How come Krishnan becomes Chris, Ramaswami becomes Rums, Harikisan becomes Harry, Dixit becomes Dick or Mangala becomes Maggie when they join a firm in the US? Is it just to shorten their name so that their American friends can pronounce it with ease, or is it a reflection of a deep-seated sub-conscious inferiority in their own name and culture?
I certainly would like to believe that it is to help their US counterparts pronounce their tongue-twisting names with ease because the perception of India in the eyes of the West has undergone a monumental change in the last few years. India is no longer viewed as the land of snake charmers and beggars but as a country with brilliant software entrepreneurs, engineers, and visionaries. But still some foreigners like to paint a gloomy and ugly picture of India sidelining its tremendous growth and development.
The first film made by a foreigner to portray India’s poverty and squalour was Louis Malle. Malle made a documentary film, Calcutta, about India,
which was released in cinemas in 1968, and later broadcast as a seven-part TV series called L’Inde fantôme (Phantom India) on the BBC.
Concentrating on real India, its rituals and festivities, Malle fell out with the Indian government, which disliked his portrayal of the country and consequently banned the BBC from filming in India for several years.
A day may come when Americans working in Indian companies may proudly change their names to make it Indianised.
Then there was Indiana Jones: The Temple of Doom directed by Steven Spielberg. Though considered to be highly entertaining, this film projected Indians as uncivilized people practicing child slavery, black magic and ritual human sacrifice and perpetuated a ridiculous notion about India. Then Slumdog Millionaire by British Director Danny Boyle happened. This film won 10 Oscars for depicting the story of an impoverished street child in Mumbai. But this again is nothing but a lopsided view presented through the lens of a Westerner.
Instead of looking at India through the prism of Danny Boyle, I would like to look at it through the eyes of New York Times columnist Thomas Freidman, who was so much awed by the success story of Infosys and on meeting with the then chief of Infosys Nandan Nilekani and went to write the inspirational The World is Flat. In a casual conversation, Nilekani told Friedman that the global playing field was being “levelled” by technology. This comment by Nilekani egged Friedman to write a book, which is now a best-seller.
If America is proud of having Bill Gates, then India has N R Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilekani who have changed the face of information technology. If the US has Microsoft, IBM and Sun Microsystems, then India has Infosys, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services. A study conducted by the University of California, Berkeley, reported that one-third of the engineers in Silicon Valley are of Indian descent, while 7% of its hi-tech firms are led by Indian CEOs.
US presient Barack Obama did not come to India with his wife just to get a cultural glimpse. He came because he could see immense opportunity from a rising economy like India. Indians have not only shown their mettle in India but also in the US. Indians own 50% of all economy lodges, and 35% of all hotels in the US that have a combined market value of almost $40 billion.
Today, an Indian American Harikishan may be calling himself Harry in the US. But a day may come when Americans working in Indian companies may proudly change their names to make it Indianised. Then Bill may change his name to Billu, Regan to Raghu, Bush to Bushendra or Arnold to Arnab.
Will we be ready for that name-change reversal?
{backbutton}
