New Delhi
6 January 2011
"Now it's almost cool to be an Indian in a way," exclaims Mitul Desai, a young
Indian-American who was recently inducted in the Obama administration as senior
adviser to assistant secretary of state Robert Blake, the pointperson in the State
Department for South Asia and Central Asia.
Desai, who is here to participate in the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, contrasts his childhood
with that of younger Indian-Americans today to point out that pop Indian culture, music
and movies, the advent of writers such as Jhumpa Lahiri, and the rise of India, all have
contributed to the changing profile of the Indian-American community and how Americans
look at things Indian.
"India as a country is more powerful, India-US relationship is much stronger, so young
Indian-Americans grow up in an environment where it's easy to be proud to be an Indian-
American[.] The Indian-American community is active and respected [and] you'll be
surprised the young Indian-Americans are actually more aware and more interested
[about India] than you would expect," he says.
Desai's mandate as senior adviser for outreach to the Indian diaspora in the US is to
leverage the diaspora and build partnerships with the private sector and NGOs, or to
"match people with common goals", as he describes it. Among his priorities is to identify
projects that will "strengthen the eco system" in India insofar as health, education,
vocational training or mentorship for entrepreneurs is concerned.
Ask him about the avoidable incidents of frisking of Indians at US airports, and he
maintains that after 9/11, America has to balance national security with individual rights
of private citizens.
"Overall, this is my personal opinion, America does that balancing act pretty good. Once
in a while there may be some mistakes by specific individuals but it's a constant
balancing act," says Desai.
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