One thing I've come to appreciate as I've gotten older is the extent to which Indian cultural norms are shaped by survival pressures. The extreme emphasis on conformity, risk aversion, overbearing family relations, the general tendency to "keep your head down,"

obsession with the judgment of "society." The list goes on. There's a lot of good in there to be sure, but this is not a value system optimized for an upwardly mobile immigrant group trying to carve out a place in American society.

I think there's a general sense among all Indians (but Hindu Americans in particular) that if we just work hard and behave well, everything will be fine. This is not an attitude without historical precedent.

Col. Sleeman in his 1915 account of his time in India makes special note of the self-governing nature of Indian villages, and also notes the villagers' relative indifference to whoever was actually in power. Society is what mattered;

Indians simply went about life and paid taxes to sovereign who happened to be in control at any given time. Basham gives a similar account of Indian village self-governance in his book.

This arrangement was no doubt useful in building resilience throughout periods of political upheaval, but it also seems to have inculcated a cultural indifference to political affairs.

So now we're in this bizarre situation where we are the most successful minority group in America, with every advantage that one could ask for, but seem totally unable to leverage that influence in a meaningful way; a globally competitive people with a village psychology.

To make matters worse, a lot of young desis I see-- especially ones who are creatively inclined-- feel so stifled growing up that they over-correct and throw the baby out with the bath water, disassociating from the culture completely. Not a good situation.