Sundar Pichai is the CEO of Alphabet and its subsidiary Google, and has achieved great global success. We, Indians, want to identify him as Indian, although his entire achievement has been in America. Freddy Mercury was born in India, and denied his Indian roots all his life. But, Indians would like to believe that he was Indian. Yet, when the Nepalese insist that the Buddha was Nepalese, because he was born in Nepal, many Indians get upset. They argue that Buddha achieved his enlightenment in Bodhgaya. His first lecture was in Sarnath. He died in Kushi Nagar. All three are located in the Gangetic plains, within the borders of India. This makes him Indian and not Nepalese.

So, where does a celebrity belong? To his janma-bhoomi (land of birth) or karma-bhoomi (land of activity)? Hindutva Americans who enjoy the political freedom of their karma-bhoomi (America), and want their feudal privileges of their janma-bhoomi (India), are the first people to get upset when Nepal claims the Buddha.