As a side step from my usual blog topics, this blog was inspired by a book I am currently reading called “The Post American World” by the reputed journalist and television talk show host Fareed Zakaria. This book primarily talks about America living and working alongside, and may be even under the shadow of two giants of 21st century, which I like to call the Dragon and the Tiger- China and India. Living in America from the past four years has shown me the immense influence and blend of these two countries in American society and economics. I come from a generation which has a very different view of India than those who migrated to the land of dreams in the mid and late 20th century. The first fifty years of India as a free nation was plagued by the confusion and disfunctionality which any new nation would have faced, which slowly grew into public frustration, driving the countries subjects to a more promising land. But the last decade has been the game changer for India not only domestically but also internationally. India has made a mark on the world map on various platforms which had faded away during the British rule and early period of independent India. Today when I speak to the old school Indian who migrated in search of a better life might still complain about India and its methods but with time they have come to accept the tremendous power India hold to transform itself into what they dreamt as a “ land of opportunities”. It will be unjust on my part to take away any credit from these old school Indian immigrants who not only made a mark for themselves in their adopted home but also demonstrated the tremendous potential and intellect of an Indian. Today’s 21st century India which mothers a young and vibrant generation has taken this potential and intellect to the next level, not only in their own backyard but also several blocks away. When I look around me, living in a foreign land, I am not surprised to see another Indian but rather feel proud in an amusing way on our outreach at every turn, from the bustling call centers in Bangalore to the over populated American universities to the densely populated Indian dominated colonies in the suburbs to even the local Dunkin Donuts. Indians have exerted their influence and presence everywhere.
So to evaluate the magnitude of the situation, I would like the reader to just imagine for a period of time if India and Indians around the world (here let’s stick to America since I qualify to talk about this region to an extent) shut themselves off from the world!!!! Imagine the chaos and arrest everywhere …..Lets dive deeper into this chaos and arrest; and have some fun imagining the influence we possess which Indians have used judiciously and responsibly.
Imagine one day you get up and realize you have some problem with your laptop before a big presentation with all your files locked in or you realize someone’s hacked into your credit card account and are enjoying the fruits of your hard work. What do you do? As every individual in today’s world, you would call a 1-800 number expecting a quick online service to your laptop or a solution of your monetary issue. What if, to your surprise you either here a continuous phone ring or a message saying “we are sorry for the inconvenience but the customer service center you are trying to call is indefinitely on vacation”. Now that’s a bummer!!! Guess where the call went... not to California or New York but to Bangalore or Mumbai. What do we do now? India today houses the maximum number of American firm business processing outsourcing units compared to China or other emerging markets.
Imagine driving to work and you decide to grab a quick coffee and donut for breakfast before reaching work. You decide to stop at your local Dunkin Donut, few blocks away from work and as you enter the drive-thru lane to place your order, you fail to hear a friendly greeting with a Gujarati English accent, realizing a board on your rear view mirror reading “all Dunkin Donut outlets closed indefinitely “The Gujarati community holds the maximum stake on franchises of Dunkin Donuts in America. It is not only Dunkin Donuts but also commodity mart like 7-eleven and highway Motels across Americans speedway system stretching its length and breathes.
Every year thousands of students flock near the seven US consulates praying for a student visa to study in one of many American Universities. I was one of those who spent thousands of Rupees to just get to American to pursue my masters. I was fortunate enough to be awarded a scholarship and assistantship to work in one of the research laboratories in the university. As satisfying as feeling it may be to earn a scholarship and monthly stipend, you quickly realize you are not the only one! Enter the research center you will find a pool of international talent, dominated by Chinese’s and Indian’s. It won’t be surprising if you pick up a technical journal and find either the first or second author to be an Indian. Now imagine walking into a research center and finding it ghostly quiet and lacking the aroma of spicy Indian food when you pass by the common kitchen area of the building! Majority of laboratories around American universities have a healthy presence of Indian students, working late hours and even during weekends, balancing course work and a demanding professor who hold the key to your graduation. What most fail to realize is that the creative ideas, solutions to global issues from health to economics and innovative technologies, evidently have a strong Indian influence to it. So imagine the absence of Indians in American Universities!!!
The contribution and influence of Indians doesn’t stop only at universities. The moment after being awarded a graduate degree from the prestigious university, the next task is to attain the coveted H1B visa for which student scramble every years before April 1st. The contributions of Indians in driving the American economy has been proven far and beyond. During the recent recession, the percentage was Indians and Chinese workers being given the pink slips were far less that Whites and African Americans. As an example of the Indian importance and dominance, my employer as leading Tier-1 automotive suppliers has a global presence with offices around the world, including two in India. The computer aided engineering group which validates design has a total strength of 20 in its US office. Out of which 17 are Indian immigrants and 3 Chinese immigrants. As a common joke which floats around the organization, if all the Indians in the group decide to visit their homes back in Indian, the company would come to a standstill. Stressing on the phrase of “Indian Influence”- another example being the information science sector, where thousands of Indians work their souls to develop the next operating system, the next text editor software for your PC’s and laptops and even our next game console at Microsoft; The hundreds more working in developing robust and secure software’s for companies like eBay and Amazon though which the world does its online shopping. The world today stays connected through the internet and mobile services for its conferences, interviews etc.., through hardware and software’s developed by hard working Indians around the world, in companies like Cisco and Juniper. Imagine a shut down by Indians in all these sectors…..the cars we drive to work, the laptop we use, the shopping we do online, the online meeting through which a company saves thousand through travel expense, the roads and bridges we use, all would feel the pinch of the absence of intellect, innovation, idea, troubleshooting etc which every Indian brings with his or her job.
According to a recent survey I read in a leading weekly magazine, Indian origin doctors in America were rated as one of the top 3 most professional and reliable doctors. Today is every hospital around the country however big and small; there will be at least one Indian origin doctor. Specialist areas from neurology to cardiology to gynecology all have renowned and well established Indian origin doctors treating everyone irrespective for creed, faith and race. Imagine the scrambling in a hospital or an emergency ward due to the absence of specialist doctor; a doctor which most American in their survey tend to trust.
The Indian contribution is widely influential and the today’s world is slowly but surely accepting these contributions. Nothing can be more evident than the breakthrough on American television, which has for years been much Americanized. In recent years shows like The Office, House, Heroes, 24 etc have had an Indian character, either playing a computer geek, a doctor, a scientist and even a politician. Americans and the world as a whole are coming to terms with accepting Indians being a pivotal part of their society. A renowned motion picture director James Cameron also acknowledged the intellect of Indians by casting an Indian origin actor to play the role of an Indian scientist working on developing what famously came to be known as “Avatar”. And most recently the influence of Indian BPO which have been criticized by even the President of America as stealing American jobs, is coming on the small screen this fall called “Outsourced” as a comical enactment of an American manager going to Indian to train young Indians in running and operating a customer service center. India and Indians might not be getting their due recognition in the western world but they surely hold the power to assert their authority and influence which I believe is being utilized in a responsible and civilized manner for the proper functioning of everything!!!
So to evaluate the magnitude of the situation, I would like the reader to just imagine for a period of time if India and Indians around the world (here let’s stick to America since I qualify to talk about this region to an extent) shut themselves off from the world!!!! Imagine the chaos and arrest everywhere …..Lets dive deeper into this chaos and arrest; and have some fun imagining the influence we possess which Indians have used judiciously and responsibly.
Imagine one day you get up and realize you have some problem with your laptop before a big presentation with all your files locked in or you realize someone’s hacked into your credit card account and are enjoying the fruits of your hard work. What do you do? As every individual in today’s world, you would call a 1-800 number expecting a quick online service to your laptop or a solution of your monetary issue. What if, to your surprise you either here a continuous phone ring or a message saying “we are sorry for the inconvenience but the customer service center you are trying to call is indefinitely on vacation”. Now that’s a bummer!!! Guess where the call went... not to California or New York but to Bangalore or Mumbai. What do we do now? India today houses the maximum number of American firm business processing outsourcing units compared to China or other emerging markets.
Imagine driving to work and you decide to grab a quick coffee and donut for breakfast before reaching work. You decide to stop at your local Dunkin Donut, few blocks away from work and as you enter the drive-thru lane to place your order, you fail to hear a friendly greeting with a Gujarati English accent, realizing a board on your rear view mirror reading “all Dunkin Donut outlets closed indefinitely “The Gujarati community holds the maximum stake on franchises of Dunkin Donuts in America. It is not only Dunkin Donuts but also commodity mart like 7-eleven and highway Motels across Americans speedway system stretching its length and breathes.
Every year thousands of students flock near the seven US consulates praying for a student visa to study in one of many American Universities. I was one of those who spent thousands of Rupees to just get to American to pursue my masters. I was fortunate enough to be awarded a scholarship and assistantship to work in one of the research laboratories in the university. As satisfying as feeling it may be to earn a scholarship and monthly stipend, you quickly realize you are not the only one! Enter the research center you will find a pool of international talent, dominated by Chinese’s and Indian’s. It won’t be surprising if you pick up a technical journal and find either the first or second author to be an Indian. Now imagine walking into a research center and finding it ghostly quiet and lacking the aroma of spicy Indian food when you pass by the common kitchen area of the building! Majority of laboratories around American universities have a healthy presence of Indian students, working late hours and even during weekends, balancing course work and a demanding professor who hold the key to your graduation. What most fail to realize is that the creative ideas, solutions to global issues from health to economics and innovative technologies, evidently have a strong Indian influence to it. So imagine the absence of Indians in American Universities!!!
The contribution and influence of Indians doesn’t stop only at universities. The moment after being awarded a graduate degree from the prestigious university, the next task is to attain the coveted H1B visa for which student scramble every years before April 1st. The contributions of Indians in driving the American economy has been proven far and beyond. During the recent recession, the percentage was Indians and Chinese workers being given the pink slips were far less that Whites and African Americans. As an example of the Indian importance and dominance, my employer as leading Tier-1 automotive suppliers has a global presence with offices around the world, including two in India. The computer aided engineering group which validates design has a total strength of 20 in its US office. Out of which 17 are Indian immigrants and 3 Chinese immigrants. As a common joke which floats around the organization, if all the Indians in the group decide to visit their homes back in Indian, the company would come to a standstill. Stressing on the phrase of “Indian Influence”- another example being the information science sector, where thousands of Indians work their souls to develop the next operating system, the next text editor software for your PC’s and laptops and even our next game console at Microsoft; The hundreds more working in developing robust and secure software’s for companies like eBay and Amazon though which the world does its online shopping. The world today stays connected through the internet and mobile services for its conferences, interviews etc.., through hardware and software’s developed by hard working Indians around the world, in companies like Cisco and Juniper. Imagine a shut down by Indians in all these sectors…..the cars we drive to work, the laptop we use, the shopping we do online, the online meeting through which a company saves thousand through travel expense, the roads and bridges we use, all would feel the pinch of the absence of intellect, innovation, idea, troubleshooting etc which every Indian brings with his or her job.
According to a recent survey I read in a leading weekly magazine, Indian origin doctors in America were rated as one of the top 3 most professional and reliable doctors. Today is every hospital around the country however big and small; there will be at least one Indian origin doctor. Specialist areas from neurology to cardiology to gynecology all have renowned and well established Indian origin doctors treating everyone irrespective for creed, faith and race. Imagine the scrambling in a hospital or an emergency ward due to the absence of specialist doctor; a doctor which most American in their survey tend to trust.
The Indian contribution is widely influential and the today’s world is slowly but surely accepting these contributions. Nothing can be more evident than the breakthrough on American television, which has for years been much Americanized. In recent years shows like The Office, House, Heroes, 24 etc have had an Indian character, either playing a computer geek, a doctor, a scientist and even a politician. Americans and the world as a whole are coming to terms with accepting Indians being a pivotal part of their society. A renowned motion picture director James Cameron also acknowledged the intellect of Indians by casting an Indian origin actor to play the role of an Indian scientist working on developing what famously came to be known as “Avatar”. And most recently the influence of Indian BPO which have been criticized by even the President of America as stealing American jobs, is coming on the small screen this fall called “Outsourced” as a comical enactment of an American manager going to Indian to train young Indians in running and operating a customer service center. India and Indians might not be getting their due recognition in the western world but they surely hold the power to assert their authority and influence which I believe is being utilized in a responsible and civilized manner for the proper functioning of everything!!!
