A Strong Bond

During my two-month internship in India this summer, I was curious to see how Indians viewed America. Had the aftermath of the Bush administration left them with a negative view of our country, as it had for most of the world? Or had the presidency of Barack Obama inspired them to respect our country? To my surprise, I found that India—a country in the midst of a sweeping economic and social transformation—has a much more favorable impression of the United States than I had expected.

When many Indians I talked to initially think of the United States, they think of the American president. Their support in this regard makes sense. From the time of President Kennedy, an ardent defender of India in its conflicts with Pakistan and China, American leaders have generally backed India in its political and economic activities. This trend continued even with President Bush, whose strong support of the country’s nuclear-energy deal and foreign-policy positions made India one of the few countries in which he was well-received.

Indeed, the Indians I met who were old enough to remember President Kennedy spoke of him fondly and frequently commented on “how good a man” President Bush was. That positive opinion extends to the nation as a whole: A 2008 Pew Research Survey found that 66 percent of Indians hold a favorable view of the United States, a statistic significantly higher than in almost any other country, including Japan (50 percent), Spain (33 percent), and Turkey (12 percent). Indians admire American leaders that reach out to them and treat them as equal partners, as President Kennedy did when he remarked that Indian independence leaders shared “the great aspirations of people all over the world” or President Bush did when he suggested joint military training and missions.

Political leaders might be the American faces that Indians see on the news, but just as important is the corporate face that they see in their business interactions with the United States. A prime example of this is the growing attraction of Indian consumers to American supermarkets. Consumers are now being introduced to stores where they can purchase a wide variety of groceries; for those Indians who still purchase food daily from street vendors, the cleanliness and organization of large grocery operations is extremely appealing. As a few American stores start making inroads in the Indian economy, employing Indians and selling cheaper goods to Indians, they are received enthusiastically by much of the country’s growing consumer class. America’s dramatic industrial progress is still rare in most of the world and is often still its most defining characteristic in the arena of global opinion.

Finally, and most refreshingly to an American worried about the country’s place in an ever-changing world, most Indians I met admire our country’s egalitarianism and diversity. A friend of mine one day asked me during a political conversation if Barack Obama was actually the son of a Muslim. When I responded affirmatively, he remarked, “Now that type of thing only happens in America.” Though Indians of diverse religious beliefs are widely represented in India’s governing structures, the general population’s interactions are often severely restricted by religion. One can work with Hindus for weeks on end without working with a Muslim, and vice versa. Similarly, socioeconomic mobility, especially in the social world, is still significantly limited. The idea of something as egalitarian as public golf courses was fascinating to the populace of Mumbai, a city that has only three golf courses, all of which are extremely exclusive and pervaded with colonial British influence.

Indian views of America are not uniformly positive, of course. Many Indians are skeptical of American prodding on issues such as climate change and relations with Pakistan. They also fault the American market for the crash that brought down the global economy with it. Yet, as a whole, the people admire and respect a country that, more often than not, treats them as an equal partner, introduces new business models and economic ideas to their country, and sets a model for tolerance and diversity. As we work to rebuild our bonds with the rest of the world, these lessons are worth keeping in mind.


Ravi N. Mulani ’12, a Crimson editorial writer, is an applied math and economics concentrator in Pforzheimer House.