August 13, 1995- It’s my first day as a high-school student in America, having just moved to Texas from Ahmedabad. When I tell people where I’m from, they ask me about leprosy, snake charmers, and street urchins.
When I try to explain the difference between perception and reality, nobody believes me.

June 19, 2000- I’ve just graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in commerce, and have a managerial position waiting for me at Accenture. I’m already fighting for my piece of the American dream- that fantasy of wealth and power, of SUVs in the garage and DVDs playing on a customized sound system.

I miss India desperately, but there’s no going home now…how could I give up my chance for all of this?

Cut to the to the present. I’m an MBA student at Harvard, working this summer in Mumbai and Bangalore for Jerry Rao, the Chairman of MphasiS. More importantly, I’m not alone. I’m joined by more than 15 other students at Harvard Business School, who are interning at ICICI, Infosys, and the Tata Group. In fact, there are more Harvard Business School students working for Tata Motors this summer than are employed by Ford and General Motors combined. There are other MBA students here from Wharton, Kellogg, and MIT.

Most are desis, either returning Indians or foreign-born, but you find a few brave Americans and Europeans as well.

So why am I back, and why do I have so much company? Because what New York Times columnist Tom Friedman describes as the “flattening of the globe” is changing the India we thought, we knew, every day, before our very eyes. Could Pandit Nehru have even imagined Lakshmi Mittal, now the world’s third richest man? Could Gandhiji have ever dreamed that the farmers of India would be empowered to take control of their destinies, not by a religious leader, but by a profit-driven Indian corporation-ITC and its brilliant product E-Choupal?

I woke up one morning in America and realized that the American dream wasn’t dead…but it was just as available to me in Bangalore as it was in Boston, just as tangible in Calcutta as in the silicon streets of California. The American dream had moved, and so would I.

There’s just one problem. The American dream was never just about new houses and cars…though you had to live in the United States for a few years to realize that. No, it was a dream that all citizens would have equal opportunity, a fair chance to realize their fortunes. That dream, and the demand for it, forced the American government to build schools and roads for the rich and poor alike.

It required massive rural electrification projects, and the dedication of vast national resources to the highest goals imaginable. In short, it was far closer to Gandhi and Nehru’s dreams than they ever knew.

There is no rulebook for the times in which we live, no easy manual for conquering poverty and ignorance, inequality and corruption. But those of us here to realize the “new American dream” must bring more than just our ambition and some venture capital. We must challenge the status quo of this government and its policies. We must shake the dust from the eyes of our bureaucrats and politicians. We know from American history that a nation can succeed despite the odds, and build a society that provides opportunity to all. The time has come to recall those lessons, and use them to recast the future of India our Motherland.


Abhi Shah
Executive Committee, US-India Business Alliance Chairman, U.S.India PAC Youth Committee.