Media Roundup: The Trip Part II

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With the visit only a couple of days away there are of course ever increasing stories on the Presidential visit to India and Pakistan. Again this roundup is in no way comprehensive, and some mutineers may or may not cover one or more of these articles in greater detail.

  • The March 6 Newsweek issue’s cover stories are on India and Indian Americans. The issue features Salman Rushdie’s muse Padma Lakshmi on the cover and includes stories by Fareed Zakaria (India Rising) where he writes about the increasing prominence of India on an international scale; Ramin Setoodeh (At Home: American Masala) writes (under a very similar title to an article the magazine published almost a year ago) on the highly educated first generation desi-american population; Keith Naughton (Outsourcing Silicon Valley East) writes about an India that is no longer all about call centers and basic tech support; and a very poignant piece by Pulitzer prize winning author Jhumpa Lahiri (My Two Lives) on a topic which some think we focus too much attention on, the identity of hyphenated Americans. The section I paraphrase below really hit home for me a couple of years ago when my grandfather passed away. What happens when those who we look up to and receive guidance from are no longer there to give it to us? This isn’t of course strictly a cultural thing, but for children of immigrants I think it takes on an added cultural significance. As we first genners come into our own as adult Americans, its only natural that our parents, our direct connection to part of us that comes from half-way around the world, are getting older. The fear of the unknown, of the time when our parents are no longer around to guide and advise us, and what this means for our cultural identity, I think can be really puzzling.
    While I am American by virtue of the fact that I was raised in this country, I am Indian thanks to the efforts of two individuals. I feel Indian not because of the time I’ve spent in India or because of my genetic composition but rather because of my parents’ steadfast presence in my life. They live three hours from my home; I speak to them daily and see them about once a month. Everything will change once they die. They will take certain things with them–conversations in another tongue, and perceptions about the difficulties of being foreign. Without them, the back-and-forth life my family leads, both literally and figuratively, will at last approach stillness. An anchor will drop, and a line of connection will be severed. I have always believed that I lack the authority my parents bring to being Indian. But as long as they live they protect me from feeling like an impostor. Their passing will mark not only the loss of the people who created me but the loss of a singular way of life, a singular struggle. The immigrant’s journey, no matter how ultimately rewarding, is founded on departure and deprivation, but it secures for the subsequent generation a sense of arrival and advantage. I can see a day coming when my American side, lacking the counterpoint India has until now maintained, begins to gain ascendancy and weight. It is in fiction that I will continue to interpret the term “Indian-American,” calculating that shifting equation, whatever answers it may yield.
  • Interview of the President by Doordarshan, (India) (official transcript: whitehouse.gov)
  • Roundtable Interview of the President by Indian Journalists (official transcript: whitehouse.gov). This is nothing against the President since he doesn’t type out the transcript, but whoever does really messed up. In response to a question asking what President Bush’s earliest memory of India was, the President responded by saying:

THE PRESIDENT: Ghandi. It’s my first memory, as I think about India. You know, a person who was so spiritual that he captured the imagination of the entire world. He’s proof positive that — throughout history there have been individuals that have had the capacity to shape thought and to influence and — beyond border. And he did that.

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p>I like the answer, just disappointed that the person writing the transcript didn’t think it was important enough to spell the man’s name correctly. It is G-A-N-D-H-I. Also see our faq.

Related post: Media Roundup: The Trip Part 1; Brown takes over Davos; “The mood right now is, Indiaah!”

10 thoughts on “Media Roundup: The Trip Part II”

  1. The section I paraphrase below really hit home for me a couple of years ago when my grandfather passed away. What happens when those who we look up to and receive guidance from are no longer there to give it to us? This isnÂ’t of course strictly a cultural thing, but for children of immigrants I think it takes on an added cultural significance. As we first genners come into our own as adult Americans, its only natural that our parents, our direct connection to part of us that comes from half-way around the world, are getting older. The fear of the unknown, of the time when our parents are no longer around to guide and advise us, and what this means for our cultural identity, I think can be really puzzling.

    word from a dinged dude to my younger selves… dont be in such a haste to throw aside the old-world traditions unless you have something to replace it with – at the end of the day people do business not with the smartest people, but with those who they form a kinship of “us against them”.

  2. my point in context of the original excerpt was that i sensed fofatlal’s moorings were his immediate family… and the loss of these would be harsh on him – not belittling you bro – some personal context that id’ rather not share on a public forum.

  3. Bush is not welcome in India.

    “Bush is the topmost official of US imperialism, leading enemy of sovereignty. He is the leader of the imperialist quest of neo colonial domination and he is certainly not welcome in India”

    A protest rally of 40,000 people will be conducted in Delhi by eight parties -– the CPI-M, CPI-Marxist Leninist, CPI, Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal- Secular, India Justice Party, All India Forward Bloc, Revolutionary Socialist Party, which will begin from the capital’s Ramlila Maidan at 11.30 am on Thursday.

    Down with Imperialism!

  4. word from a dinged dude to my younger selves… dont be in such a haste to throw aside the old-world traditions unless you have something to replace it with – at the end of the day people do business not with the smartest people, but with those who they form a kinship of “us against them”.

    let me explain… the seed of this was sown by a comment by Mark Tully in No Full Stops in India… he made a case for casteism and lamented the colonization of indian thought to the extent that indians started ridiculing their own traditions and practices… forgetting that this is the fabric of our society… to rend it, without having a societal framework to replace it may not be wise… the alternative for relative newcomers like us … without centuries of tradition and social networks… is to take the path endorsed by ibsen and kierkegaard… or at least to put a positive twist to it 🙂 and push on through.
    …man i’m really giving this thread the kiss of death am i not 🙂

  6. Oops, my bad… will read complete piece before opening my mouth… will read complete piece before opening my mouth… will read complete piece before opening my mouth… will read complete piece before opening my mouth… will read complete piece before opening my mouth…

  8. Excerpts from a talk by TCA Srinivasa Raghavan’s take on US-Pakistan relations which cannot be ignored:

    the US doesnÂ’t really want to talk about the one issue that really matters to India — its approach to Pakistan. The US has never done anything to discipline the only country in the world that is totally and wholly dedicated to the cause of dismembering India and is a nuclear proliferator of admirable audacity. the truth is that the US ……….. wants to contain terrorism only against itself, which is why Pakistan is such an American darling. Net-net, donÂ’t lose sight of the most important issue in Indo-US relations: US-Pakistan relations. The rest will sort itself out eventually but not this, not as long as Pakistan makes itself useful to the US.

  9. It appears that rumors of India welcoming Bush with open arms have been…er…exaggerated. The size of the protest rallies in Delhi had to have embarassed the government. Other massive Left+Islamic rallies are planned in Hyderabad as well. Among Hindus in India, hostility against Bush seems cleanly split along class lines – it’s clear the business and political class(whether Congress or BJP) is largely in favor of Bush or at least in favor of closer US-India ties, but the “aam junta” appears suspicious, if not downrigh hostile. The Indian English media is taking a moderate approach but Hindi newspapers like Dainik Jagran have been making all sorts of dark insinuations about bartering away Indian sovereignty.

    How depressing. The one American president that attempted a breakthrough between US-Indian relations is treated as though he were enemy no. 1 of India.

  10. From the “Roundtable Interview with Indian Journalists” noted in the main post:

    Q Between a cricket match and a Bollywood movie, what would a — THE PRESIDENT: Cricket match and a — Q You like watching? THE PRESIDENT: What was the second? Q It’s between a Bollywood movie and a cricket match. THE PRESIDENT: I’m a cricket match person. (Laughter.) I appreciate it. As I understand it, I may have a little chance to learn something about cricket. It’s a great pastime. (Laughter.)