Joel Stein's nostalgia for innocent pleasures of his youth of stealing pies, shop-lifting and R-rated films in Edison one can understand but his not so innocent comments on the Indian inhabitants' way of life makes one wonder how deep-rooted is US liberalism. Acceptance, not just tolerance, of diversity and differences are the essentials of a democratic and liberal society, nay a civilized society. This is the basis of Indian culture and civilization. As President Bush pointed out sometime ago only in India you could find a Muslim President, a Sikh Prime Minister and a Christian leader of the ruling party in a Hindu majority state.
As the writer himself has pointed out Indian engineers and doctors came to USA after the 1965 immigration law which opened the doors for people from non-European countries. This small community of about two million has contributed to this country in various spheres including in the areas of innovation and enterprise. Indian immigrants have spiced up the American salad bowl. They have been an ideal minority by and large. To ridicule their way of life is to reject variety and diversity. Acceptance of diversity is the way forward for a globalized world and the globalized world is not a one-way street. The intellectuals have a greater responsibility to foster this value of diversity as their words can hurt more than the swords.
( A response sent to the Time magazine dt.July 5,2010 on the column, The Awesome Column by Joel Stein on My Own Private India.)
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1999416,00.html
