Indians Everywhere and Nowhere

There is this ‘joke’ going around on the web. An American went visiting India. On his return his NRI friend asks him how he found the Indians. The American replies laconically that everywhere he went he met Tamilians, Punjabis, Sindhis. Telugus, Hindus, Muslims, Janis, Sikhs etc. ‘I did not meet any Indian’, he said.

There is no doubt food for thought in this statement about the way we have divided ourselves on the basis of religion, community, linguistic group, region etc. But I have another viewpoint.

An Indian’s sense of identity is like an onion with many layers. He has multiple identities. Thus when there was a discussion on minorities in India Infosys Chief Mentor Narayamoorthy said that he was a minority too. As a Kannadiga, he was a minority in India, as a literate man he was a minority in a country of illiterates, as an IT man he was a minority among professionals, as a man who spoke good English he was a linguistic minority. He did not add that as a rich man he was a minority in a land of poverty, and as an honest man he was in a minority in public life!

Commenting on the problems faced by Minorities, Asghar Ali Engineer remarked that poverty, discrimination and unemployment were faced by people of all communities not just Muslims. That to my mind was constructive engagement with a problem. Another instance of an enlightened approach to such issues was when there was a controversy regarding what in India is often a graver crisis than communal riots or poverty, unemployment etc.

I refer to the selection of the Indian cricket team. Years ago when the team was announced there were scathing remarks from experts—in India everybody is an expert in cricket. The allegation was that players from one particular state were favored. Sandip Patil former Test player remarked that he did not care if all the players selected were from one state as long as we won matches.

That sums up what our attitude ought to be. It often has happened that way even if we did not notice it. After the cricket selection ‘crisis’ died down the team went on to win the series. The people who leveled the allegation of regional favoritism – the experts – were the first to say that this was the ‘best Indian test side in a decade’!

As for the visiting American his forefathers might have found another type of Indian closer home who might have shown total ignorance of India - the Red Indian.
K.R.RAVI