Shining Indians

By Farwa Imam Ali/California, V. Radhika/Toronto and Quaied Najmi/Mumbai

Fashioned along the lines of the ‘Forward 50’—a list of the most influential Jewish Americans—the NRI community in America has come up with its own list. Sample this: Sabeer Bhatia, founder, Hotmail; Vilayanur S. Ramachandran, director of the Center for Brain Cognition at University of California; Vinod Dham, father of the Intel Pentium chip; Suketu Mehta, best-selling author; Anand Jon, fashion designer; M. Night Shyamalan, film-maker; Sreenath Sreenivasan, professor at the Columbia School of Journalism; and Bobby Jindal, Republican congressman from Louisiana.

CATALYSTS OF CHANGE: Faisal Arif, Florida, USA

Professional services consultant Arun Sanjeev, who moved to the US 19 years ago, says, "Indian Americans have moved from individual brilliance to collective excellence. For a long time, information technology was in the spotlight. However, the truth is that Indians are excelling in areas like health care, financial services, economic and environmental studies."

No surprise, then, that at the recent Pravasi Bharatiya Divas meet in Mumbai, the largest delegation of non-resident Indians was from the United States. Says Prof. Sreenivasan, "Today, there are 2 million of us. This number and their achievements cannot be ignored."

Jon, who has made a name in haute couture by dressing the likes of model Paris Hilton and Night Shyamalan, says, "The success story of the Indian diaspora should be viewed as a type of reverse colonisation since some of the most influential people in the west are Indians or of Indian origin."

This respect has not been earned overnight. Mehta, author of the much acclaimed Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found, says, "Indians have built a positive image over decades of sustained achievement in every sphere. We have established our credibility by being hard-working and committed, and are now seen as an asset to the country."

In America, particularly, immigration has been equated with entrepreneurship. And, not surpri-singly, Indians have been able to identify opportunities which Amer-icans were slow to spot. Some success stories are well known, such as Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, and Amar Bose, founder, Bose Speakers. Over the years, Indian Americans have broken all glass ceilings to become the wealthiest per capita ethnic group. First generation Indian Americans have, for the last 20 years, earned $60,000, the highest median income across all ethnic groups, as compared to the national average of $38,000 (US Census Bureau, 2000).

Meanwhile, there is no denying that Indian Americans have benefited from the progress their country of origin has made. In the last decade, India has become the fourth largest economy in the world. "No longer can corporate executives resist the potential of the Indian market," says Arun. "Nor can they ignore the promise of the growing knowledge capital within India."

In Canada, the attitudinal change towards Indians took place recently. When documentary film-maker Ali Kazimi landed in Toronto on a student scholarship in 1984, he was greeted by a hostile immigration officer who suspected that Kazimi’s papers were forged. The only reason he was let through was that the Delhi University student "spoke such good English". Concepts like diversity and multiculturalism that permeate political and social discourse today were part of a distant future.

Indian immigrants were yet to register an exponential growth. A minority in their educational institutions, their main objective, says film-maker Mitra Sen, "was to assimilate so that we would be accepted". One of three Indian children in his school, Rahul Raj’s desire to integrate was strong enough to "put my Indian heritage second". And the only images of India in Canadian minds were those of poverty and snake charmers.

Circa 2005, the images are changing. Immigrant success stories are dotting the Canadian landscape. Second generation Indian-Canadians, with their accents, attitudes and skills, are conducting themselves as any Canadian does. Multiculturalism is an official policy and diversity is celebrated (at least, in big cities). In numbers, Indians rank just below the Chinese in immigrant arrivals.

The 2001 census recorded a south Asian population of 9,17,000, with India leading the pack. The average household income of Indian homes in Canada is 16 per cent higher than the national median.

"The growing numbers have made us and the country we come from get noticed," says Arti Chandaria, an arts activist who was instrumental in putting up a permanent south Asian exhibit at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum. "Yoga and ayurveda are in vogue and fashion stores have products made of Indian fabric. Now there is a certain pride when you talk of your Indian origin."

Says Harinder Takhar, transport minister of Ontario, the province’s first minister of south Asian origin: "In the early 70s people came to make dollars. Now people are coming to make careers." Says Herb Dhaliwal, former federal cabinet minister: "We have done exceedingly well and are perceived as a hard-working people." Incidentally, the current parliament has 10 south Asian MPs and there are many in provincial legislatures.

Business tycoon Ajay Virmani describes the changing perception about Indian immigrants in business terms: "Over the last 25 years they have seen how Asians have worked their way up in any environment. Immigrants have not only adapted to the new society but also made significant contributions."

Now the next generation is building on the foundation. "The confidence of who you are and where you come from is there now," says Mitra Sen.

This generation is also exploring different career paths. Thirty-something Poonam Arora, editor of Anokhivibe, a glossy magazine aimed at young Indian Canadians, says, "There are so many bright, second generation south Asians who are choosing non-traditional paths as career options."