Indian Brand Equity

Americans starving to meet Indian Gurus and learn yoga, meditation and traditional Sanatana Dharma teachings is old news. I didn’t make this statement to say that they are seeking other options. Their search into Indian culture has become broadened. There was a time when American parents wanted to adopt Chinese children but now the demand to adopt Indian children is as high as Chinese children, if not higher. Young and eligible bachelor American man is considered extremely lucky if he gets love of an Indian woman and similarly, if a young American woman is married into an Indian family, she is considered lucky.

Event managers are getting smarter to learn the art of combining the traditional Indian weddings with the American styled reception. They have also learned the difference between wedding ceremonies of various states in India. It is a $4 billion market now in the United States. The American men and women are getting increasingly familiar with the customs and traditions of India and gone are the days when the Americans could not even find where India is in the world map and thought all Indians are snake charmers. Now they have the highest respect for Indian tradition and culture.

There are many young Americans who learn Indian musical instruments, vocal singing and even Bollywood dancing to attract attention of the Indian women. It is very common to see the Americans attending Rudram chanting for Pradosham with closed eyes. Most young Indian American young men and women nowadays are getting married to young American and leading a great life. In most cases, it is the American spouse who changes quickly to learn the Indian tradition and culture and children are named and trained in Indian tradition and culture. Many American children are now have Indian names and we see more Americans in Indian stores and restaurants.

Bill Clinton spoke in the Indian Parliament several years back and classified the world population into two categories namely a) one who have not seen Taj Mahal and b) the others who have seen Taj mahal. Now it is very common to see the Americans who had been to India talking with a lot of pride about their trip while other Americans who had not been to India listening with great interest expressing their ambition to go to India at least once in their life time.

The Indian American population is considered as one of the most successful ethnic group with income levels higher than the average American household earnings. There are many Indian Americans who are consistently appointed to various positions by the Federal government besides various state governments. Indian entrepreneurs are highly respected and so many professionals are appointed as CEOs of fortune 100 companies. The Indian elected officials at city, county and state level are increasing day by day. Now, Narendra Modi’s approach towards the strategic alliance with the United States further strengthened the respect for Indians. When I migrated to India, none of the American companies knew anything about how to send work offshore to India but now if anyone sells software services to these companies, they don’t engage them until they check whether they have offshore presence in India.

President Obama is no longer seeing India as a strategic Asian alliance partner and he truly considers India as a fast developing competitor. He openly speaks if the education system in the US is not revamped to make it viable and economical for young Americans, soon the jobs in America will be taken away by the Indians. There could be a time soon when the congress may have to pass legislations to reserve certain percentage of jobs in America only for the citizens. Therefore, there is a big move to make the American education system available on the internet at a fraction of the cost that the students pay now to reduce the educational loan burden as well as make young American citizens competitive with Indian students.

While the perspective of the Americans about India changed favorably over the last few decades, the responsibilities for the Indian Americans have increased significantly. Even one single case of an Indian American prosecuted in the United States gets a lot of press. Any news that highlights contradicting the Indian tradition and culture of living in peace with other religion, respecting women, etc. coming out of India also gets a lot of publicity. Therefore, it is clear that India commands so much respect in the Western world but that respect comes with a greater responsibility to be role models for others in the world.

 

Dear Sabitha,

Thank you for your first response to this post. It is true that Americans are pretty open society as it is the country of immigrants. As a matter of fact, it is an international community with different cultures thriving at the same time in a single country. They have the heart to appreciate anything good and feel passionate about it. In this spaghetti world, the early immigrants promoted their culture quiet significantly as the Asians entered this country much later. But somehow, Indian culture really taken the Americans by storm. Initially they were attracted by Yoga, Meditation and Sanatana Dharma principles and later into other cultural heritage of India. The longing to go India has become very common among Americans.

I totally agree with you that adapting to their local celebrations increases respect for Indians among other Americans. It is given that people migrating to a specific country adapting to the culture of the country instead of remaining in isolation. If they don't do it, their children will in order to make friends in the school. But it is exciting to see how much time and effort is made by the Americans to learn Indian culture. Yesterday, I was watching a Facebook forward from one of my friends in which a Caucasian American played an Indian musical instruments and an African American played Tabla so wonderfully. In Florida, there is a musical group called "East meets West". This group is established by a Caucasian American woman married to an Indian instrumentalists trained in Pandit Jesraj School. I attended one of these programs, it is so amazing how much the Caucasians enjoy playing the musical instruments from India and listening others playing Indian musical instruments. There were many Americans in the audience as well.

My purpose of writing this post is to highlight how much respect the Americans and other Westerners have for the Indian culture and what kind of responsibility it is for the Indian Americans and India as a whole to sustain their respect for the Indian culture.

Viswa

 

Dear Neetu,

Thank you for your response to this post. It is indeed very gratifying to see how the Western civilization so attracted to the Indian culture and heritage.

Thank you for sharing what happens when Westerners come to attend cross cultural programs. Their inquisitiveness to learn about every detail of each and every culture is simply stunning. They love to see the heritage sites in India and love Indian food so much. Sometime back, there was a survey carried out in England. The question was, "If you have free time on Sunday, would like to watch soccer or cricket, eat fish and chip along with a bottle of beer or prepare and eat Indian curry". The majority preferred eating Indian curry. Their spirited response ended up beating the spirit as well.

It is really heartening to note that a combination of American and Indian spouse leads a happy married life. Many of my friends children (both young men and women) have married Caucasians and they lead a very happy life. I know an American spouse who trained her children to go to the Temple regularly to worship and learn Indian culture, trained them to call parents as "Appa and Amma" and named the children in Sanskrit. I know another American spouse who went through all the Indian Wedding ceremony in the presence of fire, learning Indian language spoken by his wife and converted himself into vegetarian to eat the food prepared by his wife. His children are also raised with a lot of Indian values.

Viswa

Viswa

 

Dear GG,

Thank you for your response. There are a lot of changes happening here in America and it is no longer what I used to experience on my arrival here. India is being watched with a lot of respect.

Viswa

 

Dear Smt Jayasala:

Thank you for your response. I have just posted this based on what I am experiencing by looking around me. Lots and lots of Indian young men and women are marrying Americans now and leading a happy life. When we attend marriage functions, we see the mixed crowd and Americans passionately explain their past experiences with Indian culture. Indian musical instruments are becoming increasingly popular among Americans. They are also heavily into dancing not only the Bollywood style dance but also classical dances.

Those who had been into India talk passionately about their trip while those who have not been to India ask a lot of questions about the places to be seen in India. They all have India as one of the countries that they definitely want to visit at least once in their life time.

Viswa