Neera Tanden: Power, Policy and Poise

The Obama-Biden Transition Team office in the nation’s capitol was buzzing with activity, awash in smiles and friendly banter in December. It was early enough that the overall mood was still celebratory, and the enthusiastic, brisk walking young staffers were not yet overwhelmed with the stark realities of governing.

Among the many offices in the building was one set apart for Neera Tanden, a longtime Democrat and counselor in the Department of Health and Human Services. In just over a decade since graduating from Yale Law School, Neera Tanden has had a meteoric rise through the world of Democratic policy makers. Starting out as one of thousands of campaign workers, moving to the Clinton White House as a mid level staffer, Tanden was one of Hillary Clinton’s closest advisors during the 2008 Presidential Campaign. She served as domestic policy director for the Obama campaign before taking up her current position.

Cheerfully ignoring the multiple ringing phones and constant visitors, Tanden speaks in clear, eloquent sentences, peppered with the occasional casual “like”. She is youthful, energetic and energizing, while simultaneously strikingly thoughtful and sharply intelligent. She is slim and compact, with a near constant bright smile. Her candid responses were refreshing and lucid.

She has clearly given much thought to the narrative of her life. She is humble, allowing her impressive accomplishments to speak for themselves. And throughout our conversation, she returns again and again to the same theme: that she is not the sole architect of her life. She constantly acknowledges her family, touches of serendipity, and, most often, the power of government to change lives.

Growing up in Bedford, Mass, Tanden was immersed in politics from early childhood. Her mother, Maya, who was then working towards a Ph.D. in political science at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., would fill the home with friends and hold long conversations about politics.

“She was very politically active and politically minded.” remembers Tanden. Her mother grew up in Kanpur in a very political home; her father was active in local politics there, and her grandfather had been a freedom fighter in British India.
As a young child, Tanden and her older brother, Raj, soaked up the stories and conversations. “A tribute to both my parents is that they talked about politics actively. My father tried to talk about philosophical issues often, and was very encouraging of us developing our own opinions. My father, even though he’s conservative, supported raising a strong daughter.”

At age 5, however, the foundation of Tanden’s life was dramatically shaken. “My parents divorced, and my father left the picture immediately.” she remembers matter-of-factly. Tanden soon became intimately familiar with government support systems. “When my parents got divorced, my mother had to go on welfare. She needed to get a job. She had never worked before in her life.”

SINGLE MOTHER
Tanden reveals not a glimpse of self pity when recalling this doubtlessly difficult time, simply pride in her mother for maintaining a strong home for Tanden and her older brother, Raj. “She was a single mother, and got divorced at a time where there were very few Indian women divorced.” Tanden says. The family greatly benefitted from the social services available to them, and her mother was able to work her way up. “By the time I was in middle school, we eventually were able to buy a house.”

Tanden is acutely conscious of the degree to which various social services not only kept her family afloat, but allowed them to thrive. “I’m incredibly grateful that there was a support system here that allowed me to flourish, in a way that wouldn’t have existed in India or elsewhere at that time.” The family moved to public section 8 housing, but was able to stay in Bedford, an affluent town with excellent public schools. Tanden acknowledges the good fortune at play. “We were so randomly lucky that Bedford had created this new low income housing.”

Tanden is deeply grateful for the high quality public schools available in Bedford. “I didn’t come to realize this until later, but one of the big reasons I think I’ve had the successes I’ve had is because I’ve been able to go to really good schools. If things were different, who know what schools we would have ended up in?” After graduating from high school, Tanden enrolled at UCLA, and is bursting with public school pride. “I didn’t go to private school until Yale,” she notes.

Tanden’s political leanings were dramatically shaped by her experiences and the ways in which the government has been essential to her success. As she grew up, she became more aware of the role these structures had played in her life. Apart from one year when she became a fan of Ronald Reagan, Tanden began building a solid progressive philosophy.

“I remember an argument I had with my father [when I was]in High school, about welfare. My father is a Republican. He was like ‘People are lazy’ and I was like ‘We were on Welfare!’ He just could not wrap his head around it.”

As her political philosophy was starting to take shape, so was Tanden’s drive to participate in the process. She began feel the pull towards political activity as a teen. “In high school, I really understood that these things matter. I read the newspapers and read Newsweek as a high school kid. At UCLA, I immediately started working on the presidential campaign.”

At 18, Tanden dove right in to the 1988 Dukakis campaign, leading a precinct and immersing herself in the grassroots campaign. Though the campaign wasn’t successful, Tanden’s drive to participate in the political process was cemented, and she had forged connections that would eventually lead her to the White House.

Tanden was not only building the foundations of her livelihood and ideology, she also found a central character in her personal life. “That’s how I met my husband,” she says of working on the Dukakis campaign. “So the campaign was definitely good for something!”

PRIVATE BENJAMIN
As she begins speaking of her husband, painter Benjamin Edwards, Tanden visibly softens and her smile widens into a big grin. She clicks away rapidly at her computer to pull up his latest piece, a 12X20 foot imagined cityscape of a futuristic DC. According to Edwards, his art often explores the intersection of virtual and real worlds.

The painting is impressive, showing meticulous detail and design. All crisp angles and full of light, the art matches Tanden’s clean, bright sensibilities. She is delighted as I admire it. She speaks of her husband in reverential tones: “He is a person of incredible integrity.” Edwards is no longer directly involved in politics, and Tanden seems grateful to have him as a touchstone.

Edwards seems equally awed by Tanden. “She’s always been extremely motivated. I always knew she would end up doing something great,” he says, recalling a summer internship Tanden held at a law firm while she was still in college. “The people at the law firm called her a ‘Firecracker’. It’s the perfect description of how she is, a little firecracker. They were just so impressed with her and how hard she worked.”

Edwards is candid and humble during our conversation, mentioning several times that Tanden is a “harder worker, better student” than he. On learning that his wife considers him as the most influential figure in her life due to his deep integrity and honesty, Edwards immediately returns the sentiment. “We really reinforce each other’s good qualities.” he says. “All those things she said, I could say the same about her.”

While Edwards is closely connected to New York City because of his work, he and Tanden live in D.C. with their two young children, 6 year old Ilana and 3 year old Jaden (“I did it before Britney Spears!” Tanden remarks about naming her son).

Tanden’s children are growing up in a melting pot world, and Tanden mentions that many of her daughter’s friends, like the new President, are of mixed race.

“My daughter is very much like ‘I’m half Indian’.” chuckles Tanden. “She likes to talk about how her mom is Indian.” To Tanden, it is important that as her children get older, they understand where they come from. She wants them to “know they come from India, that it’s a very different country, that they have wealth of experiences and cultures to tap into. It’s part of who they are and what they will be.”

Tanden’s mother lives close by and visits regularly. “She makes Indian food, and is starting to talk to [my daughter] in Hindi, although she is completely resistant to it.” Tanden is grateful for her mother’s support, as her own schedule can be grueling.

Presidential campaigns are notoriously backbreaking, and the 2008 campaign in particular stretched on for an eternity in the life of a child. When Tanden was asked to join Clinton’s presidential campaign as policy director, she “had a tremendous amount of anxiety about taking on a presidential race and having two very young children. When I started, my son was only 15 months old and my daughter was 4 ½ years old.”

Tanden decided to take on the challenge, working tirelessly for Hillary while somehow attempting to maintain a steady presence in her children’s lives. “There was times of stress, and times when my kids were like ‘where’s our mother?’” Tanden admits. She made an effort to be home to eat with them and tuck them in, often sacrificing sleep in order to get her work done. “I never went a day where I passed a memo in late.”

FAMILY FIRST
Fortunately for Tanden, Clinton was very understanding. “She totally appreciates the importance of balancing family and work. She’s always been incredible about supporting women.” In her time at the White House, Tanden recalls a female coworker who was able to work for Hillary part-time. “And no one goes part-time at the White House,” she notes.
Even in the jam packed campaign schedule, there were several occasions when Tanden’s family priorities shifted the entire program.

“There was one time when we had a prep for one of the first debates, but it was the same day as my daughter’s Pre-K graduation,” she recalls. Tanden refused to miss the graduation, and remembers that “Hillary was totally great. She moved the debate prep… did it at a time I could do it.” Clinton, Tanden recalls, said “It’s more important for you to be at Ilina’s pre-K graduation than this.”

“She was a great boss in that way – she was a great boss in every way. She’s strong and really brings out the best in people,” Tanden says.

She clearly adores and reveres Clinton. Her whole body seems to radiate pride for her former boss as we begin talking about her. “She’s a great friend.” Tanden says sincerely. “She’s one of those people, you get in her foxhole, and she’ll get in your foxhole. She knows you work really hard for her, and she’ll do whatever… if you really need something, she’ll be there for you. She cares about how you’re doing.”

“I feel like I somewhat grew up with Hillary since I started working for her when I was 28.” says Tanden. “She taught me how to understand things, how to learn, how to see the connections between things.” Tanden credits Clinton with moral guidance as well: “I’ve also just learned about how to be a good person. She’s very loyal, and has always supported and looked after our family.”

Tanden recalls an occasion when Clinton was slated to do a Public Service Announcement on Sesame Street, but fell ill. “She had this massive coughing fit, and actually had to cancel a speech in the morning.” remembers Tanden. “She called me, and I was like ‘Ilina is going to be SO disappointed!’ Ilina loves Elmo so much.”

So, Tanden says, Hillary decided to go ahead with the announcement. She took Ilina and the other children from the office, and, to Ilina’s delight, introduced her to Elmo, (“Like, the giant puppet Elmo.”). “She really wasn’t feeling well, and she did it because she didn’t want to let Ilina down.” Tanden says about Clinton.

Her feelings for the Hillary seem to go well beyond a simple working relationship. She speaks of Clinton in unequivocally idolizing language, unabashed about generously using superlatives and the strongest compliments she can bring to mind in an attempt to represent the depth of her admiration. “If there is anyone who can solve the world’s problems, it’s Hillary Clinton.” declares Tanden, in respect to Clinton’s position as Secretary of State.

Tanden’s path to the Clinton White House was a case of ready intelligence meeting serendipity. That, and her marked ability to make people want to take her with them.

STARTING POINT
After graduating from Yale Law, Tanden landed a position on the California 1996 Clinton/Gore campaign from connections she had developed while working on the Dukakis campaign. Luckily, she says, the Republican convention happened to be in California, so she worked with a team of people from Washington.

After the campaign, “someone that I worked with went to the White House, and he invited me to go.” Tanden was initially placed in a small role in the chief of staff’s office, but was able to quickly move around, finally landing in domestic policy, which has been her focus for the past decade.

Tanden recalls a pivotal event in her relationship with Hillary. It was 1999, and Tanden had been working in the Clinton White House in a dual role, serving the president mainly on children’s issues and after school programs, and working with Hillary on a broad swath of domestic policy issues. Tanden was also getting married soon.

“Hillary very nicely threw me a wedding shower at the White House.” recollects Tanden, still giddy with the memory. Originally it was slated to be in the more conventional East Room, but Clinton “moved it up to the private residence. It was really phenomenal.” Tanden at the time was still a mid-level staffer. “There was just absolutely zero requirement for her to do that, [it was] just a completely generous thing to do.”

Hillary’s admiration for Tanden soon became abundantly clear. It was the end of the Clinton Presidency, and Tanden knew Hillary was considering a run for Senate. “A couple days later, she did this Good Morning America thing with her husband, and she announced there that she was running. I walked with her back, thanking her for the party she threw and discussing my plans to go work at a law firm in New York. Then she basically said ‘Can you work for me?’”

Tanden immediately agreed. She went on to serve Clinton on and off for the next 8 years, joining in the Senate as her legislative director. In a 2000 New York Times profile, the then-29-year old Tanden was identified as “the smart kid, aka the policy wonk” of Clinton’s team. Clinton would call Tanden “The Computer” because, as Edwards explains, “She’s got a mind like a computer. She can pull up any little snippet of policy at a moment’s notice.”

In the Senate, Tanden worked on many issues, and notably, managed Clinton’s health-care plan. “Hillary had very strong views on health care. She had a very expansive process. We looked at other countries, at what the system could take, at think tank proposals,” Tanden says, proud of the depth of thought and extensive research that went into formulating one of Clinton’s key issues and Tanden’s current occupation. Clinton was concerned with demanding excellent health care both on a policy and a personal level. Tanden recalls advice she received from Clinton during a time when her daughter had been getting frequent ear infections.

Clinton gave Tanden comprehensive advice about getting the best care, including “going to the doctor at the right time, making sure the doctor looked at it individually, making sure that the doctor was looking at it in a whole host of ways and was concerned with getting to the root of the problem” and not simply treating the current symptoms, remembers Tanden.

INTENSE EXPERIENCE
During the presidential campaign, one of Tanden’s most hectic phases came immediately before the unveiling of the Clinton health-care plan.

As issue that Clinton was so passionate about, it was “a very intense experience” for the team. “The week before the rollout, there was no night where I slept more than 3 hours, and several nights where I slept not at all. It was the hardest I’d ever worked in my life,” Tanden says. “We flew to Chicago the night before, and were going over the final edits of the speech.”

Tanden said that after all their arduous work, they realized in a moment of reflection that this was a great plan and a great speech. “And Hillary just turned to me and smiled and gave me a high-five.”

In looking back to the presidential campaign, Tanden wistfully reflects on the gap that she perceives between the candidate she knew so well, and the public’s perception of her. “I’ve seen her in good times and bad times, and to me, she is an incredibly inspiring person. I was always concerned that people didn’t see enough of how she was inspiring.” she laments. “[Clinton] has done more to change people’s lives in her career than most people know.”

Tanden emphatically rattles off some impressive accomplishments, her campaign director hat still planted firmly on her head. She still ardently wants to prove that Clinton more than has the chops to become President.

“One of the first things she did after graduating law school was go door to door and examine the problem of disable children in Massachusetts, which helped created legislation to ensure disabled children had access to good education.”

In Tanden’s view, “the campaign did not highlight how she was an inspiring figure at much as it could have and should have. That was our fault. It was all in her bio.”

After Clinton conceded to Barack Obama, Tanden had to make a decision about her next step. She was, and is, fiercely loyal to Clinton, but is also clearly driven by her desire to affect the direction of policy. She made the decision to join the Obama campaign in June, and was the most senior member of Hillary’s team to make the transition at that time; in the end, the Obama team hired only a handful of Clinton loyalists.

The move was quite significant; the political blogosphere lit up at the notice. Filled mostly with balanced support, there are also several heated judgments scattered throughout the blogs with Obama loyalists declaring her a “filthy Clinton” and those on the other side calling her a “traitor”.

“It wasn’t tough for me,” Tanden says about her decision to work for Obama. She had been publicly critical of Obama during the campaign, but her desire to work for the issues, and not just the person, took precedence. She concedes that there was an adjustment period for her and for members of Obama’s campaign, who now had to work with someone who they had, until very recently, been fighting.

Tanden was tapped for the Obama team by the campaign’s chief strategist David Axelrod, who, ironically, she had met while working on Hillary’s 2000 campaign. She discussed the move with Clinton before making a decision. Clinton, Tanden says, was strongly encouraging.

“She said ‘I’m going to do everything I can to help them, and you should do everything you can to help them. It’s important that he’s president. These are grave times.’” Tanden went on to serve as Obama’s domestic policy director during the campaign.

Tanden seems content with the way things worked out, and pragmatic about the circumstances. “They are both two extraordinary people. If either one of these people ran any other year, they would have been the nominee,” she says about Clinton and Obama. She is well aware of the Obama’s draw (“Obama is tremendously inspiring.”) and is comfortable with his ability to lead. “He’s very smart, policy oriented, makes great decisions, very level headed.” she says. “Things have gotten very screwed up, and it’ll take time to clean it up. But he’s met his expectations each time.”

In her current position, Tanden will concentrate on health-care reform. After all of the time she has spent working on the issue, she may finally get the chance to see it come to fruition. She is optimistic about their chances this time. “The stars could not be aligned better. Everybody knows we need to do something. There is a lot of momentum for change.”
After that, who knows? One thing Tanden is sure about: she won’t be running for office any time soon. She is more comfortable influencing and shaping policy from an administrative standpoint. “I’m happy to help people run for office. I worked my heart out for Hillary, and worked my heart out for Barack Obama. But the idea of calling up people and asking them for money is something that I don’t want to do.”

The most dramatic impact that Tanden’s Indian-American background has had on her is in her unique insight into America as a land of immigrants, who arrive here with nothing and depend on a variety of government channels to bring them up to equal footing. Throughout our conversation, Tanden returns again and again to her early dependence on Welfare, Public housing and Public schooling. “I think having that kind of experience informs a whole series of progressive views.”

Tanden’s patriotism is rooted in the dream of America as a meritocracy, where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. To her, this success is dependent on government. “ I think that applies to a variety of things: that everyone should have access to education, that its wrong that just because you don’t have a certain kind of job you don’t have health care, and that we have a system where you’re really rewarding people for the work they do and not who they know.”

Tanden returns to her high quality public education, which she sees as a great equalizer. “I think that’s a unique experience of immigrants, who really do rely on the school system to make sure that they have the opportunities that other people have. Being an Indian immigrant has really informed my view of how important education is.”

She feels solidarity with President Obama in that respect as well. “I think he also thinks of education that way, to ensure that everyone has the opportunities that he did. He didn’t know anybody or have any big connections. He became president of the United States, just because of skills! It’s not like he didn’t earn it.”

In reflecting on her path and current position, Tanden is humbled, grateful and proud. “I’ve always been mindful that I’ve been able to go from being a kid who grew up on welfare to work in the White House, and work on this campaign and work with the Clintons, and I have no connections. I went from being someone who briefed Hillary on issues to being one of a handful of advisors on her Presidential campaign. That was not because of anything other than that she thought I did a good job.”

originally published in The Indian American, January-February 2009

Sikhs in America: Through the Lens

Seeking to dispel the notion that “turban means terrorist”, Brazilian born American Photographer Fiona Aboud spent the past 2 years traveling throughout the United States, capturing everyday images of Sikhs In America. Shilpi Paul reports

In April 2006, Photographer Fiona Aboud made her way to Midtown Manhattan to capture portraits of participants in the Annual Sikh Day parade. In its second decade, the parade was a chance for Sikh Americans to march in the city, proudly displaying their cultural identifiers, celebrating traditional dress, dance, and food.

Aboud, an acclaimed photographer who has been published in The New York Times, Time Magazine and Sports Illustrated, has always been drawn to capturing individuals in the midst of “life changing events”, seeking an emotional authenticity that is difficult to recreate in a formal studio setting. Aboud brought the portable photo studio she had been using for her “Street Portraits” series to the Sikh Day parade and found herself falling into what would become a two- year long, nationwide project.

“I tried to always study things I felt were misunderstood,” the Brazilian-born photographer says, “and were also on the periphery.”

Her interest in understanding this often-misunderstood group coupled with the Sikh parade participants eagerness to dispel misconceptions of their culture led to the eventual creation of Aboud’s photo collection “Sikh in America”.

Aboud is still awed by the warm reception she received from her first moments at the parade. “During the parade, I had people giving me food, inviting me to the gudwara,” she remembers.

These invitations extended into the future and into private family homes. One invitation led to another, and soon Aboud was traveling all throughout the United States photographing Sikh Americans in their homes and workplaces. She was soon able to realistically visualize embarking on a massive project. “There’s never been a comprehensive photographic documentation of Sikhs in America,” she says. “No one’s really tackled the project as a whole.”

Aboud hopes to explore “the challenge of maintaining your identity and still being an American,” with her collection. She wants to investigate “how Sikhs are a part of our country, and how they reconcile their traditions within it.” She photographed both first- and second-generation Sikhs, as well some as Caucasian Americans who had converted to Sikhism. Aboud sought to capture “people who are contributing in different ways, business or social.”

Her collection focuses on portraying Sikh living typical American lives and contributing to the mainstream society. Showing intentionally stark contrasts of Sikhs in traditional dress and unshorn hair in classically American settings, often on suburban landscapes and inside of familiar-looking American homes, Aboud represents this juxtaposition as just one more American story in the teeming mass.

“This photo could be any family, any city, any place in this country,” she reiterates. “The context of the pictures helps people relate, to see that this is their life.” The images drive home the idea that the individuals are one of the many faces of America.

Sikh Americans are not well understood by the mainstream American public, and are often erroneously associated with a vaguely defined image of “terrorist.” After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, US media outlets filled the airwaves and newspapers with images of turbaned terrorists seeking to destroy Americans. The image of Osama bin Laden, turban clad, immediately conjures up the fear and anger of the 9/11 attacks. The Sikhs, in an unfortunate coincidence of culture, wear turbans to represent their devotion to their religious path.

Sikh Americans found themselves under attack almost immediately. Despite several campaigns to dispel the connection and to correctly identify different types of head coverings, Sikh Americans fell victim to bizarre and horrific acts of violence and discrimination.

On Sept. 15, 2001, days after the terror attacks, Balbir Singh Sodhi, a gas station owner living in Mesa, Ariz., was shot to death by a man seeking tragically misguided revenge for the 9/11 attacks. Sodhi was the first of many such hate crimes, and the Sikh community has been forced to deal with the misconceptions since then.

“People just stereotype ‘turban means terrorist’,” says Aboud. “Because you see some images on the news, that’s what people come away with.”

Aboud hopes her project will help to break the mistaken connection. “When I first did this project,” remembers Aboud, “some of the reactions I got were ‘Oh, wow, how did you get in? How did you infiltrate them?” In stark opposition to the image of secrecy and isolation, Aboud says getting to know the community “was the easiest thing ever.”

“As I learned in the gudwara,” she says, “it’s the complete opposite. Generosity and welcoming like I’ve never ever experienced with anybody - It’s ridiculous to think that people have that in their mind that they’re somehow closed off.”
Aboud relates tales of utter trust and welcome, doors being left unlocked for her to freely enter and invitations to stay the night at countless homes. “At every house I go to, I never leave hungry,” Aboud says with a grin. “I joke that that’s why I’m doing the project, so I can eat amazing Indian food.”

Her upbringing no doubt has contributed to her uniquely compassionate take on the “outsider” experience in America. Raised in the US by Brazilian-Lebanese and Russian Jewish parents, Aboud has had a lifetime to contemplate how exactly the immigrant experience plays into identity formation and self-definition. “I feel like, in general, my upbringing was very worldly,” says Aboud. “I would go to Brazil and see the poverty, and see how people live and that understanding people is so crucial.”

Aboud’s parents also shaped in her a curiosity and elevation of the individual story. “I always loved people and their stories. My dad always instilled in me that everyone has an interesting story to tell, everyone from the guy driving the cab, to the CEO of some company.” Her portfolio illustrates this belief, and is filled with individuals performing everyday duties with a palpable sense of pride. Aboud’s photographs consistently have a respectful and optimistic quality to them, revealing the creator’s worldview.

Aboud is now planning on as wide a distribution as possible for the book. “When the book comes out,” she says, “my goal is to have Sikhs buy it, donate it to libraries, put it in their doctor’s offices, go to schools. The idea is to get it out there as much as possible.” She hopes that her photographs will play a small part in helping the public at large to understand the Sikh community and to see Sikhs as truly American. “There are still a lot of unreported harassment and hate crimes,” says Aboud. “In such a pluralistic society, we shouldn’t have to have that.”

“It’s overwhelming, the need that there is.”

originally published in The Indian American, July-August 2009

Fundraiser for leadership grooming program

Dozens of young and successful Indian Americans crowded the White Tiger, an upscale Indian restaurant blocks from the Congressional Office buildings in Washington, D.C. on a recent evening. They were all there for a cause.

The event that brought them together was a fundraiser for the Washington leadership Program (WLP), which has been placing Indian American college students in internships on Capitol Hill since 1994. Founded by Gopal Raju, the former publisher of News India Times who passed away last year, the program has since gone into limbo. The May 13th fundraiser was part of an effort by WLP alumni to rebuild the program after a yearlong hiatus.

The organizers sold tickets priced between $35 and $500 for the evening of Indian appetizers, networking and speeches. Alumni Sam Arora, a former aide to Hillary Clinton, was master of ceremonies and Ohio State Rep. Jay Goyal delivered the keynote address. Also attending were Maryland House Majority Leader Kumar Barve, Ralph Nurnberger, who serves on the WLP board, and Prakash Khatri, former ombudsman for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

A slideshow ran continuously throughout the event, flashing scenes of successful internships from years past and along with intermittent photos of Gopal Raju. A pioneer of Indian American publishing, Raju created the program under the Indian American Center for Political Awareness (IACPA), with the stated intention of “inspiring, encouraging and introducing Indian Americans to public service.” For more than a decade, the program brought young Indian Americans to Washington to hold summer internships in Congress, planting seeds of political participation amongst almost 200 students.

“When he passed away,” says Harin Contractor, a 2002 WLP alumni, says about Raju, “the program passed away with him.”
Contractor was one of the main forces behind rejuvenating the program. “It changed my life,” says Contractor, now a Senior Consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton.

Keeping the name Washington Leadership Program, Contractor and the other WLP alumni contributed enough money from their own bank accounts to enable five young Indian American students to hold internships on the Hill this summer. After their initial success, they began branching out to find more donors in the larger Indian American community. The May fundraiser was part of this effort and attracted more than 100 people.

Ralph Nurnberger, who was the director of the program from its inception in 1994 until 2004, and who now sits on the board of advisors, beamed at the youthful faces that surrounded him. “What makes this night so special,” says Nurnberger, “is the average age of the people here. These are young people willing to put up funds for the next generation. That’s what’s so wonderful about this.”

Unlike a typical fundraiser, the average age at White Tiger appears to near 35, and the majority of voices to be heard have not a trace of an Indian accent. Under Nurnberger’s watch, 180 students worked on the Hill as interns.

Raju recruited Nurnmberger to run the program because of his extensive experience as legislative liaison with the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee. “Raju saw a lot of similarities between the two groups,” explains Contractor.
Khatri, President and CEO of KPK Global Solution, LLC, noted WLP’s affect of the larger Indian American community. “What Ralph has done,” says Khatri, “is connected 180 kids into the system. With 180 kids, you’ve connected thousands of families.”

A frequent speaker at past WLP events, Khatri has spoken widely about the need for Indian Americans to get involved in public service.

“The only way in a democracy to really have an impact is to be there at the table,” he believes. “It’s not about sitting on the sidelines and giving money and hoping someone else does your job for you. It’s about participating in the democratic process.” Khatri believes that the second generation has a greater opportunity than their parents to really become incorporated into the mainstream.

“The first generation provided a huge funding,” he explains, “but because of their accents, etc., they were considered outsiders. Their children are the ones that managed to get accepted.”

Suresh Gupta, a physician and WLP sponsor who attended the fundraiser, also feels that the second generation can integrate into the mainstream more easily. “We worked hard,” Gupta says of his generation.

“We could not go into politics because we had to establish ourselves. We came here with nothing. We had to support our family back home and our children.”

A vocal supporter of WLP – he announced that he will sponsor an intern and made out a check for $1,500 – Gupta emphasized the need to support the next generation.

“I always felt it was important that our community support the children. They are our future; they are the ones who can take us places. If they do well, we do well.”

The May fundraiser, says Contractor, “was without a doubt a tremendous success. We hope to carry this momentum forward as we continue to branch out and look for support from the community around the country and not just in Washington, DC.” The event raised more than $15,000, including corporate sponsorships.

This years interns were selected through a “rigorous application and selection process that involved multiple rounds” and inputs from various alumni and the board of advisors, Contractor said. Orientation is set for June 15.

The alumni have been taking advice from the old guard, but are up for the task of reviving and operating this program on their own. Nurnberger is an advisor, but is not involved in the day to day operations. “We talk on the phone,” he says, “but they are doing it on their own. They know what they’re doing.”

It may be the ultimate proof of the success of WLP program; started less than 15 years ago, the program is now being operated by the very individuals whose careers it jumpstarted.

Contractor seems ready for the challenge. “They blazed this path,” he affirms. “Now we want to keep it going.”

originally published in News India Times, May 2009

What accounts for the sudden fascination for India in the Western World?

After years of marginal representation in West, India is now part of the mainstream dialogue. “Slumdog Millionaire” has earned acclaim in America, “White Tiger” received the prestigious Man Booker prize in Britain and is being made into a film and India is now visible in every facet of mass market American culture. Every major bookstore now has a table heaped with “South Asian literature” and a recent issue of Vogue magazine features a spread of Indian model Lakshmi Menon appearing in designer dresses on the streets of Goa.

For all the enthusiasm in the West for all things India, these creations are facing mixed reviews, if not harsh criticism, on the subcontinent.

Many Indians remain uncomfortable with how outsiders have, for better or for worse, been defining their for the world. Particularly distressing and offensive, many believe, is the glamorizations of poverty and the focus on depravity. Why are Westerners so intensely drawn to movies like “Slumdog” and books like “White Tiger”, which focus on the wretchedness of the poor?

Putting aside the question of how realistically “Slumdog” director Danny Boyle portrayed the abject poverty of the streets of Mumbai, why is there such a pornographic hunger in the West for this depiction of poverty? Why is it that movies about middle- or upper-class Indians don’t create such enthusiastic fervor? Why is the Western world so wildly supportive of anything that represents the raw savagery of India?

These movies and books must offer Westerners a release from guilt; they are addicted to the compassion that they feel for the characters in these books and movies. A ticket to a movie offers an opportunity to feel the joy of empathy with the less fortunate and balance out the unpleasant dissonance of living in plenty while others across the globe suffer in squalor. The compassion Westerners feel serves as an emotional balm for their distress.

“Slumdog” satisfied an aesthetic dimension as well, by representing poverty in a hyper stylized, vibrantly colorful way, and allowed viewers to feel that they were seeing the beauty in poverty.

The media circus surrounding recent horrific events in the life in child actor Rubina Ali, who portrays a slum dweller in the movie and is famously back on the streets, are also a result of the intense fascination with Indian poverty. Feeding this desire are the ubiquitous news stories of her father allegedly attempting to “sell” her and the intensely personal video of the vicious physical fight between her mother and stepmother plastered all over mainstream blogs and news outlets. The media knows that there is a ravenous appetite for these stories and images, created by the desire to feel this at-your-fingertips empathy.

“The Darjeeling Limited”, another recent movie based in India created by a Westerner - though with American characters - self consciously approaches the idea that India offers Westerners a kind of emotional balm. The film plays on the almost abstract notion that India can serves as an instant cure for spiritual emptiness. The characters acknowledge this and buy a ticket to India, and then a ticket on the Darjeeling Limited train, ready to embark on an “authentic” Indian journey in search of a spiritually enriching experience – much like those who rushed to see “Slumdog” or read “White Tiger.”

The West’s easy access to this spiritual balm, thanks to its consumerist culture, may seem offensive to many as well. While Indians remain immersed in reality, Westerners can buy what they want, return it at their whim, and can always escape completely whenever they want to. Not surprisingly, Indians are loath to being portrayed by Westerners who are a world away.

While Westerners celebrate the success of these films and books and relatively well off Indians put forth their critiques, the reality is that a large number of people in India desperately need help.

Despite its steep economic growth, India has failed to provide so many of its citizens with even running water, electricity, and sewage processing. Where does the responsibility lie? Do movies like “Slumdog” actually motivate people to act charitably, and do their producers assume any responsibility to do so? Do the privileged have a responsibility to help the needy, and has the “Slumdog” phenomenon helped or hindered this responsibility?

Will the emotional balm of watching the film persuade people to act? Will the spotlight impel more Indians to help their countrymen?

In the end, the Western audience is still looking for a way to understand and represent India and its poverty. The pendulum swings between the dehumanizing “otherness” of representing poverty through a gaze of pity and the celebratory but potentially neglectful view of exalting the beauty and dignity of the impoverished. A truly compassionate viewpoint cannot be reduced to one or the other.