My dear Uncle Sam

I can easily trace each one of my posts to a series of passionate ruminations culminating in the sudden spurt of enthusiasm which finally ensures the "publish post" button getting hit.But,quirkily,when I actually write,I have visions of myself in either of two hugely dissimilar scenes.One is the way Yann Martel purportedly wanted to write Life of Pi-sitting in the veranda of a cottage at a hill-station,notes spread out in front of me.The other is one in which I am doing one of those impromptu speeches(guffaws),setting up the Reality Distortion Field.This will be of the second kind.So,listen and don't read.
Growing up watching Hollywood movies and outgrowing pairs and pairs of Levi Strauss jeans;Using Google atleast ten times a day and idolizing Steve Jobs since adolescence;Fed upon a daily diet of WWE and the like and swearing in with the F-word to look cool.Headbanging to rock and metal and boasting a taste for Pizzas and burgers.Social networking on Orkut and Facebook and falling asleep at night with the Great American Dream in the eyes.
Was I talking about some gum-chewing,skateboarding Yankee punk?No,I haven't finished with my description yet.Reading a mag or newspaper once in a while and recklessly censuring the government for corruption,sneering with rage over "brain drain" occasionally and attending the odd Puja so people admire you for "values and traditions" and the most incongruous feature of all-bashing up America,Americanism and dismissing American culture as vacuous and filthy.
I have the pleasure of announcing the emergence of a new archetype-The confused,insecure urban Indian teen.No,I will not waste all my space eulogizing his virtues,I will focus on one particular idiosyncrasy which seizes me with incredulity and anger everytime I think of it.
I agree that an occasional awakening of patriotism is the easiest way to experience a moment full of self-righteousness.But,to go a step further and rubbish the very influence of a culture in the lives that we all love to live is perfidy of a special kind.And I am not talking of the technological and materialistic advances that they give to the whole world as you could easily refute them as a furtherance of business interests alone.
But can you deny the root of global maxims like "follow your heart","Work hard,Party Harder!!".The philosophy of placing merit above anything else.The spirit of adventure and entrepreneurship.Aren't these all essentially American ways of thought?And boy,don't they bring so much meaning to our lives?True,at first,you picture Uncle Sam as this big arrogant bully in whose inevitable shadow,lies the entire world.But are we saying that the US senate's decisions is a microcosm of every American value?Do we ignore the nationwide uproar they had against Vietnam ?Do we ignore initiatives like Live Aid,OneLaptop per Child, and many others,I cant think of,now?
Recently,I had lunch with Cindy Wang,an undergraduate from MIT(she has come here for some summer exchange program ) and we shared our tales of growing up in different cultures.Interestingly,Cindy was born in China and moved to America only when she was thirteen.So,she had quite an experience to share.It was initially weird for her.Said Cindy, between a mouthful of Chana Masala,"They have a lot of fun,you know.They party,drink..but,they are great people and once you are accepted within their community,they treat you like your own".They do,they certainly do.Mustn't there be some thing special about them,which attracts the most brilliant immigrants from around the world and absorbs them into the fabric of their society.I can go on and on professing about our love for American music and American movies.I could write entire posts about the beauty of American literature(from Harriet Beecher Stowe to Hemingway to Salinger,all the way to Palahniuk).But,I fear I might prejudice my arguments with the more personal of tastes.
Believe it or not,USA is easily the most evolved concept of a nation we can ever have.They have come a long way from the abolition of slavery to being the Land of Opportunities.Obviously we are not living in a black and white world.The colours of racism are bound to emerge here and there in this melting pot of cultures.But,certainly they are far more democratic than we people ,who are still bent upon immortalising an age-old meaningless caste system by legalizing reservation. To recognize the happiness,openness and comfort that Uncle Sam has brought to our lives is to turn a blind eye to a universal truth .We love to talk about globalization ,'cause the very moment we take a look at the way the world is moving,we are prone to feel that we are on a higher plane of thought.But before that we must globalize our minds.We must accept the origin of our inspirations and influences not hide in anti-American schools of thought and defend ourselves with much-hackneyed falsehoods.The fastest way to intellectual independence is to see the truth in all its nakedness and to embrace it wholeheartedly.India is motherland but Uncle Sam is one of the fathers of our minds.Let us acknowledge this once.With gratitude.