The (Indian) empire strikes back
By Aradhika Sekhon

THERE has been a shift in the perception about India. It has become a ‘happening’ place. The West, it seems, hs started viewing the subcontinent with curious and even appreciative eyes as Bharat changes its image from a land of snake-charmers, poverty and a fount of magic and mantras to a country which is adopting a successful blend of tradition and modernity. India is in the news as are the Indians who are making waves politically and socially. They are winning accolades, finding their slots and distinctly making their presence felt in foreign lands which, till recently, had wrinkled their noses at the "brown sahibs".

Indian music and fashion are "in". Indian designers, authors, scientists, entertainers, actors, musicians, artist(e)s, sportsmen, etc. are all walking tall. After a long slumber, it appears that the end of the millennium and the beginning of the new one will herald ‘the age of the Indian empire’.

The foreign media is carrying stories on Indian achievers. If the New Yorker devoted a complete issue to Indians writing in English, The Wall Street Journal applauded the Bangalore - based Infosys Technologies Ltd which is the first Indian registered company to be listed on an American bourse. The Washingtonian came up with several pages of praise to Indians who make up a small fraction of the city’s population but wield immense corporate clout, and titled this feature ‘India Inc’. Business Week consecrates the IIT as a ‘star factory’ which accepts less than 3 per cent of the applicants as against Harvard which accepts 16 per cent and calls the IIT graduate "the hottest export India has ever produced".

As Hindi gets converted to ‘Hinglish’, one wonders if the Hinglishtani shades are finally colouring the West. After adopting western culture and systems to many of our lifestyles and organisations, can it be true that we’re now ready to shake off the mantle of swamis and tigers that the West laid upon us? Perhaps, it is our turn to brand the West with a new cultural and sociological stamp. Achievements of Indians in our country and abroad have been catapulted into the international arena thus influencing the world to adopt the flavour of India as a part of their lifestyle.

The average Indian-American household earns approximately $ 60,000 which is 25 per cent higher than the national average and the highest of any ethnic group in the USA. While one-third of all the Indians in the USA have at least a graduate degree, only 7 per cent of all Americans have one. Latest census reports in the UK describe the Indian community as the "new Jews, displaying upward mobility, university degrees and professional qualifications." So British Indians, just 1.5 per cent of the population, are gearing themselves up to exert a more real influence on British life in the coming decade. This influence would be perceptibly different than the taxi-driving, petrol-pump manning generations that preceded them.

The Washingtonian brands the IIT as the "world’s most prestigious technical college... and a breeding-ground for a disproportionate chunk of Washington’s high-tech entrepreneurs-- disproportionate because Indians make up less than 2 per cent of the city’s population". The Dean of George Mason University’s School of Information Technology, Lloyd Griffiths, visited various campuses of the IIT to offer scholarships of $ 50,000 to the graduates. As an ethnic group, Indians are coveted by the western high-tech companies for their expertise, which is now perceived as "a traditional reverence for maths and science dating back to the 5th century and scientific greats like Aryabhat!"

Besides science and technology, Indian philosophy and religion too continue to woo the West.

Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence is widely revered in the West because it helped mould Martin King Jr’s thinking which influenced the American Civil Rights Movement. American sociologists exemplify Asia’s religious diversity and heterogeneity as being analogous with their own ethnically diverse nation.

As a hangover of intense materialism and pursuit of achievement and as a panacea for the affliction of the spirit, the West is fast turning away from its materialistic gods and adopting meditation, spiritualism and yoga. Deepak Chopra has emerged as the guru of the New Age and commands a massive following in the USA and Europe. In India, Deepak Chopra charges Rs. 80,000 for a three-day workshop which is indicative of the astronomical price people worldwide are willing to pay for the medication of the soul. This panacea has been gleaned from the Indian spiritual experience but is being marketed in new packaging. Rajneesh and Sai Baba of Whitefield have many followers in the West because of the blend of Indian asceticism and western concepts that they have achieved.

Sanskrit shlokas are being used in western pop music as Michael Jackson sings Ekam Satyani and Madonna, wearing a bindi and mehndi, chants Om Shanti. Exponents of Indian classical music feel this is because of the therapeutic effect of Indian music and chants. Diametrically different from the ‘flower children’ of the 60s, Indian philosophy is now exerting a deeper effect over western minds, which have been experimenting with various thought - systems.

According to BBC’s Internet poll on film personalities of the millennium, Amitabh Bachchan emerged as the clear favourite. He edged out all-time greats such as Sir Lawrence Oliver. Govinda emerged at number 10 in the same poll. The bewildered British Press scurried around looking for an explanation for the unforeseen result and presumed that this was less because of the contenders’ histrionic talent than the fact that the website was visited by more South Asians than others. The response to the results of the poll was rooted in the realisation of the growing Indian influence in the entertainment industry where Prabhu Deva and A.R. Rahman go moonwalking with Michael Jackson.

Growing overseas market territory rights are an addition to the Indian film industry as the market for masala entertainers expands. Films like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Dil se have huge audiences abroad. Says film-maker Mahesh Bhatt, "Indian films are reaching out to a 1-billion plus audience today". Entertainment is the new opium of the 21st century and the Indian film industry is exporting "a new spicy exotic and mysterious India which plays to the in-built need of drama and titillation among the viewers". The NRI community, comfortably ensconsed in the West, experiences an overwhelming nostalgia for its country. If not physically, at least in their hearts and imaginations, they want to return to their country. The glitzy, romantic place full of family bonhomie presented by film-makers appeals to them. It is this community that helps to popularise pop culture.

Shekhar Kapur, in an interview about his film Elizabeth, admitted to falling back on his experiences as an Indian film-maker. He said that though his film is essentially British, he has borrowed unashamedly from the Bollywood masala recipe. Nominated for seven Oscars, Shekhar Kapur has marched into alien territory using its history, queen and talent and emerged a winner. Satyajit Ray was given an Oscar for his outstanding achievement and Bhanu Athiya got the prestigious award for dress designing in Ghandhi.

A section of the West has always been appreciative of our music greats like Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Pt. Ravi Shankar, Pt. Jasraj etc. The Beatles in the late 60s did perform on the strains of Ravi Shankar’s sitar. Ananda Shankar has been incorporating western instruments and beats to traditional music to make it more appealing to modern tastes. But it has taken the media and market savvy Zakir Hussein to really catapult the Indian tabla into western focus. The influence of bhangra on the youth in England has to be reckoned with. Popular because of the large number of north Indians settled in the U.K., bhangra is firmly set in the music milieu in the U.K. Daler Mehndi and other pop singers of Punjabi folk are extremely popular. This cultural influence is somewhat reminiscent of West Indian beats which are now an integral part of western music today.

Food and fashion are two spheres of culture that the influence of Indianisation is most clearly visible. Namita Punjabi, who runs an Indian restaurant in London, won an award for the best restaurant. According to her, Indian curry is as much a part of the supermarket shelves as pasta. Restaurants, specialising in Indian food, have mushroomed all over England and parts of America. Although "hot curry" remains the most popular dish, now the western palette is becoming sufficiently trained to discern what comes "out of a bottle" and "what’s made from scratch!" Like Cafeau lait, Chai lattes are available in coffee shops as is the desi samosa — a manifestation of the western fascination with all things oriental and exotic.

In the fields of beauty and fashion, too, Indian glamour-girls and designers have been making waves abroad. After a series of wins, the Indian beauty is viewed as a strong contender at any international beauty pageant. Clad in exquisite creations by desi designers, the Indian "look" has staked a strong claim for identity separate from the traditional buxom, doe-eyed concept of beauty. On seeing Ritu Beri’s designs, Francois, Lessage, the high priest of French fashion, exclaimed, "Her clothing are to dream about and we all need to dream". Michael Jackson sports a bundgala designed by Manish Malhotra, Cherie Blair is seen resplendent in a saree and Naomi Campbell declares Sumit Verma to be one of her favourite designers. J.J. Vallaya goes to Hollywood and designs for Cate Blanchett and Joseph Fiennes. The West is becoming aware of the beauty and uniqueness of Indian fashion and fabrics and looks for a "spirituality" in these clothes.

Indian designers can experiment with varied silhouettes and freely incorporate exotica while western designers have limited silhouettes in their catalogue. Indian colours, weaves, designs, interiors, textures, crafts and artefacts find a ready market in the West and entrepreneurs parcel exotica with utility. Thus, they are marketing a new India to the West.

Macaulay had once commented that the works of Indian authors writing in English could not fill even one bookshelf and KPS Menon had said, "Even the best of Indian writing in English reminds one of a man who plays the piano with a stick instead of his fingers." On reviewing the work done in the past decade or so by Indians writing in English, these remarks would have to be reversed. Our authors have definitely come of age.

The most feted among them being Arundhati Roy, Vikram Seth, Abraham Verghese, Amitav Ghosh, Ruth Pawar Jhabvala and Kiran Desai, to name a few. In the issue of The New Yorker (June, 1997) in his opening comment, Bill Buford says ".....in a land of 18 languages and a seemingly infinite range of cultures, a new kind of English is finding a voice, a distinct Indian English, one that is at once local and international, of its culture and of the globe". So successful is the Indian writer now that, says Rushdie," ...in England at least, British writers are often chastised by reviewers for their lack of Indian style, ambition and verve. It seems as if the East were imposing itself on the West rather than the other way round...... one important dimension of literature is that it is a means of holding a conversation with the rest of the world. These writers are ensuring that India — or rather, Indian voices, will henceforth be confident, indespensible participants in that literary conversation".

They have shown the world that great novels can be fashioned from Indian stories with an Indian sensibility and distinctly Indian use of the English language. And they have shown the western publisher that books by Indian authors can sell.

Although India is not in the same league of generating a cultural impact as does America, Indian forays on foreign soil do represent an attempt to transmit Indian culture abroad. In England, people like Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen and the first Asian Master of an Oxbridge College, Lord Swaraj Paul, and the Hinduja brothers who helped fund the British Millennium Dome excite curiosity and admiration about their cultural roots.

To a cricket-mad country, Sachin Tendulkar’s masterly batting and Saurav’s effortless style catapults Indian into community vision, as does the Paes-Bhupati duo.

Our desi bindis, bidis and samosas, if not making giant waves that American jeans, cosmetics and burgers did in India, are still creating little ripples in a world not their own!