prasad1
Active member
In dusty archives exists a black and white photo of Narendrabhai Modi, as a jhola-carrying RSS pracharak outside the White House. Twenty years later PM Modi is in snappy suits beaming with US CEOs. And why not? From Kochi to Karnal, we Indians are singing California Dreamin’. Even at the height of the Cold War over a million ‘Soviet-friendly’ Indians lived in the US. Never mind if Americans can’t tell the difference between a Sikh turban and a Taliban one, or between ‘Indians’ of South Asian or Cherokee extraction, we never want to say bye bye Miss American Pie.
From Indra Nooyi to Satya Nadella to Sundar Pichai to Manjul Bhargava today the desi dream is the American Dream. Who do we turn to when we want to bash American imperialism? American writer Noam Chomsky, of course. Whose songs do we sing when we want to protest against American super-power? American balladeers Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, of course. Whose presidential elections do we follow as closely as our own political battles? A possible Trump versus Clinton contest, of course. Where do subcontinent-born scientists Har Gobind Khorana and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan go to get on track for their Nobel prizes? America, of course. And whose soft power are we thoroughly colonised by, from sitcoms, to slang, to burgers, to rock and roll, to Hollywood to Disneyland to skinny jeans to Levi’s to Starbucks? America all the way.
Vivekananda’s dream was first heard in Chicago, yoga achieved global fame in California and IIT engineers came upon their promised land in the Bay Area. Culture warriors rage against western ‘pollution’, but use American inventions like Twitter and Facebook to disseminate their anti-West message.
Our netas preach the value of Sanskrit even as Indians queue up to acquire Ivy League T-shirts and chant ‘Om Google-eshwar Namah’. Priyanka Chopra’s star turn on the US TV series Quantico is the dream of many Bollywood stars.
Veteran socialist George Fernandes lost his battle against Coca-colonisation of India in the 1970s and today Manmohan Singh’s confession “President Bush, Indians love you” echoes in most Indians. Even those yelling Lal Salaam are now freshly inspired by comrades Occupy-ing Wall Street.
Of course we still take pride in our home run because cricket scores over baseball and tandoori chicken holds sway over Kentucky Fried. But it’s a losing battle, folks. When Manhattan calls, Indians are saying, ‘Yankee go home but take me with you’.
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/bloody-mary/india-made-in-america/
From Indra Nooyi to Satya Nadella to Sundar Pichai to Manjul Bhargava today the desi dream is the American Dream. Who do we turn to when we want to bash American imperialism? American writer Noam Chomsky, of course. Whose songs do we sing when we want to protest against American super-power? American balladeers Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, of course. Whose presidential elections do we follow as closely as our own political battles? A possible Trump versus Clinton contest, of course. Where do subcontinent-born scientists Har Gobind Khorana and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan go to get on track for their Nobel prizes? America, of course. And whose soft power are we thoroughly colonised by, from sitcoms, to slang, to burgers, to rock and roll, to Hollywood to Disneyland to skinny jeans to Levi’s to Starbucks? America all the way.
Vivekananda’s dream was first heard in Chicago, yoga achieved global fame in California and IIT engineers came upon their promised land in the Bay Area. Culture warriors rage against western ‘pollution’, but use American inventions like Twitter and Facebook to disseminate their anti-West message.
Our netas preach the value of Sanskrit even as Indians queue up to acquire Ivy League T-shirts and chant ‘Om Google-eshwar Namah’. Priyanka Chopra’s star turn on the US TV series Quantico is the dream of many Bollywood stars.
Veteran socialist George Fernandes lost his battle against Coca-colonisation of India in the 1970s and today Manmohan Singh’s confession “President Bush, Indians love you” echoes in most Indians. Even those yelling Lal Salaam are now freshly inspired by comrades Occupy-ing Wall Street.
Of course we still take pride in our home run because cricket scores over baseball and tandoori chicken holds sway over Kentucky Fried. But it’s a losing battle, folks. When Manhattan calls, Indians are saying, ‘Yankee go home but take me with you’.
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/bloody-mary/india-made-in-america/
