'India is terrible': Tamil actor reacts to Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu's urge for Indians in US to return

Kasturi Shankar, a Tamil actor and activist has quickly gained wide traction online due to her claim that India is 'terrible' and does not welcome self-built entrepreneurs in its system, filled with bias and corruption. Shankar was replying to Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu's post on X (formerly Twitter) titled 'Open letter to Indians in America' where he invited the Indian-origin people to return to their motherland to help build the country's technological future.

Vembu claimed Indians abroad would be stuck as bystanders between the hard right that hates 'Bhartiya civilisation' and the woke left that hates 'civilisation itself'. He said that the respect towards Indians across the globe would depend on the country's future and if they help build the technological prowess back home, the "civilisation strength will assert itself."

Kasturi Shankar on why Indians live in US

Shankar commented on the post with an anecdote that has gone viral online since. She claimed that she and many of her classmates returned to the country to give back to the motherland but "all of them regretted it." "Most of us left decades ago because Tamil Nadu did not want us, value us, miss us. When we came back, we still were unwelcome," she wrote.

While some went back, a few still linger to fight and become architects of change, even if they still fail. "India is terrible to do business in. It is impossible to stay honest and feel proud about it. Here, integrity is considered a liability!"

She said in the country, millionaires gloat their way to government freebies due to their wealth while government officials "steal, embezzle, exploit and extort...from rich and poor alike."

"My will wanes everytime I see parents falsifying their caste papers... building a future for the next generation on the foundation of deceit... And my hope dies when this is all considered not shameful, but 'smart' and 'successful'," she added.

Calling India a cesspool of social injustice, she said here, merit is shoved out by vote politics and justice is lost in the judiciary. "After I was hit with fake criminal cases and put in jail - 'to teach me a lesson'- I had no choice but to send away my kids.... yet I hold on, stay on, but at what cost? How much longer? Not many others can boast my kind of resilience... or perhaps foolhardiness. What has this country done for selfless social warriors except ugly deaths and oblivion?"

She said India had cast away entire generations of top scientists and economists who wanted to do their job without having to jump through hoops of bureaucracy. Lastly, Shankar asked Vembu to remove his "rose coloured glasses" and come up with a realistic solution, for which she would be the first to sign up.

Social media reactions

One of the users on X (formerly Twitter) revealed that Shankar was a truly accomplished individual who was a rank holder in school and college, a state-level hockey player, a finalist in BBC's Mastermind India 2000 quiz and a former entrepreneur in Nashville. Her bio on the social media app reveals her as a lawyer, writer and newbie politician.

Many supported her view on the current unjustified system in the country. "I won't return from Australia to India bcos 1) absurd reservation 2) poor infrastructure that fail when monsoon floods come 3) Dravidian scapegoat politics that constantly villifies and mocks one group without reasons 4) corruption that is accepted by all as normal 5) casteism" wrote one user.

"I respect you, ma'am, for this. This is the same frustration of millions of Indian youngsters. We work hard to move up in our careers, we pay lakhs in taxes, yet get no good free education, no proper roads, no urban development. We have benefits for the same amount of taxes abroad," added another.