The Average Indian Opportunist
“Oh, you’re Indian? You must be really smart.”
We’re culturally taught the value of STEM. We know math like it’s another language and believe that our problems will be solved by the world of chemistry and physics. It’s a well-known fact by now that we lead in the tech industry.
I honestly see the opposite.
A rich culture is now plagued by materialism and vanity.
We don’t dissect issues, we live in hypocrisy.
We choose to be blind, in order to catch up with the rest of society — to claim dominance and power. Log kya kahenge isn’t only for societal issues when you’re in the west, it’s about what house you have — where do you live — and most importantly — what did you achieve?
The brown community has major flaws when it comes to managing social relationships and seeing who matches their caliber.
It’s all about success at the end of the day.
There’s a blind assumption about potential.
Over time, I’ve observed many brown families and engaged with them about a few ideas.
Of the most common assumptions, I hear “we Indians came across the ocean and settled our lives here. If we can have a house and build our wealth, then why are Black and Hispanic people excessively reliant on government aid.”
There’s no acknowledgment of history, or of what communities had to suffer to get to where they are today. It’s always about the actions of the community, rather than understanding the hindrances and obstacles communities face systemically.
Another assumption: “your kid didn’t take at least a few APs in high school? They won’t get anywhere in life.”
Why isn’t your parent a doctor or head of an engineering department? That kid won’t get coached by those programs that get them into an Ivy League.
If you don’t have what is considered the “brown standard,” you will be questioned.
The root cause is derived from India’s economic system, history, and social hierarchy.
It’s messy and deep-rooted in how partition wounds haven’t healed. The country never knew how to elevate its economic system, and that’s why there’s a huge gap between the rich and poor. When there’s no concrete system, where the average person can climb the ladder and increase their social mobility with opportunities — — you will find many desperate to break that glass ceiling.
There’s a lot of suffering, however, only the poor suffer the most from what higher officials establish in government (if we’re being real, corruption is what is often established). The system of values and sense of community starts breaking, because all that matters is how one can generate wealth for themselves or their families, and the rest of the world doesn’t matter.
Recently, there have been a few initiatives that are starting to make waves when it comes to government. There are programs that help local politicians create change, and implement more public policy as a gateway for students to rebuild the infrastructure of government.
The game of “getting a seat” is by paying their way in. It’s built on survival of the fittest, which only creates an opportunist mindset for the long run.
If you’re articulate but didn’t go to an Ivy League, then prepare to leave people dumbfounded.
Cutthroat tiger parents are the new Indians — — especially in the Bay Area or East Coast.
I grew up in New York and countless times, I’ve come across Indian parents who’ve asked me why I didn’t “choose” to go to an Ivy League. I’ve also talked to several students who were in a similar situation — — where their high school environment always had a notion of “Ivy League or bust.”
I’m usually laughing at the question, wondering how could I answer it. All the schools require a sense of financial stability. Colleges like Dartmouth are known to have a higher socioeconomic student population. If money really is the real question here, then why are we bothering with education? I’ve noticed that more money is associated with a higher quality of education — yielding a higher essence of significance within the student population. That significance goes a long way when it comes to opportunities and networking.
Ambiguous, engrained ideas, mixed with tiger parents, don’t do so well.
Tiger parents create a very hostile environment for their children to flourish in. In my personal experience, I’ve seen that such parents often try to protect their kids and establish how they’re better than others. This type of parenting doesn’t work in the long run, where the same kids go out in the world and learn how to socialize. I’ve heard several kids who were brought up by tiger parents regret the fact that they had to “unlearn” previous norms of friendship and expectations.
Cutthroat Indian tiger parents assume their success ahead of time.
You’ll see the huge parties, the huge house, and the “status” that runs ambiguously through their veins.
When we don’t dissect issues…
We increase the societal tensions that already exist.
It would be hard to create actual, tangible change if we don’t accept the issues that plague our society overall. The notion that we’re “superior” won’t allow us to be on the same page as other communities. In the end, if we need more South Asian representation within politics it would become messier — with the misunderstanding of our potential.
