Phrases of Benediction or Blessing in Sanskrit; From Kaldiasa

 You can take an Indian out of India, but you can never take out India from an Indian: An Ode to the Indian Immigrant

We grew up in the ancient land of India you see

But John Wayne and Bruce Lee

Clinton Gore, Regan and Kennedy

Jobs, Cooley, Gates and Dorsey

Lived in our minds world you see

The competition was brutal, and traffic a bore

For everything we pleaded, can we have some more

But we alway knew our secret core

We know how to turn less into more

And how everything at each step to pour

Some called it jugad, an untranslatable Metaphor

Or the distilled wisdom of India of yore

And you can take an Indian out of India

But you can never take out India from an Indian

We aced the GRE and cracked the ECFMG

We had a planned strategy

For every great University

On either side of the Mississippi

And had advice from every uncle removed three

And unshakeable at our Indian core

Was the ability to turn less into more

And everything into each step pour

For you can take an Indian out of India

But you can never take out India out of an Indian

At work, assignment or study

From squashing the Y2K bugs bunny

Running the patel grocery

Or healing rural Missouri 

Or funding the entire visa industry

We always remembered clearly

The ancient Indian strategy

From less we make more

And everything in each step we pour

And you can take an Indian out of India

But you can never take out India from an Indian

Our spouses came very prepared you see

With a degree or two or three

Every ready to work hours sixty three

They combined Saraswati , Lakshmi and Parvati

And when crossed could be the awe inspiring Kali

They bestowed on us invincibility

For now double the Indians who at the core

Were turning less into more 

And making sure that everything into each step we pour

For you can take an Indian out of India

But you can never take India out of an Indian

The children came, gods gift you see

But it was Indian parents, grandparents and uncles and aunts you see

Who prepared them for the spelling bee

And take the prep test for the SATee

And crack the advanced GRE

Starting at Age three

For the Indian strategy

Remained, make less into more

Everything into each step pore

For you can take an Indian out of an India

But you can never take India out of an Indian

The children grew up in the land of the free

Playing tennis, soccer, lacrosse and frisbee

But never ever football you see

Because they had to head to the league ivy

Without the benefit of sport,  minority or legacy

And constantly we breathed into their every pore

The Indian mantra of yore

Turn less into more

Everything into each step pore

And you can take an Indian out of an India

But you can never never take India out of an Indian

Time flies, work never ends, but we do, you see

We are chairs, deans, CEOS, judges and even a VP

Our children own the spelling bee

Finance, tech and every brainy industry

One in the Supreme Court we may one day see

But always the same Indian strategy

Turn less into more

And everything into each step pore

For you can take an Indian out of India

But you can never take India out of an Indian

The news is but a re-run of an old tragedy

War, pandemic, and every kind of trumpery 

new justifications for old crimes against humanity

We don’t know we are here for how long

Or where we really belong

But the world is the better place don’t you agree

Because Indians set sail into the web, air and high sea

Armed but with this one ancient key

Turn less into more

And everything into each step pore

And because you can take and Indian out of India

But you can never take India out of an Indian