The Indian Winter

“Do you know anyone in the Mafia,” was the question I posed the first Italian I ever met. This was on a yacht of sorts called the “Konkan Sevak,” that used to travel back and forth between Goa and Bombay, ferrying tourists.

The gentleman was visibly disturbed by my query as I flaunted my knowledge of “The Godfather,” Mario Puzo’s magnum opus. I had read the book twice and enjoyed the easy coupling of honor with crime.

I equated Italians with the Mafia. Later, I was to discover that it wasn’t just me, that the two had become synonymous across the world. It is regrettable, because some of the more brilliant scientists and lawmakers over the ages have been of Italian descent.

Today, Indians are teetering on what may be an Italian problem.

The “Indian Winter” of 2011 unlike the “Arab Spring” has not been about liberation, or of good winning over evil. The last five months have exposed corruption and greed by Indians both in India and in the United States, of extraordinary proportions.

You say, oh come on, there always was corruption and it is everywhere and not restricted to Indians alone. To that, I say, the proportion and the scale this time around is what is different and for once the focus is exclusively on Indians.

It has swept iconic Indians in its tide. Names like Ratan Tata and Rajat Gupta are being associated with some of the alleged episodes.

We, the Indians, are in the news and this time around for all the wrong reasons.

Let’s start with India. The Commonwealth Games almost did not happen. Under rhetoric of bringing the games to the country, our politicians established an underhanded system that made them a fortune.

As India’s capability was being questioned in the media all over the world and the prime minister himself getting involved, Kalmadi and his cohorts were filling their coffers like midnight robbers with masks on, albeit in bright daylight wearing Khadi.

The wireless spectrum scam is yet another episode that is working its way through the Indian courts and legislature. Politicians and industrialists alike have been summoned to give a testimony. The corruption, allegedly, was directed by cabinet and state ministers only a level or two away from the prime minister.

Under the guise of providing farmers and mothers with instant communication, India’s political leaders supported by business icons built an illegal income stream that in its enormity is a mockery for a country with a large share of the world’s poor.

The third and the most potent of scandals emanated out of phone calls made by Rajaratnam, a Sri Lankan by birth, who was the principal at Galleon, one of the leading hedge funds, headquartered in New York.

That scandal has swallowed the reputations of people from New York to San Jose. Names like Anil Kumar or Rajiv Goel, could be out of any of our address books. In a scheme spanning many years, Rajaratnam has already been convicted and 21 of the 26 participants have pleaded guilty.

The name that has shocked us all is of Rajat Gupta. Although not convicted, and he has refuted all charges, just his name being associated with this scandal is a setback. Mr. Gupta was, if not the first, one of the original Indians who elevated the community’s status by making it to the top echelons of business.

The irony in all this is that the person who prosecuted Galleon-- Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, is an Indian American. Some in the media who have focused on this “South Asian scandal,” have conveniently omitted this fact.

Like the Italians, we pride ourselves in birthing a civilization, originating math and contributing to science, taking care of people through medicine and being a family people. But, the action of a few may leave a taint long lasting.

One can only hope that these events, as damaging as they are, will lead to deep introspection amongst the Indian people both in India and Indians abroad—be at the point of a major financial transaction or at the ballot box.

In the modern history of man, the growth and prosperity of India and Indians is still in its infancy: after all only fifteen years ago there was little of India to talk about. In the last decade, we are starting to prove that the image of a modern, prosperous even a capitalist India can live comfortably in the halo of our glorious brand—Gandhi, and his values.

Sadly, that caricature is now under examination.
-----------
Girish Rishi is a Chicago based writer.

(This column will first publish in Rediff and India Abroad.)