Long Walks On Leafy Streets

01/28/24

Trip to NYC, 1995    

THOUGHTS ON INDIA


Not a day has gone by since I arrived in the US in 1989 that I do not think of India and what I can do for her. In this post I want to share some of my thoughts and experiences, about the past, present and the future.

I came to the US in 1989, as a graduate student in the CalTech math department. I will write more about my experiences in California later. It is certainly my second home after India. I came to Washington, DC to work in the math department at Howard, in 1994. In the first few years in DC, I spent a lot of time touring the area and trying to make friends, hoping to meet that special woman, etc., but also doing a lot of volunteer work with the Association for India's Development (AID) which had been founded recently by a few grad students at U. Md College Park. Being introverted and shy, I basically just worked on whatever the other guys were organizing.

HU math dept office, 1999    

I really admired what people like Dr. Bhagath, Balaji, Ravi and Kiran were doing, and continue to do. I did learn a lot from being in their meetings and participating in the fundraising and protests, etc., These days due to lack of time my connection with AID is mostly in monthly donations and the occasional meeting.

Growing up in India, in a conservative lower middle class Brahmin family, I came to the US with a lot of deeply ingrained cultural and religious values. Many of them were passed on to me by my mother, from whom I learned so much starting with cooking and cleaning to praying and just living in general. I also learned from school the history of our great leaders like Gandhi and from society in general the usual patriotic stuff.

Many of them I cherish and still hold on to today, such as regular prayer and meditation, respect for elders, and duty towards family. In some cases my views have changed, mainly with regards to politics and social norms. My growth as a person and my thinking were mainly influenced by the teachings of Sankara, Vivekananda, and Gandhi. Since coming to the US I have also greatly benefited by learning from Christian sermons, Thich Nhat Hanh and the civil rights movement. Lately I have been reading about the life and teachings of Ramana Maharshi.

But in general one learns from every person, every being, every event that happens every moment of one's life. We all learn and influence each other, teacher and student, ruler and subject, master and worker. As Thich Nhat Hanh says, we are inter-are. We are made of each other.

It is my belief that we should take the best that every person has to offer. Sometimes what someone offers may not even be intended to benefit us, yet there might be something in it. No person, no society, no country and no religion has a monopoly on truth. We will all benefit by learning from each other. Many of the great teachers have said that all religions lead to the same place. The Rig Veda says "Ekam Sat, Vipraa Bahudha Vadanti" -- the truth is one, scholars describe it differently.

IIT Madras (Chennai), 2018    

Another thing I started doing after coming to DC is to go hiking with the Sierra Club. Nature has always been dear to me.The love of nature started very early in my life, and a group of us led by Ganesh started exploring the beautiful hills around Coimbatore. My birthplace is in Kerala which is renowned for its natural beauty. But here it became a kind of refuge. I started going on long walks along the Potomac between Edward's ferry and White's Ferry on the C&O canal towpath.

In the early 2000's I started volunteering with the Sierra Club because I realized that protecting nature is not possible without policy change. I have been volunteering on behalf of environmentally friendly candidates ever since. I really wish I could do the same in India but console myself with the fact that fighting climate change helps the entire planet.

Kerala, 2010    

India is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. The Ganges is such a central part of Hinduism. I hope we are able to not only protect the Gangotri glacier but also clean up the river to the extent that the animals that once used to live in it like the Gharial are able to come back. Environmental organizations and NGOs in general need full support and encouragement.

If you read the Ramayana you will see that it is full of descriptions of nature. In fact legend has it that the epic story was written by Valmiki upon seeing a bird cry out in grief when its beloved is killed by a hunter's arrow. So protecting nature should be a top priority even from a religious standpoint.

Mamallapuram, 2010    

India has withstood centuries of change, often violent. Wave upon wave of invasions have left their mark on it. Yet through it all one thing has remained unchanged, the good heart and the spiritual nature of its people. Certainly this is not special to India, and each country is special in its own way. There are all kinds of people in India as well, and I don't want to romanticize anything. What I mean is that the average Indian person is kind and friendly and willing to go the extra mile to help. Moreover, religion and spirituality is a central part of the average Indian's life, no matter what religion. There are always going to be young people seeking the truth about our existence. This will not change regardless of who rules the country and what violence they inflict on the population. The cultural and spiritual life of the people goes on, with little regard to the material circumstances.

Ernakulam, 2018    

Nevertheless I do hope that it will always remain a democracy that respects people of all kinds, and where every individual is able to thrive and free to practice their chosen religion. A society is only as good as how it treats the poorest and the weakest, especially those in the minority. I know that a lot of things happening in India are because of a survival mentality as well as a reaction to what happened in the past. But we all survive when we are ready to sacrifice for the sake of each other, and the past is in the past. It is the essence of Hinduism or rather the Indian spirit to see what is common to all of us, and to treat everyone with love, however contradictory that may seem when you consider all the inequities in Indian society. Democracy is the best vehicle to nourish that spirit, in my opinion, however messy it might be.

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