back to notes

Comments on Rajat Gupta’s Lust for Zeros

ProfIndia
Beijing

I am an Indian woman married to a Caucasian American. My husband has toiled away raising funds for non-profit organizations that fight to end hunger and violence against women and children having graduated from Cornell University with an MBA. I myself am an author of a book on violence against Asian immigrant women primarily from South Asia.

I have volunteered for Green Peace, in food banks, as well as a home for senior citizens and also in my husband's organization that fights violence against women and children. Our children were raised to volunteer for these causes from 1st grade onward. We were also very active in the Unitarian church by serving on the social justice committee.

The spirit of voluntarism is a good way to serve America. Indians such as Gupta and Rajratnam have lost their soul. Rich Indians or for that matter Americans do not have the time of the day for us.

Also I subscribe to a philosophy of voluntarism that is not ethnically-bound. I am not sure if the experience of prejudice deters people from venturing outside their ethnic comfort zones--but voluntarism ought not to know boundaries and in fact doesn't. Maybe it is time for "successful Indians"--the ones who graduate from I.I.T etc. to do some soulsearching and engage in serving diverse communities across America. There are probably other Indians who feel like I do--but their voices never get heard.

May 19, 2013 at 8:27 a.m.