It’s like playing Whac-A-Mole: Every time you think this “model minority” BS is swept away for good, in comes yet another set of generalizations based on wishful thinking and selective observation, deployed by some so-called expert who sets him/herself up to make claims about the community as a whole.
This time it’s Manjeet Kripalani, the Bombay bureau chief of Business Week and currently a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Kripalani, who first came to the US in the 1980s, has a piece today in the Los Angeles Times that a tipster kindly brings to our attention on the news tab. Behold the brilliant lede:
THE 2.2 MILLION Indian Americans in the U.S. constitute a model minority, highly educated and well paid. And now, following in the footsteps of earlier immigrant groups such as the Irish, the Jews and the Cubans, Indian Americans are emerging as an influential force in Washington.
I’m not going to rehash the whole critique of the concept of a “model minority.” At this point, either you get it or you don’t. Instead, I simply want to point out that by writing entirely in generalizations, some conveniently free of backing evidence and others normative and therefore unprovable, the sister not only has carried out very shoddy journalism, but also — thanks to the L.A. Times editors — been set up as an expert voice rather than a reporter investigating an issue.Among the generalizations:
This group loves its adopted land; it also cares deeply about the country of its heritage. …
As professionals — mostly doctors and engineers — they spent their first decades working hard and ensuring Ivy League educations for their children. (More than 60% of Indian Americans have college degrees.) Now they are established, law-abiding and wealthy…
Do you recognize yourself? If so, bully for you and for Kripalani. But if this airbrushed, aspirational narrative doesn’t sit all that well, you might be comforted to know that it’s coming from someone who was the deputy press secretary to Steve Forbes‘ presidential campaign back in 1996. How much you want those kinds of voices speaking unchallenged for you is something you need to decide for yourself.
harami = devil? soor = pig? bacha = kid?
Razib sorry about lumping non-punjabi indians with punjabi indians in Canada. But Punjabi Canadians make up alot higher % of the Indo-Canadian population almost half and over 80% in the Vancouver. Compare to States where they make up about 20% of the population.
So in Canada Punjabi are the most powerful Indian group, where in the States I think it the the Gurjati community.
Once again Razib I am sorry.
harami is bastard, the rest are right. ja duffa ho means go get buried
Once again Razib I am sorry.
apology accepted!
No way! Southie POWER!
Deepa,
little known fact, Punjabis love, love, love idli and sambar
🙂 And Punjabi food is all the rage in Bangalore. When I visited last time, they took me out specially for that cuisine.
Is it really? Well, that’s good, make sure there’s enough ghee to go around
Someone above got it right on 1960s-80s selective immigration.
On Canada, that country literally allowed thousands of fake asylum seekers (and even today welcomes Khalistani asylum seekers) so comparision to US not fair IMO. How can you expect a model minority when you are building a community from some farmer from Punjab who paid a asylum pimp to get into Canada and tear passport and flush passport on board plane toilet? Let us not forget Kanishka and Khalistan movement still alive in Canada (and to some extent in US – asylum lawyer funded movement)
This article has two major shortcomings. One is that it should have dealt with only its core theme – that of Indian Americans becoming more involved politically (it title should have been “Indian Americans come out politically”). Another is that in trying to list evidence of being a model-minority, the author makes exaggerating statments and views with disturbing implications.
The “News” portion of the article is about the involvement of the Indian American community in lobbying for the nuclear deal. The author should have stuck to this theme. In such a small article, it’s not possible to take on a subject of Indian Americans (IA) “coming out”. The author should have stuck to mentioning about increasing numbers of IA candidates holding public office and increasing influence of the IA lobby. The implication in this article is that the IA lobby was essential in getting the nuclear deal passed. Lobbying can only present some view in a favorable way; it cannot affect the substance of well-formulated public policy in America. I recall reading in the news that it was the Bush administration who initiated the nuclear deal because it felt that it was in America’s interests too, not necessarily for financial gains. The author’s concluding sentence “Watch their moves — they’ve only just started.” seeks to convince that there is something more than what meets the eye, without any evidence of previous accomplishments or potential.
The rest of the article is off-topic and is flawed with many inaccurate statements and implications. But I think that the reason is the shortcoming in the author’s writing ability more than a mindset with obvious flaws, that causes her to make sweeping generalizations about the whole IA community. The author mentions that the IA community “loves its adopted land”, that it is “law-abiding”, that its high median income is a “PRIME source of human and financial capital for Washington”, and that it ensured “Ivy League educations for [its] children” during its early years in America. The author also states that “ALL these native-born Indians … came together to help the passage of the nuclear deal.” The author should have commented on the specific IA lobby invovled in the nuclear deal if that was her main objective, instead of trying to make generalizations about a diverse IA community. All of these generalization arise because the author goes on to list some reasons for labeling the community as a model-minority in just two paragraphs. If these accomplishments are the criteria by which the IA community will be judged, then the community doesn’t serve up anything notable. For all the talk about technological might, there’s only one major tech company (Sun) founded by a person of Indian origin, for example.
Assigning the IA community a label of a model-minority in the context of this article raises doubts about disturbing implications even if the author didn’t intend to. If author mentions that the community “loves its adopted land” or that it is law-abiding, is the honor of the community at stake that these statements need to be made? Otherwise, is it the case that other minories do not fit this bill and that a distinction needs to be made between them and the IA community? If that’s not the case either, is it that the IA community needs to “suck up” to mainstream America by attempting to prove its usefulness? The tag of model-minority brings up many such connotations in my mind; unfortunately, the author’s reasons for using this tag is not convincing.
This article belong in the op-ed section by the way. It reflects poorly on the LA Times for printing this article in the News section.
I was wrong in my last paragraph. The article is indeed in the Opinion section and not the News section.
The problem with the “Model Minority” characterization as it’s usually construed isn’t that it’s untrue. Of course it’s true. Indian (and in fact, most Asian) immigrants have done better in this country than the intense racism would predict. The problem is when that fact is bent around to fit into some completely ridiculous ideological model of rugged American individuality. The reason that Asians have done well in this country is that it has historically been possible to erect a whole structure of social capital outside of the traditional system in the US. First gens were able to parachute into this racist system with the bulk of their qualifications either intact or already ensured. They’ve been able to amass the wealth that can counteract that bias in the US for their children because of that. None of that fits into the historical American myth of immigration, in which people reinvent themselves and throw off the iron chains of their old culture. Yet that is too often the subtext of these characterizations: we are minorities who simply do not threaten the status quo, since our existence is neither costly nor threatening. It is not a positive thing.
step back and take a look at mitter’s commentary from the outside… contrast it with kripalani’s pov.
kripalani comes across a little too anxious to please. but her writing probably reflects the constituency she (feels she) represents. is that ever so wrong? my knowledge of Californian geography is weak, but my guess is that the bourgeoisie whose attributes kripalani is lauding forms a large component of the newspaper reading desi demographic.
siddharth’s pov is formulated so as reflect the angst of the sm readership – those who squirm at the thought that they are related in perception or by accident of birth to the folks being applauded by kripalani, folks who’ve assimilated well by seemingly bending over for the man.
so – to me they’re both catering to their respective audience – points of view. i hope y’all can see both sides of the coinage.
The Khalistan movenment has died down some since the 80’s in Canada. However there is a major divide in the Sikh Community in Vancouver area. On one side is the moderates and on the other side is the conservatives sikh’s. The moderates are the one with tables and chairs in the temples and the conservatives are the ones where none.
In the late 90’s Sikh temple would have fights over tables and chairs in which the police would have to be called. I have only live area for a couple of years and I think things are better now, but since I never go to Gurdwara, I could be wrong.
If I have any facts wrong, I meant no harm.
If these accomplishments are the criteria by which the IA community will be judged, then the community doesn’t serve up anything notable. For all the talk about technological might, there’s only one major tech company (Sun) founded by a person of Indian origin, for example.
much of your critique is well founded, but this part is just as subjective as the author’s criteria, because you are not stipulating how you define ‘major tech company.’ Sun is (at least now) top-tier, but to be a top-tier company you also have to be a particular age (google is an exception, turning into a mega-corporation so quickly). there weren’t as many brownz in silicon valley during the 70s and 80s because the initial waves were professionals, so one would not expect as many brownz being involved in founding these older established corporations of note, just like few brownz founded fortune 500 corps in general because most of them are older and many are even rooted in the pre-1965 era.
i tend to agree that the boosterism among amerian brownz exceeds real attainment, but if you offer a specific example (Sun) i think it is incumbent on you lay out the thresholds you are using to define ‘major tech company’ (e.g., youtube is probably not a major tech company and jawed karim’s involvement was distant and somewhat marginal, but these are the boundaries conditions that are probably approriate to define to establish a precise measurement).
I have always wonder what is so wrong with assimilated when you move to a western country. I have taken alot of critism since moving to Vancouver from other desi’s mostly punjabi for being so assimilated, even far as being called a sell out. I guess if you brown you have to be a certain way? Whatever!!
Wise words, hairy_d.
Although I think there are many on SM who would like the model minority image too. It’s nice and convenient and looks good on paper.
As Neal hinted at before, I think the model minority thing kills off any activism within our community, or at least dampens it down.Even where I live to see Polynesians and indigenous people forming political pressure groups or even going on protests is seen as normal. If Indians and Asians started doing the same thing some people would be like ‘wtf? You’ve got nothing to protest about.’
There’s a goepolitical aspect to this as well – as the article demonstrateed. Once the oil fields in the Middle East are privatized, the great geopolitical dance of the 2ist century will involve China the US and India. China and India will continue to be per capita poor, but in absolute terms will be wealthy, and will alter fundamentally the balance of power in global markets. China’s nomenklatura will eventually frame China as a competitor to the US; India’s likely will not, and thus its usefulness in the scheme of things. The model minority rhetoric may have less to do with local conditions (with its identity politics, its rhetoric of race, etcc.) than with the importance of the India-US relationship, especially for American business; the proseprous “global Indian” being a pawn (though he may think himself a playa) in the greater game. Its not for nothing the lobbies funded largely by American businesses recruited Indian-Americans in the nuclear lobbying effort.
much of your critique is well founded, but this part is just as subjective as the author’s criteria, because you are not stipulating how you define ‘major tech company.’
You are right; I should have defined what constitutes a major tech company. My criteria for being major was that the company should have done something notable that professionals in atleast the tech field know about.
If you look at a lot of the innovative products coming up in the open-source community, such as projects on sourceforge.net or on apache.org, I don’t know of any major product started by a person of Indian origin. Many in the community occupy top tier jobs on teams providing well-known products. As far as innovation goes, however, we haven’t been as successful yet. I am not pointing out our shortcomings. I am merely saying that we are fooling ourselves if we let the media, the article in this case, to exaggerate our accomplishments in the tech sector.
Yeah? Well here’s another pov – this is a crappy little puff piece on a few wealthy and well-connected Indian-Americans.
I wouldn’t care or complain if she wrote this clearly as a short profile of these men. That’s fair, that’s fine.
But she quite diingeniously covers the flattery with lame generalizations about all Indians. Even her “facts” aren’t sourced and look qutie fishy to me:
Where did she get these statistics?
She also seems to be courting Republican attention:
So make sure you get the men mentioned in the article on your board of directors! Hire them as “consultants” for your exploratory comittee!
And lastly, to support Siddhartha’s problem with “model minority” rhetoric – it makes any Indian who isn’t wealthy appear to be an abject and utter failure. You’re a cab driver ? LOSER! (You’re Indian! Y’all supposed to be doctors right? What’s wrong with you?) You run a grocery store/ operate heavy machinery/work for the sanitation dept? You must have really effd up, since you come from an ‘established, law-abiding and wealthy” family, right?
In college, I was explaining to a acqaintance that her ideas for a party seemed quite lavish and many people might not be able to make the expected contribution. She scoffed until I flat out said I couldn’t afford it. She then told me to stop being coy since, what, my dad was a doctor right? Tacken aback, I said “no” and her immediate response was, ” fine, so then your mom is, whatever!” and proceeded to give me shit for being “cheap.”
Ay, ay, ay! Cica, it’s good to have you back.
LOL. Cicatrix, I feel for you.
YES!! Yes.
It also has terrible implications for career choice, intellectual development, and self-fulfillment. If you’re not striving like hell to throw yourself into a lavish career regardless of its fit for you, you’re failing the stereotype. Where does that leave the people who don’t long to be corporate lawyers, head surgeons, or investment bankers?
It also short-circuits any attempt to respond to the very real issues of discrimination and bias that South Asians DO face. For those individauls who have NOT been able to parachute in with their careers intact, the same barriers that other minorities face are still very relevant. But how could a “model minority” EVER have a problem with race?
Enough with this BS!! Have you heard the name Jagdeep Singh ??
Where did she get these statistics?
probably something called the US Census: Asian Indians had the highest percentage with a bachelorÂ’s degree, about 64 percent, whereas about 60 percent of Hmong, and about half of Cambodians and Laotians, had less than a high school education.
(page 14)
also, i know that ‘positive’ stereotypes can be annoying (e.g., brownz are smart and wealthy), but it is a step up from the brown-bomber model. chris rock had a funny skit on SNL years ago how he wishes that black people were stereotyped as wealthy (jews) or smart (asians).
Ok, let me go ahead and answer that question, he has started Infinera, a cutting edge company in Optical networking space. I should have mentioned Pardeep Sandhu, who started JUNIPER networks. Anyone who is in the Telecom industry knows what JUNPIER networks means.
Where does that leave the people who don’t long to be corporate lawyers, head surgeons, or investment bankers?
it leaves them to pursue their life’s dreams and in a position to tell people who want to define them by a stereotype to f**k off (speaking as a non-corporate laywer/surgeon/banker). it’s the american way, we’re individuals.
It also has terrible implications for career choice, intellectual development, and self-fulfillment. If you’re not striving like hell to throw yourself into a lavish career regardless of its fit for you, you’re failing the stereotype. Where does that leave the people who don’t long to be corporate lawyers, head surgeons, or investment bankers?
also, may say that focusing on ‘career choice,’ ‘intellectual development’ and ‘self-fulfillment’ speaks to a upper-middle-class brown sensibility in terms of priorities? i am pretty sure that working-class brownz scrimping to send their kids to college are the most inclined to wanting their kids to enter the professional world. i think the people rebelling against the stereotype most strongly are the children of the professionals themselves, who see that it ain’t all that.
I don’t dispute that at all. But, as you’ve acknowledged above, the stereotype chafes. It sucks to be told that you’re only behaving appropriately if you’ve only made the “right” choices, especially if that expectation is taken to the racial level.
sucks to be told that you’re only behaving appropriately if you’ve only made the “right” choices, especially if that expectation is taken to the racial level.
look, i’ve experienced this myself. that being said, when i feel put upon due to this preconception people hold i remind myself what stereotypes might be accrued if was a black american male. i mean, women would no longer be surprised by my huge cock when i undress, but aside from that taking too much umbrage when people make assumptions about familial affluence or professional orientation seems to trivialize the far greater problems with stereotypes.
p.s. this particular problem also seems to afflict some jews i know, who feel inferior because they aren’t the “jewish doctor” or “jewish lawyer.”
Hey Razib, point taken about there being worse stereotypes. I’m just irritated because this is the writer is Indian, perpetuating a stereotype, and using it to ground her tongue-bath as some sort of social commentary.
. I’m just irritated because this is the writer is Indian, perpetuating a stereotype, and using it to ground her tongue-bath as some sort of social commentary.
she’s obviously just a polemicist. itz an op-ed, right? i don’t think this is about brown people at all, just a talking point to be slotted into a particular political platform for which she’s a hired gun.
Maybe that’s why it chafes us so? By being stereotyped (even if in a ‘good’ way) we feel robbed of (or at least pushed farther away from) that ever-coveted American individuality/anonymity…?
Just because you don’t know stuff dont make a generalized statement. Here it is http://www.youos.com ., the most innovative Opensource Web based “OS”. It rocks. Guess what one of the founder is Indian. This goes to show you are fooling yourself into believing there are no Indian with “innovative tech idea”.
There are other commenters here who seem to think “well accomplishd” rich Indians immigrate, so it is easy for them. Around 90% of students who come here take loans back home. Repaying their loans is one of their top priorities as soon as they complete their studies. If they are so rich back home, they probably come here and go back to take care of their papas company. Only the guys who take loans end up staying here.
Even where I live to see Polynesians and indigenous people forming political pressure groups or even going on protests is seen as normal. If Indians and Asians started doing the same thing some people would be like ‘wtf? You’ve got nothing to protest about.’
I guess you have not heard the name of “Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi” who started mass political activism in late 1800s-early 1900s in South Africa.
He was one of the first guy to start pressure groups involving common man, and things you are talking about.
They have Indian-Americans who were even involved in Civil Rights movement.
I am not a fan of model minority neither people who have nothing else to do tear it down. They both are little dense, if you ask me.
correction: ….neither people who have nothing else to do tear it down as full-time passion…
Sure. It’s just annoying — it doesn’t impact life chances in the way that many, many other racial/ethnic stereotypes do.
And lol on the cock thing.
holeeeeee shiiiiit.
Goddamn, you people sure do love to go on and on about this. What should be a fascinating (and maybe even heated) discussion quickly turns so pedantic that I gotta scroll from comment #23 to the end. I’m sure some people had some good stuff to say in there, but Jesus wept. Who has time?
Summa y’all brownz gotta get a life. It’s Saturday! Go outside, go play. Go on! Step away from the computer. That’s what your momma would say.
Siddartha: totally with you on the model minority thing. One other point on the term “model minority” (and if someone else said this already, fine, whatever, consider this hammering it home): “model” sets us up for failure. As brownz become more and more mainstream, the ideal by which we are judged “model” will become less prevalent: more people will be fuck-ups. And those people will be derided for it even more than if they were just left alone. America is supposed to be the land of neverending second chances. If you’re non-brown and have a troubled past, no one loads you up with “but your people are so great! How come you can’t get your shit together?”
That’s sort of unfair. We’re a collection of individuals. If we’re largely professional, largely successful, and largely affluent, that means that there are plenty of people who are NOT. And those people can face major problems directly as a result of myths like this. So yeah, sometimes you need to generalize to get a point across. And editorials are great places to generalize. But the truth is usually more interesting than the generalization, in my experience.
.
Confront your parents, aunties and uncles first before confronting the wider American populace.
They are the ones who first implanted the doctor/lawyer/engineer seeds in the gardens of your psyches.
I see this as an inner/intra-community/familial issue.
WTF? Outside? It’s 60 degrees on the left coast and i cannot find my Prada scarf.
i’m not sure where you’re getting that from. your anecdote suggests you are riled about some person’s random diss from your past – i didnt get all you are suggesting from the excerpts.
the point of my earlier comment was that kripalani’s article reflects a view that is well-received in by latimes’ general readership, by her editors and by her handlers. you may not agree with it, but there’s a sizable population out there that does.
for all that the obscure desi achievements that are lauded on this board, consider this one – this is an immigrant woman who’s done well in her own right – she influences a readership spanning millions (BWk + Latimes) – she obviously cares passionately about where she hails from – and that’s a good thing – she bends the truth but well… so what?
no. i’m not related to her or anything. just a little bugged by the one-sided slamming. i’m just not sure why anyone’s so deeply upset about this little fluff piece. most bwk articles are pretty fluffy anyway but that hasnt prevented the same articles (prob with krip’s thumbprints on them) from being cited on this blog haha- and i’m rambling now so i’ll stop now and go for a run. i hope i dont slip on ice and break my jaw. that would be so uncool.
i’m going. i’m going machang. just was my last soliloquy for the day up there.
just for that, when i down a cool one tonight – hmm.. at 11:30 p.m – i’ll say.. cheers to y’all. how about that – if we all do that together – the combined good will compressed into that fraction of a second may warm up the globe by a degree or so – and the icebergs will melt – and LA will drown – and kripalani will float out to sea – and egad! what a masterful plan… you devil in a lada, you.
This is absolutely right, “model minority” is replete with insulting insinuations. The word “minority” is not an objective monicker, it’s used in a pejorative context, as in, “We were here first, you came next and did your role well.” I’d say its much more than a subtle attack, it’s more or less a pointed finger at blacks and hispanics who’s historical timeline exists on an entirely different wavelengths. As W.E.B DuBois asked his people, “How does it feel to be a problem?”, we must turn back to the question Vijay Prashad asked, “How does it feel to be a solution?”
The term “model minority” is seen by some as condescending, the equivalent of saying “good boy”; while for most other indian-americans, such as this silly chest-thumper Kripalani, it is a source of inordinate pride. Macaulay would be proud of the latter. Indians were educated to be servants of the British Empire and educated indians, which effectively means english-educated indians, have for the most part been unable to shake off this servile, colonised mentality. It is for this same reason so many desis eagerly try to curry favor with anglos with boasts of Indian Democracy, Indian proficiency in english and so on.
You are confusing “well-educated” with rich.
The Hmong immigrants were peasants. Indian immigrants mostly came from the english-educated class, which is the (undeserving) elite of India. Big difference. Presenting such statistics without background is misleading.
Similarly, mexican immigrants aren’t the well-educated elite of their country. The educated elite of south america stays home and enjoys a good life. The elite of south asia scramble to get the hell out, by hook or by crook.
Firstly it is ridiculous to claim that “brown american means indian american numerically”. Check out La Raza, or this for example:
http://brownpride.com/articles/article.asp?a=219
Secondly, the reason for indian-americans doing better economically than Hmong or mexican immigrants has to do with the fact that indian immigrants came from the educated class to begin with, unlike the latter. But that still does not buy desis a “high SES” since race, skin color and national origin still play a significant role in social status in America. And in these departments desis are severely handicapped. Even uneducated “brown” mexicans can claim skin color privilege over desis, being substantially lighter.
Exactly. In contrast east asians, the actual and original “model minority” in America, not only do better than indian-americans in America but, more significantly, they do far better than indians when both are in their native lands. Is it just culture or does innate intelligence play a role?
Similarly the desi community in the UK isnt exactly seen as a model. Quite the contrary. Both in Canada and the UK it appears that it is the punjabis who are the majority of desis.
Once upon a time, a few years back, I was slacking off in my Harlem gym, watching TV and eating a milky way bar, when a program about another model minority–Caribbean Americans–suddenly came on. A small group gathered around to watch and things quickly became uncomfortable. Even to a guy like me, whose racial sensitivity knob is set close to zero, it was obvious that black Americans were getting more than just an implied scolding, especially since the models in this case were also black.
One guy got very animated in his objections, and soon another dude joined in. But then, two women countered, putting down American blacks (and American black men in particular) in terms I cannot reproduce here for fear of violating SMÂ’s abusive language policies. But suffice to say, most of us know how people talk about there own group within the confinement of that group. Eventually, the first guy relented and admitted his primary concern was the white press reporting things that should be left to the black community.
The vibe I get is that the model minority narrative (and its values: personal responsibility, traditional families, religion, hard work, discipline, education, etc) is here to stay, whether we like it or not, because it has been catapulted out of conservative think tanks and onto the streets and churches. I mean by this that it is not the model minorities themselves wielding it, but the nonmodels, as anyone who has seen the excitement Cosby generates in the community can attest to. DonÂ’t get me wrong, this is still an obviously controversial minority view, but there is a growing sense that the traditional civil rights approach has reached the end of the line, and one way or another a new path, which entails some form of empowerment thru blame, must take over.
I can meet Siddhartha and his disciples halfway though. ThereÂ’s something very unseemly about Indians–who have come to this country by choice wielding a solid education– lecturing those who are coming from a very different foundation. At the very least, itÂ’s impractical, as the reaction of the first guy in my story demonstrates. But this model minority narrative has gone far beyond us, if it ever really was about us to begin with.
Just because you don’t know stuff dont make a generalized statement. Here it is http://www.youos.com ., the most innovative Opensource Web based “OS”. It rocks. Guess what one of the founder is Indian. This goes to show you are fooling yourself into believing there are no Indian with “innovative tech idea”.
I wasn’t saying that Indian Americans haven’t done innovative work in the tech industry. What I was saying that some people were overstating the contributions of the Indian-American community. Sure, their contributions have been essential in the tech sector. But some people tend to imply a dominance of this community in the tech sector when they quote statistics like “half the the Silicon Valley startups are by people of Indian origin.” This sort of thing concerns me because as a member of the community I would be ashamed if/when the shallowness of this argument is revealed.
Someone else (RC) also said something similiar to what you said by giving a name of an innovator to supposedly disprove what I was saying. My argument is that if there is really so much innovation going on, shouldn’t they be present in enough numbers? I haven’t come across many founders of open source software that are of Indian origin. Thanks to Mytake for pointing out YouOS.
I was considering innovation because it would be the ultimate test of the significance of the contributions of the IA community.
Why would IA innovate in open source software?? Its a sucker’s game. Its stupid anti-establishment BS. Desis are busy being part of the establishment to be rich. First one has to be rich than they can engage in some fringe cr@p.
Also dont expect Desis to start a consumer product. Majority of IAs are first generationers who arent really cut out to make a commercial consumer product, such as an iPOD (BTW, Apple is less of a tech company and more of a design company).
Indian Americans are involved in the nuts and bolts or plumbing of the tech industry, because that does not require flambouyant saleseman ship, but requires expertise.
Thats why Dr. Gururaj Deshpande starts a Sycamore Networks out of his research. (This is just another one of the “names”.. there are plenty of others.) Without the nuts and bolts and the plumbing there wouldnt be the wirelss Telecom revolution that happened in the last 10 years. The kind of innovation that Desis are doing is not what gets on NewsWeek or Forbes, but it runs and enable whatever gets on NewsWeek or Forbes.
In short “tech” is bigger than “Google” (which is really a good business plan and OK innovation) and bigger than OpenSource (very few serious business man would considere developing something for everyoone to get FREE), at the same times TOI type claims that IIT started the sillicon valley boom are stupid and ridiculous also.
I heard a Desi named Amar Bose started a consumer product company called Bose Audio systems which sets the Gold standard for all Noise cancellation techniques.