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HIGH & MIGHTY 10 GLOBAL INDIANS

- SHREEVATSA NEVATIA

IT WAS A MATTER OF TIME before the highest political offices in the West came to be occupied by ‘Kamala’, ‘Rishi’ and ‘Priti’. There is something altogether thrilling about the familiarity with which these names roll of four tongues, and the affinity we feel is not wholly invented. We share with today’s US vice-president and Britain’s chancellor a cultural heritage that goes beyond the oftentimes limiting tropes of nationality and genealogy. When Priti Patel, UK’s home secretary, speaks to her Conservative Party colleagues about the value of seva (service) in Manchester, she is making Indianness a part of their discourse.

In a year when discussions about race and identity seem to have radically altered, we see immigrants owning their narratives like never before. But while there is, on the one hand, a clear, new confidence with which the Indian diaspora is now doing its business, we also see that they are demonstrating a greater responsibility towards the world in which they live. Having been made Microsoft chairman this year, Satya Nadella has shown an earnest commitment towards reducing his company’s carbon footprint. Despite record profits, ArcelorMittal Group executive chairman Lakshmi Mittal is, similarly, just as concerned about the environment.