Reader Santosh made an observation on my review of Impressing the Whites and asked me if I’m open to debate.

Since this is a topic lots have varied and often severely passionate opinions on, I thought it fit to reproduce his remark here. Your contributions are solicited and welcome.

I hope your open to debate. I feel that a few arguments you made could be re-examined.

> In the US as Crasta
> observes, Indians are the
> most docile of all “South
> Asian” immigrants; in sharp

An inaccurate generalization at best. To disprove the theory – Diwali is one of the largest festivals in NY’s/Toronto’s cultural calendar.

> The fact that it is not
> popular owes precisely to
> the cause of the hard truths
> it reveals.

This hardly follows a logical path. A book need not be unpopular or ignored purely due to the fact that it reveals a (subjective at best) hard truth.

Overall, I really appreciate that you took time out to highlight Crasta.

I get the feeling that Richard wants is only trying to get cheap traction by denigrating Indians (for example, their “green card chase”). I don’t really believe that the “coconut” really exists. However, some of the arguments against the Indian literary community are interesting. I can only be sure after having read his book.