The Always-Going-Home Syndrome: An Examination of the Diasporic Indian’s Search for Identity and Place in the Globalized World.

Joshua Arjuna Stephens

Freeman Summer Initiative

To better understand Indians and Indian-Americans in a globalized world, I am in the process of pursuing the idea of a reverse migration, and its effect on the identity of the diasporic Indian. The sentiment of eventually returning home, what can be deemed the “always-going-home-syndrome”, has been present in the extensive South-Asian Diaspora to America over the past 100 years. But while this sentiment was initially a gesture of homage to their country of origin, and the mention of the intent to return being a matter of manners or protocol among immigrant Indians, it evolved to become an important element in the identity of an Indian in the United States. Now, as current economic conditions bring great change to India, the idea of a return, something that existed mostly in myth for an earlier generation, has become a possibility, even a probability, for the present generation of students and young professionals.  In this context, the “always-going-home syndrome,” although still an important component of the identity of Indian-Americans and Indians in America, takes on new complexity. 

In my research this summer, I sought to explore these themes by looking into the lives of four middle class Gujarati adults in their twenties who have come from India in the past 5 years. These four are examples of Indians currently grappling with both the struggle to exist in this country and the personal desire to return to the India they left. Their stories and insights complemented and contrasted with the experiences of Indians who have firmly established themselves as Indian-Americans. In addition, I spoke with a few authors and academics that have written on similar themes, and had insights to offer. Finally, I used my time to get a greater sense of the Gujarati people and their history, to complement my understanding gained from spending five months in the state, and growing up around Gujarati’s in the United States.

For a long time, Indians in America have struggled to maintain their “Indianness” only to understand that it was not completely possible.  Adjustment and adaptation, leading to a gradual redefinition of identity, was needed.  Their dilemma was complicated by the fact that while they have been too Indianized to be American, in their compromise and adaptation, they have become too Americanized to be Indian.  As the notion of home changes for these Indians in America, India itself ceases to completely accept them within their newly compromised relationship.  Both the desire to create a homeland in another country, and the “always-going-home” mentality existed as both comfort and help to Indians in America seeking to adjust.  What became necessary for the Indian in American was the creation of a “third space,” a renegotiated place, where the international Indian could be clear about what and where he is, and where he could carry the baggage from different cultures from which he adapts and adjusts.  Ultimately, recognizing and achieving such “third spaces” is critical not only in the redefinition of the current younger generation of Indians in America, but also in the continuing search for a multicultural and multinational understanding. 

This is especially true of Gujaratis. Throughout the world, Gujaratis have managed to cling not just to their Indianness, but more particularly to their Gujaratiness. In many Gujarati households, the language, Gujarati, is the language of choice, and the food of the region is what invariably finds it way onto the large metal plates. Furthermore their social customs and religions traditions have persisted long past their departure from India, and arrival in a new land. Traditionally a mobile group of business people, they have sought out foreign lands for a better life as far back as the 11^th century, when Gujurati traders ventured out across the Indian Ocean establishing businesses in the Middle East and North Africa. While Gujaratis comprise a mere 5 percent of the population in India, they are a strong force in the extensive Indian diaspora, making up an estimated 20 percent of the Indian American population. Gujaratis have long been associated across America with the hotel business, the diamond trade, and numerous medical fields. Open a phonebook in New Jersey or California, and the name Patel, along with Shah and Desai can scroll for pages. Many come to the States for schooling. Not so much because it is superior, but because it will give them an edge. It will provide access to jobs, high paying jobs, and the chance to live in the States and gain experience that goes a long way in India. Kartik Shah, a master student in Boston University’s engineering program recently told me that in his undergraduate engineering program in Ahmedabad, more than half of his fellow students sought another degree in the United States, taking admission at whatever school would give a visa. But at the same time he remarked on how all see time in the United States as a temporary solution. It is, and has been the way to get ahead in society. American is not where these middle class kids see themselves planting roots. As love is found, and a family is started, the issue becomes more prominent. The family must be moved home. Children must have the experience of living in a country where everyone looks just like them. Where you can go into a restaurant in a small town in the country, and all heads will not automatically turn to look.

But that India has changed greatly. Although Aryan migration, Mogul conquest, British colonialism and many other intrusions have shaped India’s civilization over centuries, it is capitalism and globalization that have most recently convulsed India in an unprecedented way since the country began dismantling its state-run economy in 1991.  In the recent explosion of American out-sourcing to India and the subsequent strengthening of the Indian economy, the opportunity for a better life for the Indian middle class has presented itself.  Subsequently, many younger Indians, who, like previous generations, sought the education and financial benefits of the United States, are returning to the opportunities now present in the subcontinent.  Their faith in a good high paying job waiting for them back “home” is buoyed by the excitement globalization in India has generated in the media. In fact, as an editorial in the New York Times pointed out, with globalization, “many Americans of Indian origin in the high-technology industry are looking at India as a ‘career-enhancing move.’”[1] As companies shift, there is a growing hope in the Indian corporate world that the Indian diaspora returns home, providing qualified and experienced professionals. Although at this point the relative number of people returning is small, as the global economy continues to shift, this may prove to be a broader phenomenon among the Indian-American community over time.

Gujarat in particular has developed in a funny way in its 21^st century economic explosion. Unlike places like Bangalore and Hyderabad, where English has become deeply engrained in the schooling system, Gujarati’s have held onto their language tightly. A Bombayitte Sindhi friend of mine once remarked that Guju’s are the only Indians who, no matter where they are in the world, keep their language as their first language in their homes. But the lack of English has hurt the state in some senses. The same impetus for foreign companies to invest is not present, for the language skills are not there; however the state has grown in other ways, and the economic modernization that has ballooned across India has not left this state alone.  In fact, in a recent series by the New York Times on globalization and growth in India, the city of Surat in Gujarat was recognized as an economic hub that would be a focus point in years to come.[2] However, there is still no sense to this adaptation. The city has not learned to incorporate traces of a public aesthetic into the superficial modernity that graces the public eye. Instead ugly, Indianized versions of strip malls shoot up next to ugly high-rise buildings, turning Gujarati cities, formerly known for their old, mythic qualities, into large urban sprawls. This reality is a far cry from the American life that Gujarati’s have adapted to in the States, and the India they left,  making the decision to return all the more difficult.

Indians love to talk about the state of their country, even if they no longer live there. Constantly I was asked about the differences between India and the States; which is better? I say they are two incomparable worlds, a cop-out answer, and one that does not satisfy. Direct comparisons are wanted. And in some senses, that is understandable. The two countries are the two largest democracies in the world. They share many values and strategic interests. And to be fair the nations are dramatically and positively transforming their relationship. Everyday in the newspaper, constantly on TV, India’s place in the world, and its economic, and resulting infrastructure boom, are declared; the revolution has been televised…and commercialized, and twisted, and contested. This fascination continues across the oceans and continents to the States, where an ongoing comparison between the India they left and the United States they live in is found among Indians in America. A pride that has always been strong now stands elevated and defiant.  

Ambassador Richard Holbrooke remarked recently in a speech given at the Asia Society about the need to solve international policy problems at a cultural level, for once they are reached at a political level it is often too late. Relations between the United States and India have politically reached a new level with President Bush’s visit to India to broker a nuclear deal, and a strong political future is in store for the two nations. However only through a cultural understanding of the clash and convergence of these two worlds, represented in the various generations of Gujaratis existing in the U.S., will there be a creation of a successful, globalized, common ground. Keeping that in mind, I will continue striving to investigate the role of American values in attracting, keeping, and changing the cultural and political perspectives of Gujaratis in America, and whether a two lane bridge will persist to construct itself between these two countries.