At a weekend party in Washington, this blogger was told by an Indian PhD student at a prestigious regional University that our hawkish views make us "more of an American than Indian" and that we "sound just like Bush"!! We think this was supposed to be an insult.
So, per this gent at least, unless one is part of the Indian group-think, one is not sufficiently Indian. We certainly hope most Indians don't feel this way!!!
Monday, November 07, 2005
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9 comments:
PR,
Many Indians in the US (don't know about other Indian expats) are painfully conscious about their "Indian-ness" or lack of it, sometimes to the point of delusion. Seems to stem from a primal fear of losing one's roots. I would venture that all of us (first gen uprooted) suffer from some version of it. A friend of mine did everything necessary to file for US citizenship, but could not bring himself to take the oath. Some refuse to give up their Indian citizenship - I can name quite a few of those. Others watch Zee TV with zeal that would gladden Subhash Chandra's heart. And some crave the food. All in all a fairly severe identity crisis.
Of course the guy you ran into seems to be one of the unpaid enforcers of all things Indian - too much time to think while being oppressed by the PhD advisor :-) . Does he have a point? No. Do most Indians feel this way? I don't think so.
in case any of you ladies or gentlemen are interested. also on november 17th, mr.rakesh mohan deputy governor, rbi will give a speech in the morning.
The 13th SAARC Summit: Taking Stock of South Asia’s Regionalism
Date:
Time: November 17th
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Location: New York
Asia Society and Museum, 725 Park Avenue, New York
Cost: $10 members; $15 nonmembers
Phone: 212-517-ASIA
The forthcoming South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in Dhaka, Bangladesh would mark a new era for the region’s attempt at comprehensive regional cooperation. Established in 1985 to integrate the seven states of South Asia—one of the world’s least integrated region, in spite of strong personal and cultural ties—the SAARC is entering its third decade of operation providing a platform for the peoples of South Asia to work together in a spirit of friendship, trust and understanding and to accelerate the process of economic and social development. What is the twenty-year progress report for SAARC? How has the SAARC process helped the peoples of South Asia? Is regional integration a viable option in the increasingly integrated economic global economy? How can fruits of greater integration be equitably shared? Please join us to discuss these and other pertinent issues.
Speakers:
His Excellency Madhu Raman Acharya, Permanent Representative of Nepal to the UN
His Excellency Munir Akram, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN
His Excellency Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the UN
His Excellency Prasad Kariyawasam, Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the UN
His Excellency Ajai Malhotra, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of India to the UN
Hello Primary Red,
The Indian way is mostly about "roll over and play dead", constantly apologize for terror and disable our security forces in combating terrorism because of muslim votes.
Indians are afflicted to this date by gandianisms and woolly headed nehruvianisms. So anything vigorous, courageous, pro-active is immediately termed "hawkish".
Liberalism has truly become the refuge of scoundrels and cowards.
One can infer personality traits from what people say. This leads to my next conclusion. Pankaj and the Phd student belong to the same level of stupidity on opposite sides of the political spectrum.
bombayboy, that's harsh. I'd limit my criticism to the idea and leave the person out of it.
I don't think it should be considered an insult, except if the comment was made with 'intellect' and 'smartness' in context. Then of course being compared to Bush is an insult.
But if the comparison was for "Republican view points", then so be it. I like (most of) the views you put out, and enjoy reading them.
Keep it burning!
Hey, thanks RPM!!
RPM, I know this is off-topic (and apologies to non-trojans) - but GO TROJANS.
libertarian:
No doubt about it. I still have my desktop wallpaper as the image of 'back to back national champions' with leinart and pete carroll.
But no jinxing!! Fresno State is a tough oppponent and especially at this time of the year, a loss could be crippling.
And of course ucla has the offense to match our offense, so it could end up being tight.
So let's talk at the end of December 3 :-)
And hope that that Texas fumbles big time in the next two games! Need to bring them back to earth!!
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