Gena Asher | Dec. 5, 2008
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| Photo by Ann Schertz |
| Jessica Gall |
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Her most recent column connects the Mumbai, India, attacks to the School of Journalism by talking to graduate student and Mumbai native Riya Anandwala and to associate professor and photojournalist Steve Raymer, who has traveled extensively in India and has published several books about the region.
(Posted with permission. Published in the Herald-Times Dec. 5, 2008.)
While many Americans gave thanks, took days off of work and rushed to Wal-Mart and Macy’s last week, Mumbai, and all of India, experienced three days of terror and violence. Ten militants suspected to be part of a Pakistan-based terrorist group killed 171 people, including six Americans, in attacks on 10 separate targets in India’s financial capital.
More than 8,000 miles separate Bloomington from the city formerly known as Bombay; but in fact, the connections are much closer to home.
Riya Anandwala is one of the more than 500 Indian students currently studying at IU, and of the more than 94,000 Indian students currently studying in the U.S., according to the Institute for International Education. She is a native of Mumbai and describes the current situation, and her feelings about it, with her head in her hands.
“It’s very close to my heart,” she said of the most recent terrorist attacks on her city. “I’m so scared, and to be really honest, I am really furious.” She is furious at the Indian government for its slow response time and lack of foresight, and furious at Pakistan for fostering the terrorism that has increasingly plagued her country.
Anandwala is pursuing her master’s in journalism and had planned to go home both this summer and then after graduation. She hopes to partake in the booming media business there someday. She still wants to return, but not without hesitation.
“What if I go and don’t come back?” she remarked about her summer plans. She wants to know who exactly were these attackers, and why did they do it. Her confusion, frustration and grief look eerily similar to that expressed by many Americans in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11.
In a world filled with anti-American sentiment, India is a welcome friend of America’s. According to the Pew Global Attitudes Project, in 2008, 66 percent of Indians had a favorable view of the U.S. The only two countries with higher rates of favorable attitudes were Poland (68 percent) and South Korea (70 percent).
From doctors and professors to students and entrepreneurs, the influence of people of Indian origin is very tangible in our community.
Steve Raymer, associate professor of journalism and a member of the India studies faculty at IU, has traveled to India dozens of times. His most recent book, “Images of a Journey: India in Diaspora,” puts a human face on some of the nearly 25 million people of Indian origin living outside of India.
In his book, Raymer reported that one in every 20 licensed physicians in the U.S. is of Indian origin. According to the 2006 U.S. Census update, there are 2.32 million people of Indian origin living in the United States, and their per capita income is 35 percent higher than the national average.
“This isn’t something that happened in a far away place that we can blow off and not pay attention,” Raymer said of the attacks in Mumbai. “India is a place we’ve got a lot in common. I mean, we are the two biggest democracies in the world.”
Anandwala echoed Raymer’s sentiments. “This is not only Mumbai’s problem; it’s totally global,” she said. “Totally.”
Her classmates, professors and friends feel that commonality, which is fostered not only by the bonds of personal friendship but also by the economic and social ties of globalization. These people have helped ease her frustration through kind words and e-mails, if only slightly. “The fact that they’re so attached to what is happening in my city makes me feel really good,” she said.
Perhaps the words of the most of famous of Indians, Mohandus Gandhi, may also provide fleeting comfort:
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it — always.”
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