As a reading member of the Indian diaspora, I often think that the NRI is an overrated human being. If one were to read a majority of the Indian news websites, (Rediff, TOI, HT) we would be the most talented bunch of people in the world. Case in point is the Rediff USA front page. There is daily news on some NRI kid who has progressed in some field. There was a time, when they were derogatorily known as ABCDs but now there are so many of them that we call them NRI / PIO (Person of Indian Origin). The latest are the achievements of Kyle Fernandez .
Kyle's story is an extraordinary one. He is a member of the winning NCAA Gymnastics team. Well, winning in gymnastics by itself is an extraordinary achievement, but what makes his story even more movie-like is that he had two career threatening shoulder surgeries. Not just that he also suffers from an asthamatic condition. By itself this is a great feat and Congratulations are in order to Kyle for doing something even doctors may not recommend. What riles me up is that headline on top out there. "Indian-American gymnast beats injury to win" .. Nowhere further down in the article is there any mention about the Indian origins of Kyle. No one even knows if Kyle even considers himself Indian since there is no quote attributed to him in this regard. By phrasing this as an Indian-American achievement, hasn't rediff somehow taken some gloss off it?? Gymnastics after a shoulder surgery is way over creditable for anyone. Would this story have been reported in the same news column had Kyle Fernandez been a Kyle Smith from Bethesda, MD? It should be since it is a story of courage and dedication. But it probably would not be reported. We call him one of our own, because he won. But for every Kyle Fernandez in the US, there would be tonnes of cases in India that have not been recognized. I bet Kyle may not be able to catch a running local from Dadar, but I have seen people on crutches do that. Is that not a victory by itself? The fact that courageous people brave the odds to defeat their handicap is something we should celebrate without deciding on their nationalities and origins?
Another fact that gets my blood boiling is that many of the folks who we gloat over for being Indian, do not even consider themselves Indians. Why can't we think of them as normal day-to-day Americans / Brits / Whatevers?? Why do we have to call them Indian when they are not, and that the only connection they have with India is that their parents were born there (but obviously not spent much time there, else they would not be in the US, would they?). The funny part is there was this one guy called Nasser Hussain. Half decent cricketer of the guts and glory school. Was born in Madras (now Chennai). His dad played Ranji Trophy for TN. Migrated to the UK. Nasser grew up to be Captain of the English Cricket Team. For an NRI kid, that's mighty impressive. Enough to warrant an entire batallion of Indian media, right? But there was none. For the Indian media, Hussain was English. His Indianness got much less of a mention in the Indian media than Anurag Kashyap who won the recent US Spelling Bee. Heck, there were articles on his relatives in India!! Try doing a google on Shikha Uberoi (an Indian Tennis Player) and I bet there are more articles from Rediff or TOI than even the standard Tennis Magazines. Is it that the Indian media only highlights those who probably we never would have heard of had it not been for the media outlets and who therefore are not going to deny them the chance for their 15 minutes of fame. I bet if Nasser Hussain's nationality was hijacked, he would have categorically stated that he was English first and foremost and those who think he is Indian go see a shrink.
Heck, what the hell am I complaining about? It's equally likely that my kids would be born here too. Maybe we should register our kids for the Santa Clarita Ichthyology Bee. Maybe they will get their 15 minutes in the Indian sun!! Till then, I'll probably stop reading the NRI mania.
Bye for now,
Cheers,
SG
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