Culture

Are we obsessed with nominal identities?

VM

10 Feb 2019 — 3 min read

In an interview to The Wire Science last month, Venki Ramakrishnan, the molecular biologist, acknowledged that Indians had a bizarre relationship with the fact that he was a Nobel laureate:

I’d left India when I was 19

I gave a lecture in honour of G.N. Ramachandran in 2008 in Chennai. The hall was maybe half full. The next year a hall that was about three times as big was packed. What was the difference between 2008 and 2009? My work hadn’t changed. So I think it’s a very strange business.

The fact that he spent his whole scientific career outside India doesn't seem to matter to many Indians, who simply gravitate towards his Indian origins and the nominal identity and think of him as Indian.

This would be fine if it weren't for the fact that his success is considered to be the success of an Indian scientist. It's not.

The reason I bring this up now is this tweet, where you can see a similar problem at play:

Where Pritish Nandy writes about most eminent Indian personalities from all walks of life who are bringing change not only in India but across the world. But somehow magically the feature is not able to find any famous woman, who has brought any change whatsoever. pic.twitter.com/QBkkuOiavM
— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) February 9, 2019

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