I always wonder the motivation of desis to form desi associations everywhere they go.Looking at the number of associations we create in the name of the Indian community is mind boggling.If one goes and googles the term "
Indian associations " the search results will make your head spin. Is our collective behavior trying to tell us something ? maybe a hidden reflection of the inability of desis to stay together as one?. No matter how hard we try to stay together as one, we invariably manage to find the differences given the diversity and slowly manage to permeate towards our differences instead of coming together based on our commonality as Indians.The reason I ask is simple, do we have that many American associations in India for Americans or the British or Nepalis or people of other nationalities living in India or for that matter for people from other countries in any country?. Is this an obsession of us Indians alone ? or Are others guilty of the same?.
A good example of this weird behavior can be found in our recent past say a decade or two ago when there were fewer desis in the American Landscape. In those days an Indian would honestly feel greatful to meet another fellow Indian and be glad to come together as a community in good and bad times merely on the fact that we came from one country. They would celebrate diwali,dassera, christmas, Id or any important festivities of each other. Today However things seem much more complicated and demanding being from one country alone doesn't cut it.Presented with increasing number of desis, we have also seen a rampant increase in the number of associations claiming to represent them. Each association targeting a small subset of the indian community for e.g The telugu association,tamil sangam, gujrati samaj,bengali association , oriya society , marathi mandal etc... and the list goes on and most likely covering probably just one metroplex , county or city limit, excluding the associations that represent student bodies at universities etc.. you get the idea. In short a minimum of one association for each spoken language and further more associations within one language driven by a host of other differences. I would like to coin them as our nuclear communities and the whole community at large as a community of IBCD's (Indian born confused desis ).Anyway Most of these so called associations pride themselves as ones catering to the very specific needs of the nuclear commuities that they represent and do not consider themselves to be part of the larger Indian community in a big way nor the American community except for some occasional donations for calamities and human causes at their convenience.For most part these associations are excessively engrossed in petty politics and organizing dinner and dance for their so called community on practically every occasion and almost always in the name of teaching our kids the indian culture the one that they "really connect with"; Which is one other thing that I sincerely question is that really accomplished?. However not to be too critical but I am sure some of these associations make a honest attempt but most, largely fail in delivering on these cultural promises.When in fact they create a fairly clueless target audience when it comes to the question of culture and tradition?. Anyway griping about this is probably not the best way to go about fixing it .
My question to all those who consider themselves as Indians or of Indian origin is a big Why ? Are we as individuals so insecure with our identities that merely being together as people of Indian origin is not enough to celebrate our diversity,culture and tradition? Being part of just one Indian association starts appearing like a big threat to our identity of being a person from Andhra , Gujrat ,Maharashtra etc.. Are we not loosing sight of the big picture here?.
One good example of this craziness would be the reports on infighting within telugu associations like TANA ( Telugu Association of North America) and TANTEX ( Telugu Association of North Texas ).Which raises the same question again what is the purpose of these associations ? How well do they really accomplish and serve the community that they claim to serve and at what cost?.
I am not trying to single out Telugu associations alone by mentioning them here but merely citing an example . I am positive all associations of Indian origin have dealt with similar issues. The baffling part is all this talk merely happens within one metroplex .Now Imagine this craziness on a national scale. All this just tells me that we have a long way to go.
Ever wonder how we as a community contribute and participate in the real communities that we live in? especially the ones who call America their home . Maybe its time to start rethinking our roles and responsibilities towards our collective society the ones that we live in and work towards not only consume its resources but make a sincere effort to contribute in a meaningful way for the good of our real community not limited to just the so called nuclear communities that we all consider ourselves to be a part of .Especially in these trying times with a weak economy on the horizon.
Last but not least I would like to admit that I am probably equally guilty of conducting myself in similar ways to a certain degree, however every day is a new day with new opportunities for us to improve. I honestly hope we all embark on the journey together from being IBCD's to just IBD's with a purpose and reason of leaving a worthy legacy for our future generations .
