Return to India? It is your choice!

There was this interesting topic thrown up for open discussion in our community picnic event at the park this evening.. A group of Indian, mostly tamil-speaking, expatriates (i.e. NRIs) settled in the US got together at the picnic table and started chatting about the pros and cons of what a return to India would mean to them. (The stated intention of the mediators was to mimic the SunTV arattai arangam discussion format, but of course the interaction wandered off into your typically lively mottaimaadi arattai that you indulge in with your old school buddies.)

What caught my attention was practically the very first point made at the session - the mediator made a mention that it seemed as though the women folks are the ones that are more in love with this country (the US) and they are the reason why the men would not force the decision to relocate back to India. I could not help but notice that neither the women or men in attendance particularly complained about this observation, so there must be a whole lot of merit to this contention. All the usual discussion stuff then followed - the optimists saying how Indian economy and such are now booming, and how the salary and standard of life there was appearing to catch up with US standards, and how nice it would be to be back home and close to parents, family and friends... and the naysayers rebutting essentially saying that things are never as good in reality as they seem on paper, and that India from a practical standpoint has a long long way to go in terms of progress if or before most of us will want to go back.

I did pitch in with my two cents every now and then at the session (btw, my better half did better than me), but I did not really feel like I was able to share my full take on the topic. If you care for my opinion - I would start by saying this is the same old "pattikaada pattanama" question that has evolved and taken global proportions. True, India is becoming more like US in certain obvious aspects- the IT-industry driven change in modern Indian standard of life and culture comes to mind right away. But the more subtle and interesting and almost-going-unnoticed change is the one that is occuring here in the US - that America is becoming more like India in many ways - that you now get that healthy dose of indian family, culture, language and other intangibles that you did not think was possible here even say 5 years ago. In my estimate, in less than 20 years from now there will be very little to choose between the two countries in terms of professional careers and rewards, but public infrastructure in India will continue to lag for 50+ years, so for lifestyle reasons we will continue to see a net braindrain from India to US through the later part of the 21st century. Although I largely subscribe to this theory that India will never ever be what US was or is or will be (in both positives and negatives), I see that the differences will become pretty blurry in about 100 years, obviously beyond a timespan that my generation will live to see. For our generation, as it will be for all generations to come, I see that the decision which country to live in will ultimately be purely a matter of personal choice.

On a somewhat different note, I must say this - From what I have seen, only a small proportion (I would say less than 5%) of the desi folks who came to the US have ever permanently gone back to desh. Now be that as it may, I seriously question the sincerity of those who have consistently said for several years that they want to go back and have never been able to make that big decision. I wonder if all of their stated intentions is only a matter of old-fashioned homesickness and wishful thinking and not really any sort of genuine soul-searching. Have you ever seen a barking dog bite? I have noticed that it is these same people who deep down in their hearts do like the things that this country (the US) offers but never really are openly appreciative about such things because of their sense of personal-guilt stemming from years of indecision when it comes to which country to call home. While such hypocrites have every right to dwell in and glorify the things they like in their motherland, they have no right to trash the country that they made a conscious and willing choice to come live in for career and lifestyle reasons. I would just say if you want to go back home please feel free to do so, but bear in mind America could not have treated you any better while you were here. More soon.

Bindra spells a Beginning?

Well, of late some of my predictions have been falling flat on their faces. For one, this Abhinav Bindra dude pleasantly shocked many a million folks like me by racking up a gold medal for India at the Bejing Olympics. (The second, albeit a more trivial one, was Rajini's Kuselan seemingly bombing at the box-office, negating my pre-release prediction.)

Going back to Bindra, this non-assuming kid with an introverted persona did the very unthinkable- won India's first ever "solo" gold in a Olympic sport (shooting) that is relatively obscure in India. In my opinion, what is phenomenal about such an acheivement is the escalation in belief-level that a feat like this would instill in those faceless, nameless (and some even unborn) youngsters that may be toiling in their quests for opportunities, support, success and recognition. Now that Bindra has done it, we have someone who has earned the right to utter these famous words - If I can do it, you can do it. After all wasn't it in the same year that Roger Bannister broke the four-minute-mile "mental" barrier that like a dozen other runners broke that same record? (The nay-sayers at the that time had propagated this theory that your lungs would explode if you tried to run a mile under 4 minutes!)

Now comes the interesting part - if you thought Bindra would be reaping an overnight windfall after the golden performance, you will find yourselves surprised. Yes the Punjab State Govt announced INR 1 crore, and several state governments (BCCI joined the benefactor list as well!) followed suit and may have pitched in another crore or two in reward and appreciation. Even our man Lallu announced a lifetime rail pass of free first-class a/c coach-class tickets to Bindra and his significant other. In my estimation, all the monetary rewards Bindra received may not exceed say INR 3-4 crores in value - say about US $1 million in a stretch... Now you would figure a late first-round or early second-round draft pick rookie player in a professional league like the NBA makes that kind of money in his first year as a pro, here in the US. You are now left wondering is it worth moneywise even to be a gold-winning Olympian in such a non-rewarding country like India?

Be that as it may, you wish India does not end up forgetting a guy like Bindra two weeks after the event (as India's former golden girl P.T.Usha had forewarned us in her felicitation comment on Bindra) and the country goes back to this historical rut of Olympic futility. Let us hope this is just the beginning and will encourage all those unknown Bindras of India waiting in the wings to come make a splash and conquer our imaginations.

India's Olympic Pipedream

It is not everyday that you see India and Olympics mentioned in the same sentence... Just a couple of weeks ago, I was interested in knowing more about the Indian contingent being sent to Beijing and I had tough luck - The Indian Olympic Association's (IOA) website was NON-EXISTENT, or if the site did exist it was dysfunctional anyway. Now you get the point. I saw some interesting lowlights of India's history of Olympic non-performance at this site - http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-olympiclaggard&prov=ap&type=lgns. If you have not cracked up in a while, don't forget to read IOA Chairman Suresh Kalmadi's comment - "India should not expect too many medals in China”. If you asked " is one too many", join the club.

Indian ethos in all sincerity does not seem to particularly care about Olympic glory despite the occasional proclamations to the contrary that you get to hear from a few frustrated souls... You can't really expect much from a nation of spectators whose favorite sports delusions begin and end with cricket for all practical purposes. Now someone could argue if cricket were an Olympic sport, India would win a medal or two. There may be some merit to that contention - India is after all the current 20/20 world champion and a one-time (1983) one-day cricket world champion.. But cricket is a team sport and they don't give 11 medals when a team with as many players wins something... So that takes us back to the issue of India's well-chronicled history of Olympic futility that spans several decades - Why does a nation of 1.1 billion people (and counting) struggle to produce one genuine Olympic gold-medal-calibre sportsperson? How come a country that has no trouble producing successful doctors and engineers and technocrats diaspored to all over the planet, not be able to translate such success when it comes to producing world-class sportspersons? How can a civilization that boasts of centuries-old ithihasas and grandmom-narrated bedtime stories embellishing the cosmic valor of mythological kings and princes domineering celestial worlds, not be able to produce a single warm-body in modern times capable of winning a piece of metal competing against international mortals here on this planet? At what point in history did India's sensational past morph into present-day mediocrity when it comes to sporting acheivement? Can anyone see the light of day on this conundrum?