FICA (Federation of Indian Community Association) official should be commended for taking the monkey by its horns and attempting to deal with this issue that may be nonspecific to Asian Indians in Cleveland. The official of the elite FICA wrote something like this in the June 2013 issue of their publication Lotus.
Surprisingly, however, at the volunteer appreciation dinner a week ago, the presence of the Indians was extremely sparse, to say the least, which meant not many offered to volunteer at this event, though there were many non-Asians seen helping out at this Asian event .
So, once again it led me to wonder why there is such utter reluctance on the part of the Indians to be “out there”!! I have often heard comments made by non-Indians that we are a community driven to snobbery by our relative successes and greater wealth, and consequently, we chose to remain aloof. Is that true? Do we suffer from a sense of superiority over all others? But how can that be? Are we not a humble people? Isn’t snobbery uncharacteristic of our cultural upbringing? Is our reluctance then to blend with the non-Indians caused by our relative shyness? Any thoughts, anyone?
I don't think Asian Indians of Cleveland are more or less snobby than any other community. It is observed that they tend to be less snobby when dealing with Caucasians and more snobby towards their own kind and this makes them humble, right? The days and times when one could say that snobbery is inconsistent with Indian culture is history. That is never coming back and nostalgia is day dreaming. I don't think Asian Indians of Cleveland suffer from a sense of superiority over all others either. Maybe they do in some areas because of a false notion their culture is better than other cultures.
So why are Asian Indians not into voluntary community service and events? Here's one sugar coating free theory; I think that a lot of them, who are newer immigrants, think
what's in it for me, for my family, for my sub-community, my state in India and finally India (not the US)? and they don't like the answer they get. Its that uncomplicated. A lot of them tend to be selfish and this is okay. They know who and what pays the bills. Asian Indians are not shy either; when it comes to being "out there" for the darshan of the Supreme Lord, the Dollar.
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"aaj kaha ka nation kahe ki dharti maiya
Na Biwi Na Bacha Na Baap Bada Na Maiya
The Whole Thing Is That Sabse Bada Rupaiyya" |
Volunteer work and community participation is an unpaid at will individual choice. No one is obligated or required to do any volunteer work for any cause or reason. And yeah, Swami Vivekananda is wrong. What Swami Vivekananda said about volunteer work probably made a bit of sense when he was alive but now it simply is abba su lu tely ridunkulous.
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| Asian Indian performers at Cleveland Asian Festival |
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Cleveland Asian Festival is a good event. The organizers put up a good show. The Asian Indian kids put up a good show too and present Indian culture well.. The Indian food at this event sucks. After two or more visits to this Cleveland Asian Festival, most people can't stand this good event anymore, they move on and find relatively more interesting things to do.
Any thoughts, anyone?
