My response to an article by Sumedh Mungee on India Ink [NY
Times]:
Sumedh’s rant
on why he left India for good ends with “I’m glad I went back to India, and I’m
glad to be back in the U.S. Life has come full circle but the center has
shifted”. I looked him up on Twitter, and the first thing that jumped out at me from his public profile was his location “Bay
Area, Bangalore, Pune”. Has to be the same guy. Sumedh’s post may not warrant another retort, but just like his coordinates I found his post wound up and inconclusive,
so.
Sumedh said he was going back to an India that he’d seen in a movie and as
described in a book/documentary. Sumedh’s claim “our move was a success by any
metric” jumped the gun and within a year, he had to retract. An airplane-class
Sumedh is flustered that bucketing of people (as airplane, scooter or bullock
cart class) is done accurately in India and that treatment ensues accordingly. But
really I think he’s a victim of his own thought and behavior. His “et
tu, airplane India?” confirms so. It would not be too
difficult to not make that demarcation himself, would it? Then there is a long
list of complaints/ implicit rationale for him to leave India, and for the last
time this time. He ends talking about India’s growth as a nation and a heartfelt
“I know India will rule the future”. Consolation for the cheesed off, may be.
Let’s go back to step 1. With all due respect, did he really forget what India
was about? I think what we all tend to forget is everything is
transient, times change, people do, even cultures do. But it seems like we can
take the culture portion out of this picture if we purely go by the write-up.
Folks that have lived in India long enough would not be zapped by Sumedh’s ‘findings’.
Is it possible he is originally from Pune or elsewhere and Bangalore didn’t
suit? So really, it all boils down to the bothersome scooter class and bullock
cart culture which drove him (and his family) back. Just wow.
Question: Should Sumedh move within the US and far away from the Bay Area, will
he still be happy? Let’s go back to step 1, again. Sumedh must have done all
the due diligence before them moving ‘back to India’. Typically what drives one
to take a decision like this apart from immigration constraints is, familial
ties and cultural affinity. There could be feelings of not belonging or any
prevalent personal issues. I wonder if Sumedh today considers his infrequent issues
with the Indian scooter/bullock class a bigger decision point in life, than his
rationale to move back to India. If yes, can he still cope with the reasons
that drove him out of the US?
It’s not my business to judge what Sumedh did was right or wrong, but I have a view on the why. Some of Sumedh’s views are educational and thought provoking,
because they highlight common human tendency to be volatile in thought; and in
sum total his essay shows the proneness of the human mind to remain up in the air. I am certainly not on expert on Ecology, but I reckon satisfaction depends on making peace with you by prioritizing one need above the
other, and not regretting the decision made thereafter. I will be least surprised if Sumedh
packed his bags and left to India again because a natural decision point became
priority. But for this to happen Sumedh and I will have to wait for that other
movie to come out :-).
