SPECIAL ISSUE

July 8, 1995: Handing $122,000 on a platter

Dear Readers,
The past week has been hectic convention time in Chicago for the Indian community. No matter what the parochial institution that one bore allegiance to, one couldn’t ignore the space of activity that gripped the community in frenzy. There was the JAINA (Jain) convention and the TANA (Telugu) convention in Chicago. Elsewhere in the continental United States, there was the WMC (the Malayalee) convention in New Jersey, and the Tamil convention in Ohio.
The apple of the eye was, of course, the APPI’s convention in Chicago, the most powerful lobbying group of physicians (or at least so we thought) in the US for promoting the Indian American cause (whatever that is). Why all the fuss over AAPI you might ask? Because none other than the President of the United States, Bill Clinton was to grace the occasion by addressing the inaugural luncheon.
But everything in the US comes with a price tag. President Clinton is no exception. The going rate was $100,000 for a cold handshake with Clinton and a photograph opportunity in blazing tungsten lamps. That has always been the tradition and who are we to complain. If that is what the physicians wanted, that is perfectly fine with us, even if it cost $100,000 for a President with few successes to his credit.
All is well that ends well. But alas, it didn’t! The President kept his promise. He came. But not before the Secret Service had cleared and filtered everyone through a fine sieve.
First was the private, closed-door, all-exclusive meet when the checks were presented, $1,000 a piece, by 122 physicians with school boy alacrity. The photo session was a goner right from the start. No President in his right mind would have consented to posing for 122 photographs. This President didn’t pose for even one.
Next came the luncheon. The President spoke judiciously, sticking to protocol and promising nothing. It merited a six-line story in the Chicago Tribune. When his piece was said, the President left promptly.
What did the physicians gain through this? Nothing. This time they didn’t even get that photograph they wanted so eagerly to display on their study room wall. There was no concrete cause they were espousing for which they needed the President’s support. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
This bane that plagues our community has reached a new height with this incident. It is one thing to have a powerful dignitary grace a function. But it is another to have one whose aura eclipses everything including the occasion itself to the point that the latter loses its purpose. We have become a community that American politicians consider the most gullible to fool and easy to represent. We offer the highest cash prizes. We ask for nothing concrete in return. So they have nothing to commit themselves to, other than agree without predicament. Then they walk away with a smile on their face and the bulge of checks in their coat pocket.
$122,000 is a lot of money, folks. Off the cuff, I can think of numerous projects benefiting the community that the figure could serve. But flushed down the drain is hardly my idea of money put to good use. Institutions that choose to invite dignitaries from the high echelons of power would do wise to bet their bucks on not just the horse that streaks the Derby but can haul a load of bricks too.

Sincerely,

Prashant Shah
Editor & Publisher