Cryptic Runes: Sons of the Soil

Dr. Venkataraman Ramakrishnan - he is the toast of the Indian media at the moment. Let us take a look at some of his christenings in the media. “Sikaram thota Chidambara Tamizhar” (Tamizhan from Chidambaram who scaled the peak) claims a Tamil magazine. Educated at Baroda is the claim of proud Gujarat media. “He is also Bangalore’s own” claims the Times of India, the reason being that he spent an amount of time at the IISc.

And here are the facts – he was born in Chidambaram, the family moved to Baroda when he was three where his parents worked at the MS University. He was educated in the same University. After graduation, he moved to the US and completed his doctorate in Physics and later studied Biology in the Ohio Univ and Univ of California respectively.

Of the earlier claims, probably Baroda has the most sensible one. After all, he schooled there and completed his graduation there as well. But then, why did a brilliant student with obvious liking for research leave the University and the country is what we have to look at. The usual answers – sub-standard higher education, lack of opportunities for research, lack of monetary benefits, dearth of research facilities, etc. Yes, the problems are commonplace, but that doesn’t make them any less significant.

But the crux of this column is not to rant about the appalling nature of our scientific and research establishments and universities, it is the hypocrisy of claiming as our own someone who apparently is not.

I don’t blame Dr. Ramakrishnan, it is unfair to expect him to give up opportunities to work on cutting edge research in some of the top-class institutions on the basis of a crude notion of patriotism, forget the money. We will have to accept the fact that brilliant as he is, he might not have scaled these heights had he pottered around the highly bureaucratic institutions in India.

Not only is he no longer our citizen, we played little role in his scientific endeavours. Why then puff our chests in pride that an Indian is the recipient of the Nobel? The claim goes to the institutions he is affiliated with, the organizations that sponsored his work and the nation that nurtured these establishments.

Given all these, I feel thoroughly ashamed to read the pious “son of the soil” reports by the media. It sounds absolutely pathetic. I cringe when I imagine what the American citizenship authorities or whatever they are called must think when they read such articles. They must probably be laughing their heads off. The US citizens will probably be reading them with a sceptic and knowing smile.

And this is just one instance. There are numerous other examples. Here are a couple of them I can pick off the top of my head – reports of the Indian-Americans(not even Indian by birth) in Obama’s administration, Bobby Jindal – the Governor of Louisiana.

We can indeed congratulate them and wish them well with dignity. Shashi Tharoor sounded the right tune when he tweeted “Congrats to Dr. Ramakrishnan. Wish he still held an Indian passport though”.

We have a lot to be proud of as a nation – our Space programme is no mean achievement nor is the fact that we remain a united nation under a democratic rule more than half a century after independence given the fact we were(and still are to some extent) a largely illiterate nation. I can mention many more achievements. And individuals we can be proud of too – Indians, in the sense that their travails and success stories were enacted here in our motherland. Also, we need not seek endorsement of the reputed Indian intellect, it is well-known.

I do not fault the NRIs or NRI-turned-US-citizens for leaving the nation. I do not complain of betrayal or something equally crude and rude. I just wish we were sensible enough not to sound so pathetic and thick-headed so as to lay claims on something not ours. And I am not speaking of a mere technicality such as not holding an Indian Passport. We have remained an upright nation during our 62 years of independence and a proud race throughout history. Let us not start sounding humbug now.

P. S: Yest was a national holiday, you know J. Ok, I did get the column written, I swear. I was just too sleepy to look up some facts and revalidate before posting. Blame my mother’s delicious cooking and my over-energetic pets.