraying with Jingoism.

My earlier blogs on my India visit and my facebook posting drew harsh brickbats from people supposedly in love with India. I was hectored duly with lectures on Indian values, the charm of India, the hoary traditions, the richness of India, the promise of becoming a super power etc etc.

To a friend I summed up USA like this: On 9/11 Americans said "Nobody does this to USA (i.e. Nobody can go scot free after such an attack). On Katrina Americans said: "This is not who we are. This is not us" (i.e. American citizens deserve much better). Thanks to our sense of outrage neither event has been repeated.

A nation that, as recently as 1991, had only one week of foreign exchange reserves and had to pawn its gold, in the space of 20 years is now brimming with confidence, has a $1 trillion economy, is constantly talked about as a land of promise by the external world. The country has indeed been unleashed. The Indian graduate is basking in the limelight of a market where companies dole out increments half yearly.

BUT.

The fundamentals of a country, its core governance, its body politic is corrupted beyond compare. The fantastic growth is nothing but lipstick on a pig.

As I was drooling and sinking my teeth into an exotic ripe mango I was told that fruit vendors ripen mangoes artificially in harmful ways. Not even Indians trust the tap water anymore. The bottled water we buy eagerly is also no guarantee, it is often tampered with. Tamil Nadu now has a 911 like service for ambulance. Many say it is prompt but often the government hospital van operators in cahoots with poly clinics do not arrive until a private hospital ambulance has ferried the injured to a costly private hospital. Educational courses and colleges are worse than locusts, gullible parents beguiled by fancy subjects put their children into courses about which nobody has a good idea. Name ONE good thing and I can bet you can add a "BUT" to highlight its corrupted side.

What really alarms me is the abject intellectual degradation. On a Sunday morning I channel surfed not a single indigenous channel had anything remotely intellectual. The plethora of Tamil channels are 100% film oriented. Turn on the FM channels and its even more insipid.

I stepped into a computer showroom. The attendant helpfully tells me the price of a compaq is Rs30,000 for a certain config. Finally, as matter of fact, adds 'by the way the OS will be pirated copy'. This for a branded PC. No buyer balks at it, nobody hesitates. Be a Roman I am told.[ A reputed PC reseller once quoted my dad on company letter pad prices with pirated and authorised software].

When Indians sanctimoniously pontificate on Indian values usually it is within the framework of sexual morality, familial attachments, divorce rates, teen pregnancies and the like. With tongues firmly in cheek many an NRI would draw attention to statistics in USA (yes its always that). Not many understand that divorce rates, for example have a socio-economic component and is correlated to the financial independence of women. Also the statistics in the western world is largely accurate unlike India where government statistics is a joke. Pray, tell me in which western country do governing politicians strut about with two wives (its not just Mu,Ka, many in his cabinet, also Mulayam the socialist).

No NRI bothers with the fact that Indians as a country are habitually unethical in public conduct. Loan defaults, eagerness to bribe and be bribed, complete absence of civic conduct (blaring loudspeakers from Christian and MUslim worship places assault my neighborhood EVERYDAY).

Cars are sold with no airbags, no child locks, when roads are closed no detours are marked, children are packed in highly unsafe share autos like sardines, food is unsafe, water is unsafe (many do not even get it), thousands of villages lack basic health care.

Ok. Where do NRI's fit in this? NRI's, the ones who are citizens/permanent residency holders in western countries confuse nostalgia with love. We all share an instinctive love for the places where we spent our carefree childhood. CHildhood and adolescence is, by hindsight, always fun memories especially in relation to our present where we worry about jobs, career, savings, retirement, children's education etc. Also we visit India mostly to spend time with aged parents, to let them spend a few happy moments with their grand children. To top it all our dollars and pounds enable us to travel in air-conditioned comfort, stay at choice hotels, eat at choice places, buy Bisleri by the crates. We NRI's basically cocoon ourselves in replicated environs. Occasionally we peek from our bubbles and interact with the masses.

An American child, gets fluoride from tap water and is protected from tooth decay, travels in school buses for which traffic will come to a stop, the child is safely tucked in baby seats (rated by a trustworthy consumer reports), the child gets sun lotion SP 50 for heat that is far less, in winter the child is treated to Aquaphor, the county school provides a seat with no recommendation and good education, we have 30 day return policy for most, our children play in the safest designed playgrounds complete with soft cork for grounds to protect the soft knees. I can go on.Just yesterday my child went to play in the apartment playground. Somebody had spat his betel nut on the sand.

I love Thomas Friedman for the columns he writes excoriating Americans not to take their status for granted. I love the scare mongering that Americans would lose their place. Indians on the other hand, especially NRI's, who brook no criticism do India a great disservice. For the sake of the impoverished millions I wish India progressed more and faster. A nation of one billion people cannot be ignored. As an American I wish India prospers and engages in more open trade with USA by opening up Indian markets ensuring a symbiotic growth.

Was it Johnson who said "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel". (Before anybody misunderstands it let me explain that what he meant was that often 'patriotism' is used as an excuse to cover-up shortcomings).