Jon Stewart Interviews Author Of 'India Calling': Can America Still Kick India's Ass? (VIDEO)

During Jon Stewart's interview of New York Times and International Herald Tribune writer Anand Giridharadas on last night's Daily Show, Giridharadas discussed his decision to leave his country of birth, America, and move back to India, the land his parents left for his benefit. His new book, "India Calling," details the changes taking place in India.

Giridharadas, who was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, admitted that he used to think India was a "stagnant, dead, stifling country." When he entered college, he realized how much the country had changed, and decided to move to India.

Stewart quipped, "If I had told [my parents] I was going back to the place they had worked so damn hard to get out of, passive aggression would have been on the menu."

Stewart ended the interview with the question on many Americans' minds: "Do you think America can still kick [India's] ass?"

Giridharadas had quite the disheartening answer. He admitted that he doesn't think America poses the threat that it once did. Though Americans currently fear India and China as solely an economic threat, he suggested that the countries "pose a challenge of culture and spirit."

He said, in America, "we are creating a culture of destruction and pulling each other down."

He believes that "India and China, for all the work that lies ahead for them, are starting to create cultures of hope and cultures of creation." He thinks that this is what America will have to worry about.

Lightening the mood, Stewart ended with a rousing chorus of, "United We Stand, Divided We Fall." Watch the entire interview below:

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Comments

[Aida Dalati]

12:12 PM on 01/27/2011

Anand Giridharadas's fresh and optimistic take on how he sees India today and his honest analysis of how dangerous the internal feuding in America has affected all of us is very true. My observations, as Syrian-American woman is that bicultural people generally fall into two categories, empowered like our author or bitter and complaining. My own daughter left Woodside High school in California and went back to my Lebanese American Beirut to study. She said that she loved the Arab spirit and would have not traded that experience for anything. I think good parenting has a lot to do with it; confidant parents produce confidant sons and daughters.

[Wassup Dog]

04:20 PM on 01/26/2011

To Mr.Topguide The corruption in the western worlds banking system is NO MATCH for any corruption anywhere in the WORLD! Please research you own banking system the Private Federal Reserve bank before making comments on corruption in India @lest our banking system is not in private hands duping the masses into thinking its Government Owned. We do have highways in India too Google Mumbai Pune Expressway. But please before you Google that learn about your corrupt banking system

[KapyoChe]

09:10 AM on 01/26/2011

One thing about India that Westerners have a tough time grasping is that what is is not what you see. If you have a typical western biases, then you will miss India's strength. This tends to happen the other way around. Indians will get arrogant and miss the true strength of America.

What we see happening in both India and China is that they have changed their culture in one generation. America will have to do it in lot less time than that. Can we change our culture faster than they?

[alkamm]

08:17 PM on 01/25/2011

The wonderful point of this segment is at the end when American born Giriharadas notes that India is abandoning it's notions of separation, it's rigid caste system in favor of a nation-wide feeling of unity. He is afraid that our climate of separation, where political parties call each other names and hate on each other is the real threat to our competitive spirit.
As Lincoln said, a house divided. . . .We really enjoy our divisions, but they don't do us much good.

[topguide]

07:45 PM on 01/25/2011

India is a threat to no one. Their national highway system are narrow 2 lane death traps. Their economy is sputtering along because of the sheer mass of it's population.

[comment from grandpa]

08:55 PM on 01/25/2011

And stifling corruption..........

[John Jacobi]

09:50 PM on 01/25/2011

Like there is no corruption in other countries.

[doublehappi]

01:16 PM on 01/26/2011

there is no doubt there is corruption in india, But that is expected, As in, For a country which is only 60 years old, which is becoming rich you expect that the money is evenly divided. but no. Capitalism has taken over the place. The rich are getting super rich and the poor are becoming less poor but nothing extrodinary.

[John Jacobi]

09:47 PM on 01/25/2011

India is in the process of converting those highways to 6 lanes

[Mike169]

04:47 PM on 01/25/2011

Can India's nukes reach San Francisco yet?

[John Jacobi]

09:49 PM on 01/25/2011

India has no interest in nukin SF. India will however take over from Silicon valley as the center of innovation.

[axt113]

10:45 AM on 01/26/2011

Militarily you have nothing to fear from India, they are a peaceful democracy