|
|
 |
WLP Interns: In Their Own Words
IACPA interns speak about their expectations before leaving for India
Six selected participants of Indian American Center for Political Awareness’ (IACPA) Washington Leadership Program (WLP) are being sent to India to gain a glimpse of the inner workings of the Indian democracy. The interns were scheduled to travel from Aug. 7 to Aug. 16. Last year, IACPA initiated its program to India and six interns traveled in August 2003. They met with former Prime Minister I.K. Gujral, toured the Parliament and interacted with media, policy and political leaders.
|
SUMON DANTIKI (Class of Summer 2004)
|
I hope to gain deeper understanding of politics, problems of India during the trip
Iwas born in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India and moved to the United States before the age of 2. Over the past 21 years, I have visited family members five times. It bears noting, however, that my visits to India have almost exclusively been to Andhra and southern India.
During this trip to India, I hope to gain a much deeper understanding of the politics and problems of that nation.
Although I took a course on Indian politics during my time at the University of Michigan, under one of the very best teachers on the subject (Professor Ashutosh Varshney) it still amazes me how much more common Indians — people on the street or in shops — know about the political system than I do.
This is fascinating to me because India has always been the great exception; it alone among the poor nations of the world has achieved a longstanding democracy. That it has done so with a myriad of languages, cultures and religions, not to mention problems of security and development, only makes the feat even more impressive and instructive.
I do not, however, regard this trip to India as merely an exercise in comparative political study. Dilip Saund, the only Indian-American to be elected to the U.S. Congress, noted that Lincoln and Gandhi were his role models. He did not run from his identity, but rather embraced it and characterized it within America’s rich history.
When standing for elective office in the future, I hope to do much the same.
|
|
KETAKI GOKHALE (Class of Summer 2004)
|
I expect the trip to India will be a very mind-broadening experience for me
My parents (and I) hail from Pune and Nasik in the state of Maharashtra. Like most Indians living in America, we have strong ties to our extended family and visit India approximately once every two years. I also lived in India for several years when I was young because my father’s work brought my family to Udhagamandalam (Ooty) in Tamil Nadu.
I expect the upcoming trip to India will be a very mind-broadening experience for me. There is the obvious reason that I have never traveled North of Nasik. My mother grew up in Delhi and I am excited to see the land of her youth.
More importantly, however, this trip will do no less than help me make some of the hardest decisions of my life. There is a side of me that wants to be locked in an ivory tower of academia for the rest of my life. There is another side that wants to do something concrete to help humanity. I can do either. Dire as it sounds (it really isn’t), this coming year, my senior year of college, I need to decide between a life of scholarship and a life of public service. I think being chosen for this trip makes me a delegate to India — a representative for my generation of Indian Americans. My skills as a liaison will, in a way, determine what path I take in life. Will my interests in journalism, government, foreign policy, ethics, education reform, human rights — will these interests translate as well in interaction as they do in papers and essays? The beauty of the trip is that while I pursue these selfish goals, I am also doing my people a service by strengthening the ties between a new generation of Indian Americans and India.
|
|
KRYSTLE KAUL (Class of Summer 2004)
|
India will hopefully give me an opportunity to understand inner workings of government
I look forward to coming to India this August, although I have traveled to India about six times in my life. I feel a sense of home and belonging in India even though I was born and raised in New York.
My father is from Sri Nagar, Kashmir and my mother is from New Delhi. Most of my extended family resides in New Delhi; however, my dhadima and dhadaji still live in Jammu.
I am extremely passionate about the conflict in Kashmir, and I feel the Kashmiri people have been wronged. I would like to see this conflict resolved quickly, and see peace brought back to this terror-struck land. I am also interested in bettering in Indo-Pak relations.
I eagerly anticipate meeting prominent Indian political officials, and I hope to learn as much as I can from them. I want to learn how the India government operates, and how it compares to the way the U.S. government functions. I am also interested in strengthening Indo-U.S. relations. I hope to some day run for public office, and I would like to try to better Indo-U.S. relations as well as the U.S.’s involvement with Indo-Pakistan relations.
India will hopefully give me and opportunity to not only understand the inner workings of the Indian government, but also see issues through an Indian lens. I also hope to discuss my personal beliefs with these Indians officials.
I am excited to go on this trip, especially because of the people that I am going with, who I think will enhance our trip to India. I am grateful that I will be able to partake in this wonderful experience, and use the knowledge that I learn in the future.
|
|
ANINDITA PAL (Class of Summer 2004)
|
The trip is a very academic experience to see the interplay of personality and politics
This trip represents to me a chance to travel to India without the excess luggage and the strict guidance of my parents, and to form my own understanding of the country and how it works. My parents feel a strong allegiance for India — both are, after 25 years in the United States, still Indian citizens. However, for me the trip is a very academic experience. Unlike any textbook I will ever read about Indian politics, this trip will allow me to see the interplay of personality and politics.
Furthermore, after having spent a month observing the workings of the American government at a very intimate distance, I am now eager to apply the same lens to the Indian side. I am particularly interested to see how the two countries pursue similar goals through, perhaps, different approaches. The democratic identification that exists between India and America works beautifully in political rhetoric, but I am interested to see how democracy actually functions in both of these countries.
Despite my academic mind frame, I have not forgotten that my heritage is Indian –– I realize that this trip is not merely coincidental. I am interested to see what the dynamic will be between the Indian officials and ourselves; for while we all bear Indian faces, our worldviews are very different, and I am not quite sure what to expect from that exchange. I do expect a certain level of difficulty on their part in understanding the actual role my fellow interns and I hold in American society. For, as I was attempting to explain to my relatives in India what it is I am doing this summer, I realized that there is no Bengali equivalent for “internship.”
|
|
CHIRAG K. SHAH (Class of Spring 2004)
|
I want to learn more of the function and execution of Indian governmental system
I am one of the millions of second-generation Indian Americans that have become assimilated into the American culture in all facets of life. While many of my daily functions are influenced by American trends, it is the influence of my Indian heritage from religion, to customs and morals that governs my way of life. From early on, my parents imparted in me the importance of maintaining strong relationships with our relatives in India and ties to our motherland. As such, I have had the privilege of visiting India eight times. My family spends sometime in Bombay before going to the smaller towns in Gujarat where many of our relatives live.
The upcoming trip to New Delhi with the IACPA will undoubtedly be an incredible experience. Over the past several months, I have been able to foster a greater fervor for Indian government and politics. As the newly elected Congress Party begins to shape its vision for the country, I want to learn more of the function and execution of the Indian governmental system
Moreover, through my internship in the spring of 2004 with the IACPA and the Office of Congressman Joe Wilson (SC-02), who is the Republican Co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, I saw first hand many of the issues facing America as a nation and specifically those that impact the Indian American community. In meeting with members of the Indian government and media, I want to develop deeper insights into the core matters that affect India and Indians. I am excited and grateful for the opportunity to expand my horizons and discover more about India and its political culture.
|
|
JIMMY SONI (Class of Summer 2004)
|
I expect to be dazzled by the interplay of modern and ancient in India
Whenever I’ve corresponded with someone in another country, it seems they have significantly more questions about America than I do about their homeland. As an inquisitive person, this strikes me as odd. That is entirely what I am expecting, however, when I travel to India. I expect to be doling out more responses and judging reactions; that, I think, will be the truest learning experience.
Even though I have not left the United States in 10 years (my last and only trip to India), I feel as though, just through reading and surfing, I have a reasonable grasp of the way things work on the other side of the Pacific. Nevertheless, I expect to be dazzled by the interplay of modern and ancient in India. For many reasons, I have a vision that India is wrestling between its past and its present, with both sides battling for control. What I imagine is a land torn between an information technology boom while still grappling with unimaginable poverty. Paved and dirt roads crossing. Cows and cars sharing streets.
And finally, I expect to stick out. If it walks like an American, talks like an American, and eats like an American, then people are probably going to assume that I’m from America. And truth be told, I am proud of my American heritage. I identify with this country, its problems, and its promise and hope one day to become a senator here.
My parents, however, were born in Rajasthan, speak Hindi, and have raised me in a menagerie of American and Indian culture. Am I a true Indian? No, but I willing to learn.
|
|
|
|
