Making A Difference

Thank God Columbus Lost His Way

Ours is a love-hate relationship with America: its democracy, culture, universities hold us in thrall; its bullying repels us

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Thank God Columbus Lost His Way
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Whenever an American president wings his way to India, we always seem to get entangled in a bewildering variety of contradictory, confusing emotions. There’s jubilation at the chance to host the most powerful man of the world, to show him the wonder that’s India. Every word of his is decoded, every movement dissected. Underlying this excitement, though, persist the fears we have harboured over decades. Can’t we fathom the surreptitious American agenda, some ask. No matter how liberal a president of the United States may be, his principal goal is to dominate the world, conquer markets, and enrich his own citizens, they claim. Such warnings emanate from, and stoke, a vague anxiety about the future.

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This emotional confusion about America, though, has become less acute over the years, largely because of the psychotherapeutic impact of cataclysmic changes around the globe. For instance, the end of the cold war and the disintegration of the Soviet Union into fragments have treated our paranoid propensity to see the spectre of cia behind developments not to our liking. And the ensuing withering of the non-aligned movement has removed the immobilising effect of having to constantly walk the tightrope between Moscow and Washington. This also seems to have resolved the contradiction in the hearts of those Indians who subscribed to a broad leftism but found the pull of the ‘elitist’ lifestyle of India, neither capitalist nor socialist, simply irresistible.

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“It’s a cultural and colonial bear-hug. The people who run the country are all tied in this symbiotic relationship.” Arundhati Roy, Author-activist 
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“The US believes in democracy at home and imperialism abroad. Barring academics, most Americans aren’t well-educated.” Aparna Sen, Filmmaker

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“Indian Muslims do not have the kind of hatred against Barack Obama that they had for George W. Bush for the war in Iraq.” Asaduddin Owaisi, MiM MP 
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“The war in Vietnam made me think of US as a big bully, but there’s much to admire about it, especially its democracy.” Bishen Singh Bedi, Former India captain

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“India’s trying to be a regional  superpower, it’s a struggling bully that has this fantastic cultural export called Bollywood.” Dibakar Banerjee, Filmmaker  
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“The US does not influence Indian business as every country makes its own decisions. But American MBA is a flag-bearer.” Gautam Thapar, Avantha Group

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“You can’t have one set of rules for yourself, another for others, and then get away with it because you are so powerful.” Javed Akhtar, Lyricist/scriptwriter 
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“The ties between the two countries are like a perfect marriage. I see a very positive future for the two countries.” William Bissell, FabIndia

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"Not only has America zeroed in on the Indian market, “the US market is one India and other countries aspire to be in.” Malvinder Singh, Fortis Healthcare 
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“We need to have cordial relations with the US but without playing a junior partner or the role of a supplicant.” N. Ram, Editor-in-chief, Hindu

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“A guy like Oliver Stone can exist in Hollywood. A person who questions holy cows, criticises his country is allowed to work.” Sudhir Mishra, Filmmaker 
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“I criticise the US government’s policies in Iraq or Afghanistan. But then even a large number of Americans oppose these.” Nandini Sundar, Sociologist

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“Post-war decolonisation’s essence was that Third World countries would control their resources. The US reversed it.” Prabhat Patnaik, Economist 
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“The time to ape the US is over. Indians are learning from all over the world, not just America; we are acquiring US companies.” Rajiv Kumar, FICCI

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“US combines immense technological expertise with a sad lack of reflectiveness on capitalism’s negative effects.” Dilip Simeon, Historian 
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“The US has failed the Tocquevillian promise of the spirit of equality. The US itself is trying to negate that spirit.” Yogendra Yadav, Social scientist

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“America belongs at once to the top drawer of individual imagination, and the bottom drawer of the political psyche.” Rukmini Bhaya Nair, Poet 
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“By being inward-looking and in trying to balance India and China, the US might lose sight of India’s potential.” Gita Piramal, Business historian

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“Americans live by the theory that if you aren’t better today than what you were yesterday, you have wasted 24 hours.” Naresh Trehan, Medanta 
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“Bush brought the nation down to its knees and the nation realises that. It’s soft human tragedy of massive scale.” Rahul Bose, Actor

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Even during those years of a more pronounced anti-America stance, our dislike was balanced by our admiration for certain aspects of its culture. Our responses to the then two powers were contradictory—we coveted Moscow’s affection but hated its totalitarian system; and even when we hated America, we admired its democracy, its idea of individual freedom. We have always loved Hollywood; American music always found an echo in us, from country to rock to jazz; from Hemingway to Steinbeck to Roth, their writers have influenced us deeply; and intellectuals like Noam Chomsky have as much a following in India as anywhere else. Poet Rukmini Bhaya Nair explains vividly, “America belongs at once to the top drawer of the individual imagination, representing all sorts of personal aspirations and impossible desires, and to the bottom drawer of the political psyche, representing our deepest apprehensions and uncontrollable fears.”

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American Degree: US universities are a huge lure for Indians. (Photograph by Mohd. Jaffer/Snaps India)

Our contradictory emotions about America explain why it hasn’t outraged us as much as it should have—we tolerated it because there is still much to love about it. We hated America’s war against Vietnam, but also celebrated its people’s opposition to it, particularly as it spawned a rich array of cultural expressions. As former cricketer Bishen Singh Bedi says, “The war in Vietnam made me think of the US as a big bully, and I am still not its fan. But there’s much to admire about the US, especially its outstanding democracy, which has made a black man the president.”

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But this contradiction about the US seemed to get partially resolved as India liberalised, opened its market and began to register astonishing growth. The middle class expanded and became diverse, impacting our perception of the US, described as a nation made of the middle class. And our attitude changed substantially from the time Americans began to actively woo us—Bill Clinton and George W. Bush visited us; the Americans crafted the lifting of nuclear apartheid against India; and New Delhi and Washington are now tipped to enter into a global partnership during President Barack Obama’s visit. This hype is evident in the extensive coverage of his visit in the media, including Outlook’s two back-to-back covers on Obama and America. We are simply enjoying being courted by the Americans.

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About this phenomenon, author-activist Arundhati Roy says, “To most elite Indians, businessmen, bureaucrats, politicians, legal luminaries, artistes, cultural czars—it is a home away from home. Everyone seems to have a close relative who is studying there or working there. We’re talking of hundreds of thousands of people here. And each of them has a network of family at home.” This element is what prompts political scientist Professor C. Lakshmanan to say, “The US-India relationship is all about middle-class hype.”

Dr Naresh Trehan, chairman and MD, Medanta, would have us believe otherwise. He feels America represents a complex culture for two reasons, each evoking admiration among Indians. “One,” he says, “is its identity—right from its earliest days—as a melting pot of people from different cultures. The other is its tremendous spirit of entrepreneurship, which has only gained momentum through the years. They live by the theory that if you are not better today than what you were yesterday, you have wasted 24 hours.”

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So, then, we are no longer schizophrenic about America? Really, you are in for a surprise if you think the answer is yes. Says social scientist Yogendra Yadav, “I see the US as having failed the Tocquevillian promise, which essentially talks about the American spirit of equality. Today, the US itself is trying to negate that spirit of equality.” This denial of equality is manifested most sharply in Washington’s aggressive foreign policy, going to war against countries either boasting of resources which America covets or those not willing to toe its line. Economist Prabhat Patnaik argues that it has turned on its head the post-ww-ii imagination: “The essence of post-war decolonisation was that the Third World countries would control their natural resources. What the US is engaged upon now and has been for long is a process of reversing this, especially with respect to oil and natural gas.”

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Feeling The Eat: American fast food chains are at home in India now. (Photograph by Dinesh Parab)

But even opponents of America say a distinction must be made between its government and its people. As sociologist Nandini Sundar says, “I criticise the US government’s policies such as what they are doing in Iraq or Afghanistan. But then, even large numbers of Americans have opposed these policies of their government.” Having studied in the US, Sundar says the US reminds her of “those Americans, like some of my teachers, who are liberal in their outlook, who have worked hard on India and whose knowledge of India is perhaps far more than that of many Indians. It also reminds me of the democratic tradition of the US where the emphasis on equality is very strong”. For historian Dilip Simeon, America is “a dynamic country with a vibrant culture and academic life”, but it is also “a nation whose insularity, self-obsession and militarism” were endangering its own democratic values. “America combines immense technological expertise with a sad lack of reflectiveness about the negative ramifications of the capitalist system,” he declares.

Agrees film lyricist Javed Akhtar, “America must be respected for its positivity, democracy, intellectual thought and vigour.” But what disturbs him too is the country’s lopsided foreign policy, and its arrogance vis-a-vis other cultures. “You can’t have one set of rules for yourself and another set for the others, and then get away with it because you are so powerful,” says Akhtar. Though also opposed to America’s conduct abroad, filmmaker Sudhir Mishra points out, “But there are possibilities there. A guy like Oliver Stone can exist and be idealised in Hollywood. He couldn’t exist in India. A person who questions holy cows, who is critical of his own country, who dissents is allowed to work in Hollywood.”

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Trick Or Treat: Halloween gothic has caught on in India as well. (Photograph by Fotocorp, From Outlook, November 15, 2010)

Film director Aparna Sen, however, is dismissive of the opposition of people to American state policy, its space for dissent. “Barring a bubble of academics, who are very forthright in criticising many policies of the government, a large number of Americans are not well-educated and have very little knowledge about the outside world. They are gullible enough to see themselves as the victim rather than the perpetrator of violence in different parts of the world. The US believes in democracy at home and imperialism outside.”

Some feel the harsher aspects of the American state have been blunted because of Obama. Says MP Asaduddin Owaisi, “The kind of hatred Indian Muslims had for George Bush following the war against Iraq is not there against Obama. But the issue of Palestine continues to haunt our minds.” Despite the deep distrust of America, Owaisi says it remains the land where the youth feel they can achieve their dreams. “If you visit the American embassy, one can find several Muslim youngsters lining up for visas,” says Owaisi, though he cautions New Delhi to think carefully about the kind of relations it wants to nurture with the US.

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What kind of relations should India forge with the US? N. Ram, editor-in-chief of The Hindu, feels that under the prime ministership of A.B. Vajpayee and now under Manmohan Singh, India has almost become a camp follower of the US on key policy issues. “We need a cordial relationship with the US but without playing a junior partner or a supplicant’s role,” says Ram. Former diplomat T.P. Sreenivasan thinks Indo-US relations will benefit the world: “A strong and visible partnership that is now growing rapidly between India and the US can certainly help in enhancing peace and stability not only in Asia but also globally.” Another former diplomat, Aravind Vellodi, wants Indians to shed their paranoia about the US and build upon shared values to carve durable relations. “The US influence on India has been largely benign because we have shared interests in democracy, human rights, rule of law and combating terrorism,” says Vellodi.

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Love Is In The Air: Valentine’s Day is an import we’ve made ours. (Photograph by Reuters, From Outlook, November 15, 2010)

“The ties between the two countries are like a perfect marriage,” says William Bissell, managing director of FabIndia, jubilant at the way Indo-US relations have gathered momentum over the decade. Many captains of industry, quite understandably, view the relationship with America from a business perspective. Contrary to the popular belief that America has zeroed in on India for its market, Malvinder Mohan Singh, chairman, Fortis Healthcare, says the reverse is equally true: “The US market is one that India and other developing countries aspire to be in.” In other words, this relationship isn’t a one-way street; it suits us too.

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This may be the case, but Dr Rajiv Kumar, director-general, FICCI, points to a fundamental difference. “The time to ape the US is over,” he says, “Indians are learning from all over the world, not just America, and Indian companies are acquiring US companies as well as outsourcing them.” These changes in the business sector have changed the patron-client feature of Indo-US relations, he concludes. Adds Gautam Thapar, chairman, Avantha Group, “The US does not influence Indian business as every country makes its own business decisions. But the American mba course is considered a flag-bearer on how to do business.”

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True, the industry is upbeat, but business historian Gita Piramal has very legitimate fears about the potential of Indo-US relations not being realised. “I think Indo-US is a good relationship to foster, but by being inward-looking and in trying to balance India and China, the Americans might lose sight of the potential that India presents,” says Piramal.

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ATS Greens: American-style gated community. (Photograph by Narendra Bisht)

Perhaps this potential might not be realised for another reason—the US appears to be in decline, beset by pessimism and lack of faith in itself. Actor Rahul Bose expresses the American mood well, “I’ve been going to America for the past 25 years. What strikes me most about the country now is that the entire energy seems to be in coma. Be it business or new ideas, things are comatose. There is a deepest sense of fear and I find that very disturbing. Bush brought the nation down to its knees and the nation realises that. It’s soft human tragedy of massive scale.”

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But a weak America remains the biggest power. This fact has implications for India drawing closer to the US. About this relationship, Arundhati Roy says, “It’s a cultural and colonial bear-hug. In terms of public policy, it becomes dangerous because the system of rewards and incentives in this cosy embrace leads to a colonisation of the imagination. All the people who run the country—Manmohan Singh, Montek Singh, Chidambaram—their education, their careers and probably their post-retirement plans are all tied into this symbiotic relationship which is mutually beneficial for the elite but certainly not for ordinary people.”

Agrees Prabhat Patnaik, “India’s increasing proximity to the US really means the Indian bourgeoisie’s increasing proximity to the US, and that is just the flip side of the Indian bourgeoisie’s increasing distance from the ordinary people. The Indian bourgeoisie now nurtures ambition of a global reach, for which it needs American support, and is willing to pay the price of entering into a strategic alliance with the US and Israel.” Agreeing with Patnaik is the voice from the Hindu right. Says Yogi Adityanath of the Gorakh Peeth, Gorakhpur, “The US can never be a true friend or well-wisher of India. It may use India as a market, but it can never see India prosper politically or economically.”

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Is the American influence changing India and its state? Hear what the talented filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee has to say, “My impression of America is drawn from Hollywood films. It’s quite similar to what Bollywood means to India. I see quite a few similarities there. India is trying to be the regional superpower, it’s a struggling bully that has this fantastic cultural export called Bollywood.” In other words, a world bully tying up with a regional bully...Is this what we want India to be? Readers, send in your response.

By Pranay Sharma with Anjali Puri, Sheela Reddy, Namrata Joshi, Arindam Mukherjee, Rohit Mahajan, Pragya Singh and Arpita Basu in Delhi, John Mary in Thiruvananthapuram, Pushpa Iyengar in Chennai, Arti Sharma in Mumbai, Madhavi Tata in Hyderabad and Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

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