Author: Editorial
Publication: Asian Voice
Date: November 4, 2006
Northwood was always best known as a quiet
corner of west London suburbia but today it's been nicknamed Millionaires'
Row for British Asians. Multi-million-pound mansions with indoor pools, marble
fittings and landscaping are replacing their more modest predecessors. With
some 20m people of Indian origin living in 70 odd countries - including 1.2m
in the UK - they remember those still living in India with annual remittances
of $12-$15bn. Subrata Roy, chairman of the £5.8bn conglomerate Sahara
India Pariwar, this week launches an online subscription service for non-resident
Indians to support relatives in India through some 60 services, from medical
and legal cover to wedding planning and gift delivery.
Meanwhile in the States, where about one in
10 professors at top business schools are of Indian origin, the Bhagavad Gita
is now on the syllabus. Replacing the American business jargon of conquest
are such gems of wisdom as "never engage in action only for the desire
of reward" and "treat everyone as your equal". Swami Parthasarathy,
himself a shipping business heir, is much in demand for lectures, although
he fears his students fail to understand his message expecting mainly to "make
more money". The movement does however demonstrate the continuing global
appeal of Hinduism and opens the possibility of its deeper meaning getting
through.
At its core the teaching of Hinduism is one
of sufficiency without greed - even natural conservation - and compassion
for all living creatures. Pace America's (or Britain's) tycoons of tomorrow,
it would show how enriching an already unfeasibly wealthy shareholder elite
at the expense of the very air we breathe is madness pure and simple. It should
be just the antidote to climate change.
