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    The Indian Eye
                                            COMING TO AMERICA                                                                               20
                                                                                                                         JULY 10, 2026
                      THE PROMISE THAT

                         CHANGED MY LIFE

                       ARON GOVIL                                                                                 giant Zscaler, grew up in a village with
                                                                                                                  no electricity or running water. Today,
                  s America celebrates its 250th                                                                  eleven Fortune 500 companies are
                  birthday, I find myself reflect-                                                                led by CEOs of Indian heritage, over-
            Aing on a question that is both                                                                       seeing  enterprises  worth  more  than
            deeply personal and profoundly na-                                                                    $6.5 trillion combined. Their success
            tional: What truly defines the United                                                                 reflects not only individual talent but
            States after two and a half centuries?                                                                also America’s extraordinary ability to
                For me, the answer is opportu-                                                                    attract talent from around the world.
            nity. Not guaranteed success, but the                                                                     That is the genius of this America.
            opportunity to earn it. I know because                                                                Not its wealth, not its military, not even
            I lived it.                                                                                           its Constitution in the abstract — but
                In the early 1970s, I stepped off a                                                               its willingness to let a stranger become
            plane in New York as a fourteen-year-                                                                 a builder. Yet as we celebrate 250 years
            old boy, because my father, a mathe-                                                                  of American independence, I think
            matics teacher, had taken a teaching                                                                  about  how  this  calculus  is  changing.
            post here.  I did not come with wealth,                                                               When I left India in 1970, opportunity
            influence,  or  guarantees.  Like  many                                                               there was scarce; America was where
            immigrants,  I  came  with  uncertainty                                                               ambition went to find oxygen. That is
            - and with faith that in America, ef-                                                                 no longer so simple. India today has
            fort could become opportunity. Like                                                                   more than 70 unicorn startups worth
            countless  immigrants  before  us,  we                                                                over $300 billion, young founders are
            came with hopes that exceeded our                                                                     building  billion-dollar  companies  in
            resources and dreams that exceeded                                                                    their twenties. A brilliant young engi-
            our circumstances.                                                                                    neer in Bengaluru now has choices my
                When I entered an American                                                                        generation never dreamed of.
            high school in New York, I could not                                                                      That is good news for India. But
            have  imagined  where  my  journey                                                                    it also means the United States can
            would lead. America did not promise   For 250 years, America has al-  termination matter more than where   no  longer  assume  that  the  world’s
            me success. It promised me a fair shot   ways  been  a  magnet  for  people  will-  you were born.    most driven people will always choose
            at earning it.  America gave me access   ing to work hard, take risks, and build   My own experience is only one   America automatically.
            to excellent public education, world-  something  larger  than  themselves.  example among millions. What hum-  America’s  greatest  resource  has
            class universities, and an economy that   Throughout  its  history,  immigrants  bles me is how much company I have.   never been oil, land, or military power.
            rewarded hard work, initiative, and   have arrived from every continent car-  The  man  running  Microsoft,  Satya   Its greatest resource has been its abili-
            risk-taking. I graduated as a chemical   rying  different  languages,  religions,  Nadella, arrived as a student. Sundar   ty to attract the most ambitious people
            engineer, worked grueling round-the-  and customs. Yet generation after gen-  Pichai, who leads Google, grew up in   on earth and allow them to thrive.
            clock shifts at a chemical plant in Del-  eration, they have shared a common  Chennai sleeping in a living room. Jay   If  that  openness  diminishes,
            aware, and earned an MBA at night.   belief: that in America, talent and de-  Chaudhry, who built the cybersecurity   America  risks  losing  something  far
                After five years I started my own                                                                 more valuable than immigrants. It risks
            company from scratch, but my journey                                                                  losing the innovative spirit that helped
            was not a straight line. It involved long                                                             make it the world’s leading economic
            hours,  financial  pressure,  setbacks,                                                               power. If we ever decide that the immi-
            and  the  kind  of  struggle  that  many                                                              grant is a burden rather than a builder
            immigrants know well but rarely ad-                                                                   — if we slam shut the door that once
            vertise. There were moments when                                                                      opened for a fourteen-year-old boy —
            success seemed distant and even im-                                                                   we  will  not  be  protecting  American
            probable.  Over  time,  through  hard                                                                 greatness. We will be quietly surren-
            work, family support, resilience, and                                                                 dering the very qualities that defined
            the opportunities this country made                                                                   the  first  250  years:  openness,  opti-
            available, I built a business that grew                                                               mism, meritocracy, and opportunity.
            from a one-man operation into a glob-                                                                     The true measure of America at
            al enterprise generating hundreds of                                                                  250 is not what it has already achieved,
            millions of dollars in revenue, employ-                                                               but whether the most talented and de-
            ing  hundreds  of  people,  and  serving                                                              termined people in the world still look
            customers around the world.                                                                           to its shores and believe their best fu-
                This is not a story about personal                                                                ture is possible here.
            achievement. It is a story about what                                                                     I hope they do. And I hope Amer-
            America made possible.                                                                                ica continues to deserve that belief.

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