Is mainstream US jealous about India?
Ask the Indians who are living in the US for a long time!
Is mainstream US jealous about India?
Ask the Indians who are living in the US for a long time!
Twenty years back, in USA we used to hear that India is famous for snakes and tigers. The tremendous inflow of educated Indians in US in the last twenty years has changed that perception. The perception has changed from compassion to jealousy. There are many reasons for that. First, Indians who have settled in US are very well educated and mostly professional. They earn and save at a rate twice as high as any other groups. Seldom Indians are ever convicted for a serious crime. In any school, it is very common to see Indian kids holding the top positions in their class. They are disciplined and good in academics. Most importantly Indians have the lowest rate of single parenthood, divorces or other social and domestic problems. At the same time the economy in US has gone from bad to worse. The home prices have sky rocketed. Gasoline prices have doubled in the few years. Wages have declined and people are living on their credit cards. It is difficult to afford a home these days because of lack of jobs and high home prices. Indians live in many cases as extended families and Indian businesses are slowly buying out American businesses. Many Americans openly discuss the need for adapting to “Indian role model cultures.” US technology workers are outright angry at India for the “outsourcing” issues. Indian professionals are very successful at middle management level but not so when it comes to upper management in any field. It takes certain special qualities in US to rise to the upper management. One of those qualities is the tactics of looking good and acting good for the boss and bosses boss. Indians lose there. Self respect and certain level of dignity is in the core of Indian values. That makes some Americans even more jealous. Sometimes they feel Indians have gotten things without doing their fair share. Some will bring in the issue of racism and theory of glass ceiling. It may be there and may not be there. USA is probably the least racist country when it comes to issues and circumstances inside US. This is because of rugged history of US in this regard and many affirmative action laws because of that. Similarly official position on classism and castism in India is very liberal. To conclude, it can be easily said US mainstream is steadily growing impatient with the Indian successes. Whether it is outright jealousy or something else, no body knows. Indian politicians should read this article and try to understand Collin Powell. General Powell is a good person. He is more compassionate than many others in the US administration. But for many reason he may not be happy with India. Human manifestation of frustration is very complex. India is experiencing an interesting one.