'India Calling': The New 'Land Of Opportunity'?
The sun sets over a stretch of the skyline in Mumbai, India. - The sun sets over a stretch of the skyline in Mumbai, India, where writer Anand Giridharadas worked as a management consultant after he graduated from college. "I grew up with only a faint idea that another country was also somehow mine," Giridharadas writes of his upbringing in America. "My notion of it was never based on India's history or traditions, its long civilizational parade; it was a first-generation idea of a place in our shared past, nostalgically shared but blessedly past." (Gautam Singh / AP)
Writer Anand Giridharadas grew up in America, but it was in India -- the country that his parents left -- where he went to look for hope. "India has become -- in a way that it has not been -- a land of opportunity for millions and millions and millions of people," he says.
In his book, India Calling, Giridharadas describes how India's growing economy is creating growing opportunity -- what many might recognize as American-style chances to get ahead. But Giridharadas also explains how he encountered a society riddled with ancient divisions of class and caste.
"In India, you're eternally a master and eternally a servant," Giridharadas tells NPR's Steve Inskeep. "Servants in many ways have been seen -- and [have] been taught to see themselves -- as being not someone who is situationally inferior, but someone who is eternally, intrinsically inferior."
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Giridharadas experienced first-hand the different treatment of the servant and the served one morning when he visited friends for breakfast. A "typical elite Indian breakfast with all of the fussiness and all of the servitude" was presented by the family's obsequious and much-loved servant. Later that day, Giridharadas returned to the friend's house -- this time in shorts and a T-shirt -- to bring over a mattress. The same man who had served breakfast mistook Giridharadas for a delivery man and began gruffly barking orders at him.
When Giridharadas reminded the servant who he was, he says the man underwent a "total human metamorphosis ... he shrunk right in front of me from a master to a servant," Giridharadas says. "And you realize that almost every Indian is engaged in both of these transactions at different moments of their days: superior to some, inferior to others. As an Indian poet once said, 'never thinking to resist the one kick from above, nor to refrain from giving the kick below.'"
Though Giridharadas says the experience helped him understand the "truth about India," he also cites examples of a new generation of Indians who are transcending boundaries of caste and class. He describes the story of an ambitious young man named Ravindra, who Giridharadas says was "born close to the lowest of the Indian low" -- yet managed to get ahead.
"Something happened to him that has happened simultaneously to millions -- maybe even tens of millions -- of Indians who were also born as 'servants,'" Giridharadas says. Armed with the idea -- from school and TV -- that he didn't have to be a servant, Ravindra educated himself through the many courses and classes that are cropping up in small Indian towns. After completing dozens of courses, Ravindra became a computer teacher, and then secured a job at a travel agency.
"At the travel agency," Giridharadas says, "the real advantage of it was not the money, but the fact that he got to sit with middle class people many rungs above him in the hierarchy ... He watched how they dressed, how they gestured, how they talked, what kind of cars they drive. He memorized everything about them, and mimicked it, and slowly set out to become them."
Through self-directed education, careful observation and sheer tenacity, Ravindra slowly pulled himself to a higher place society. He now runs an English language academy and a roller skating academy (roller skating is all the rage in India's small towns, Giridharadas explains.) He's a lecturer at seven colleges teaching English and, as Giridharadas says, "he's made himself the guy who you need to go see in that town if you want to get out of that town."
Giridharadas grew up in suburban Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Indian emigres, so he's well acquainted with the myths and the realities of both India and America.
"The defining narrative that Americans have told themselves about themselves for a long time is: anything can happen here, anything is possible," Giridharadas says. "That narrative in America today is in decline. I think it'll come back, but we're not in a good moment for that narrative."
Meanwhile, in India, the idea that you shape your own destiny is gaining traction. "Walking around India, watching TV in India, you feel that India is possessed by a narrative of hope right now and America is not," Giridharadas says.
The question is: when does reality catch up to the illusion? "I think in both countries we tend to underplay the extent to which it's the fundamentals, not the narratives that matter," says Giridharadas. With so much optimism and foreign investment flowing into India, he explains, it's easy for people to think the country will change overnight. "India still has a lot to work out, and one of the risks of a boom is that it becomes easy to forget that."
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India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation's Remaking
By Anand Giridharadas
Hardcover, 288 pages
Times Books
List Price: $25
Read An Excerpt
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
An American writer moved to India and found a country that's dramatically changing. What may be changing most is India's frame of mind.
Mr. ANAND GIRIDHARADAS (Journalist): India has become, in a way that has not been, a land of opportunity for millions and millions and millions of people.
INSKEEP: A land of opportunity, he said. The journalist Anand Giridharadas says that's new. Giridharadas grew up outside Cleveland, Ohio, and then he moved to India, the land of his ancestors. His book "India Calling" describes India's growing economy and the new possibilities it has created, something we might see as American style chances to get ahead. Yet he also explores a country riddled with ancient divisions of class and caste.
Mr. GIRIDHARADAS: In India you're eternally a master and eternally a servant. And servants in many ways have been seen and taught to see themselves as being not someone who is situationally inferior, but someone who is eternally, intrinsically inferior.
INSKEEP: What happened when you encountered a servant who didn't quite realize who you were?
Mr. GIRIDHARADAS: It was a really interesting moment in which I saw the truth about India in a way that I hadn't seen before. I we had gone over to some friends' home for breakfast and their servant, who was much loved by the family, had cooked us this fantastic breakfast. And he made this very famous coffee, and it was a typical elite Indian breakfast with all of the fussiness and all of the servitude. And a short time later we returned home and I realized that I had forgotten to drop off a mattress at these friends' home. So, I had changed by then, into shorts and a t-shirt from my fancier breakfast gear, and went back to the house in shorts and a t-shirt, carrying this mattress to give it back.
And I rang the doorbell. The family had left, the servant was still there. And he saw me and didn't recognize that was the same guy who'd just had breakfast. And I was now wearing shorts and a t-shirt and I was carrying this mattress which made me seem like a kind of delivery man. And he suddenly was a totally different guy. He was cold and gruff and he started barking at me put it down there, put it down there, quickly, quickly. And I didn't understand what was happening for a minute. It didn't occur to me that he didn't recognize me since I'd been there just half an hour before.
And I realized he thought that I was a delivery man, and once he thought I was a delivery man, I had gone from being someone he had to serve to someone who had to serve him. And I looked at him and I said, I was just you know, I was just here.
And I suddenly saw the man have this total human metamorphosis, and he shrunk right in front of me, from a master to a servant. And his whole body, his physiology changed, and he started apologizing with his presence and with his words. And you realize that almost every Indian is engaged in both of these transactions at different moments of their days, superior to some, inferior to others. And as an Indian poet once said, never thinking to resist the one kick from above, nor to refrain from giving the kick below.
INSKEEP: All right, let's talk about that. Did you meet anybody who managed to transcend these boundaries or move from one station in life to another?
Mr. GIRIDHARADAS: One of the people I spend a lot of time with in the book, is a guy named Ravindra, who is in his late 20s and was born close to the lowest of the Indian low - born in the kind of world that you can't imagine anyone getting out of.
Something happened to him that has happened simultaneously to millions, maybe even tens of millions of Indians who were also born as, quote, unquote, "servants." He got this idea partly through television, partly through school, that he didn't have to be a servant anymore. And he basically self-educated himself with all these courses and certificates that are now all the rage in small town India.
If you drive through small town India, every little ramshackle building is offering an English class or a computer class, or a sewing class or classes of any kind. And he took like dozens of these courses. He certified himself in everything imaginable and slowly pulled himself up to be a computer teacher, then he got a job at a travel agency. And at the travel agency, the real advantage of it was not the money, but the fact that he got to sit with middleclass people, many rungs above him in the hierarchy, and just watch them while he was selling them these travel packages.
And he watched how they dressed, how they gestured, how they talked, what kind of cars they drive - he memorized everything about them and mimicked it, and slowly set out to become them.
INSKEEP: How did it work out?
Mr. GIRIDHARADAS: He is now he runs an English language academy and he runs a roller skating academy. Roller Skating is this huge craze in small town India. And he's a lecturer at, like, seven colleges, teaching people English. And he's made himself the guy in this small town of 50,000 in the middle of India, he's made himself the guy who you need to go see in that town if you want to get out of that town.
INSKEEP: Well, you know, I want to ask you, as an American who grew up in suburban Cleveland and then went to live in India. You've lived in these two countries that seem to be at different places right now. You have an India, that as you point out, has this incredible image right now and is seen as the future, but as you point out, that is actually very problematic. You've come from an America where there seems to be a great fear of decline, although, you know, we shouldn't miss the fact that it's still the greatest economy the world has ever seen.
Mr. GIRIDHARADAS: Yeah.
INSKEEP: I wonder how the elusions are changing and how much the realities are really changing in these two countries right now.
Mr. GIRIDHARADAS: There are two ways you can think about this. It is certainly true the defining narrative that Americans have told themselves about themselves for a long time, is anything can happen here, anything is possible, we change the world, we change our lives. And I think it is true that that narrative in America today, is in decline. I think it will come back, but we're not in a good moment for that narrative, and you're seeing a lot of resentment and fear and anxiety around that.
It is correspondingly true in India that the idea that you shape your fate, that you make your destiny, was not a dominant idea in India and is becoming more of a dominant one.
And so at a casual level, walking around America, watching TV in America, walking around India, watching TV in India, you feel that India is possessed by a narrative of hope right now, and America is not. But your point is very well taken. I think in both countries we tend to underplay the extent to which it's the fundamentals, not the narrative, that matters.
In America, you take something like American universities, for example; you take the Silicon Valley ecosystem; you take the way the American legal system functions. These are kind of century level advantages. It will take other people a very, very long time to replicate any of these things and certainly all of them in conjunction.
And I think in India, the opposite is true, which is there's so much optimism and foreign investment flowing et cetera that people sometimes get diluted into thinking this whole thing is going to be wrapped up in about five years. But in many ways, India still has a lot to work out. And one of the risks of a boom is that it becomes easy to forget that.
INSKEEP: Anand Giridharads is the author of "India Calling." Thanks very much.
Mr. GIRIDHARADAS: Thank you. $00.00 Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
