A Community in Disguise

Here we are - as a community. Scattered across the globe, primarily a part of the global workforce. We all originated in India, many of us have lived there for most of our lives or at least for the first twenty some formative years and the vast majority of us still live in India. But globalization is a very personal experience for all of us - our friends, relatives and families or family members are far apart and we in our working lives and personal ones keeping track of timezones, planning global travel and not hesitating to communicate in an instant with our colleagues, friends and families anywhere around the world.

Many of us have done well for ourselves - as might be expected of a community obsessed with personal success. We have been taught to constantly strive for reaching the "top". And many of us have reached some sort of "top". But as might be expected, the "top" from one point of view is just another point from which other "tops" are visible. The number of "tops" keeps growing smaller, but there are other "tops". So, life continues to be a journey with its ups and downs. For some of us, boardroom battles that make and unmake fortunes is the norm. For others, getting the next passenger over is it. But the desire to do better for ourselves is strong among all of us.

We identify ourselves as being Indian. It's relatively easy for us to work with a global community but how easy is it for us to enjoy being a part of it? Say, have a drink with our non-Indian colleagues? How about dinner? There is a choice here for us. We can be an amusing Indian, the novelty of which fades in the first few minutes or the longer lasting choice - fit in.

Yes, we can make the effort to "fit in". "Get into" the popular sports, the closest athletic teams, talk about movies and news that are common to everyone in a certain geography. But is that really what we enjoy or is it just another compromise in exchange for being an indistinguishable part of the global village.

What is the Indian identity any way? Is it a religion - not really, we have all kinds of them. Is it a certain language - no again. Is it food? I doubt anyone who eats Indian food would claim to be Indian solely on the basis of that. Then what is it that makes us call ourselves Indian? What makes us "at home", comfortable, at ease?

For one, there is an undeniable sense of shared history and origins. Everything from pre-historic mythology to the freedom struggle to recent events is a history that we all share. The mythological stories some may claim are a part of the hindu religion, but one can argue that some of it is history which survives strongly in our collective memories. It is a history that in practice is shared by people of all religions in India and it rarely has anything to do with modern practice of any religion including hinduism.

Then there is a distinct set of values. How often have you seen an Indian person take a loan to get the latest dose of botox? When you see it you know it, yet has anyone tried to analyze the value system that we share? What are its origins? What is the underlying philosophy?

I'd like to explore the Indian identity here. Explore what contributes to our makeup. Our successes and our failures. So your comments are welcome: khiray@gmail.com