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SundayReview | OPIN ION

How India Became America

By AKASH KAPUR M ARCH 9, 2012

P ondic herry, India

A N O T H E R bric k has com e dow n in the great w all separatin g India from the rest of the

w orld. R ecently, both Starbucks and A m azon announced that they w ould be enterin g the India n

m arket. A m azon has already started a com paris on shoppin g sit e; Starbucks plans to open it s fir st

outlet this sum m er.

A s one India n new spaper put it , this could be “the fin al stam p of globaliz atio n.”

For m e, though, the arriv al of these tw o com panie s, so em blem atic of A m eric an

consum eris m , and so em blem atic , too, of the W est C oast techie culture that has in filtrated

India ’s ow n boom in g technology sector, is a sig n of som ethin g m ore dis tin ctiv e. It sig nals the

latest epis ode in India ’s rem arkable process of A m eric aniz atio n.

I grew up in rural India , the son of an India n father and A m eric an m other. I spent m any

sum m ers (and the occasio nal bit in g, shockin g w in ter) in rural M in nesota. I alw ays consid ered

both countrie s hom e. In truth, though, the India and A m eric a of m y youth w ere very far apart:

cold w ar adversarie s, A m eric a’s capit alis t exuberance a sharp contrast to India ’s austere

socia lis m . For m uch of m y lif e, m y tw o hom es w ere lit erally — but also culturally, socia lly and

experie ntia lly — on opposit e sid es of the planet.

A ll that began changin g in the early 1990 s, w hen India lib eraliz ed it s econom y. Sin ce then,

I’ve w atched India ’s transform atio n w it h exhilaratio n, but occasio nally, and in creasin gly, w it h

som e anxie ty.

I left for boardin g school in A m eric a in 1991. B y the tim e I graduated from hig h school, tw o years

later, India n cit ie s had filled w it h shoppin g m alls and glass-paneled offic e buildin gs. In the countrysid e, thatch huts had giv en w ay to concrete hom es, and cashew and m ango plantatio ns

w ere bein g replaced by gated com m unit ie s. In both cit y and country, a new ly lib erated

populatio n w as in dulgin g in a frenzy (som e called it an orgy) of consum eris m and self-

expressio n.

M ore than half a century ago, R . K . N arayan, that great chronic ler of India in sim pler tim es,

w rote about his travels in A m eric a. “A m eric a and India are profoundly dif ferent in attit ude and

philosophy,” he w rote. “India n philosophy stresses austerit y and unencum bered, uncom plic ated

day-to-day liv in g. A m eric a’s em phasis , on the other hand, is on m ateria l acquis it io n and the

lim it less pursuit of prosperit y.” B y the tim e I decid ed to return to India for good, in 20 0 3,

N arayan’s observatio ns felt outdated. A great reconcilia tio n had taken place; m y tw o hom es w ere

no longer so far apart.

T his reconcilia tio n — this A m eric aniz atio n of India — had both tangib le and in tangib le

m anif estatio ns. T he tangib le sig ns included an in crease in the availabilit y of A m eric an brands; a

notic eable surge in the populatio n of A m eric an busin essm en (and their boom in g voic es) in the

corrid ors of fiv e-star hotels; and, also, a strik in g use of A m eric an id io m and A m eric an accents. In

outsourcin g com panie s across the country, India ns w ere bein g taught to speak m ore slow ly and

stretch their O ’s. I found m yself turnin g m y head (and w in cin g a lit tle) w hen I heard young

India ns call their colleagues “dude.”

B ut the in tangib le evid ence of A m eric aniz atio n w as even m ore rem arkable. Som ethin g had

changed in the very spir it of the country. T he India in w hic h I grew up w as, in m any respects, an

is olated and dour place of lim it ed opportunit y. T he country w as strait jacketed by it s m oralis tic

rejectio n of capit alis m , by a lethargic and often depressiv e fatalis m .

N ow it is in fused w it h an energy, a can-do am bit io n and an entrepreneuria l spir it that I can

only describ e as dis tin ctly A m eric an. In surveys of global opin io n, India ns consis tently rank as

am ong the m ost optim is tic people in the w orld. B ookstores are stacked w it h tit les lik e “India

A rriv in g,” “India B oom s” and “T he India n R enais sance.” T he P ew G lobal A ttit udes P roject, w hic h

m easures opin io ns across m ajor countrie s, regularly fin ds that India ns adm ir e values and

attrib utes typic ally thought of as A m eric an: free-m arket capit alis m , globaliz atio n, even

m ultin atio nal com panie s. Substantia l m ajorit ie s associa te A m eric ans w it h values lik e hard w ork

and in ventiv eness, and even durin g the Iraq w ar, India ’s vie w s of A m eric a rem ain ed decid edly

posit iv e.

I H A V E learned, though, that the natio n’s new A m eric an-style prosperit y is a m ore com plex,

and certain ly m ore am biv alent, phenom enon than it fir st appears. T he villages around m y hom e

have undenia bly grow n m ore prosperous, but they are also m ore troubled. A bandoned fie lds and

fallow plantatio ns are in dic atio ns of a loom in g agric ultural and envir onm ental cris is . A ncie nt socia l structures are collapsin g under the w eig ht of new m oney. B onds of caste and relig io n and

fam ily have frayed; the panchayats, village assem blie s m ade up of elders, have lost their

tradit io nal authorit y. O ften, law lessness and vio lence step in to the vacuum left behin d.

I recently spoke w it h a w om an in her m id -50 s w ho liv es in a nearby village. She leads a

sim ple lif e (im poveris hed even, by A m eric an standards), but she is im m easurably better off than

she w as a couple of decades ago. She grew up in a thatch hut. N ow she liv es in a house w it h a

concrete roof, runnin g w ater and electric it y. H er son ow ns a cellphone and driv es a m otorcycle.

H er nie ce is goin g to college.

B ut not long before w e talked, there had been a m urder in the area, the latest in a serie s of

vio lent attacks and killin gs. Shops that hadn’t exis ted a decade ago w ere boarded up in

antic ip atio n of further vio lence; the polic e patrolled new ly tarred roads. T he w om an w as scared

to leave her hom e.

“T his is w hat all the m oney has brought to us,” she said to m e. “W e w ere poor, but at least

w e did n’t need to w orry about our liv es. I thin k it w as better that w ay.”

H ers is a lam ent — again st rapid developm ent, again st the brutalit y of m odernit y — that I

have heard w it h in creasin g frequency. India ’s A m eric aniz atio n has in so m any w ays been a

w onderful thin g. It has lif ted m illio ns from poverty, and, by seedin g id eas of m erit ocracy and

in div id ual attain m ent in to the natio nal im agin atio n, it has begun the process of dis m antlin g an

old and often repressiv e order. M ore and m ore, though, I fin d m yself lyin g aw ake at nig ht,

w orryin g about w hat w ill take the place of that order. T he A m eric an prom is e of renew al and

rein ventio n is deeply seductiv e — but, as I have learned sin ce com in g back hom e, it is also

profoundly m enacin g.

C o rrectio n : M a rch 18 , 2 0 12

A photo caption with an opinion article about the Americanization of India last Sunday incorrectly

identified the mall in the image. It was the Express Avenue mall in Chennai, not Mantri Square mall,

which is in Bangalore.

Akash Kapur is the author of the forthcoming “India Becoming: A Portrait of Life in Modern India.”

A version of this oped appears in print on M arch 11, 2012, on Page SR5 of the New York edition with the headline: How

India Becam e Am erica.