Being Barack Obama: a year later

You don’t have to be born with an Einstein’s brain to know that being Barack Obama is the most stressful status to have in today’s world! Only a year after his grand-est inauguration, he finds himself at the lowest point of his presidential life – in terms of popularity, purely - so far. The public approval is sliding fast, confirming the huge erosion in his supporters’ faith in him. Democrats’ recent loss of the otherwise impregnable Massachusetts senate seat re-confirmed it.

Has Barack Obama failed? Or, is he being put on the altar of “Great Expectations”? Is it fair to judge him so soon?

The world knows that the America Barack Obama inherited was at its worst: economically and geopolitically. The fact that he was forced to drag on with the immoral Iraq war and a misplaced Afghanistan war in spite of his personal opposition to them, he could not abandon those war-ravaged nations to defend - and fend for – themselves. He simply had to carry on and wait for the “right” opportunity to pull out US’ army from there.

The result has been devastating: for Iraq and Afghanistan, and America, as well! These seemingly never-ending wars have left deep scars and big burdens on all countries involved: emotionally and financially.

But wars are not president’s major worries. The still struggling markets both on the Wall Street and the Main Street and therefore continuing monthly loss of more than half a million jobs are posing biggest challenges. He will have to take more stringent financial measures to arrest the ever-increasing percentage of unemployed Americans that stands at 10% today.

And it is not going to be easy for him.

But he hasn’t failed as yet. In fact, Obama Administration has succeeded in preventing America plunging into Depression 2.0.

There is a lot at stake for the world in America’s coming back to its earlier glory days as a ‘Post-American World” is going to be a dreaded situation for all. Imagine, China becoming the Superpower! With its closed communist ideologies in which there is no room for democracy and freedom, China’s domination in geopolitics will have immensely adverse impacts on countries and people blessed to be living in a “free-world”. Frankly speaking, China is a great country that has shown enormous success in economic spheres, but I am totally against its style of governance & politics. For me, personal liberty is of paramount importance. I am an individual and I want to be respected like one by all, as I do to others. I am not ready to compromise on my independence and my rights to live as a human being. And for this, the United States of America has to be one of the Super Powers at all the time!

And for this sole reason, I wish Barack Obama all the Success as the president of the United States of America! He is an extraordinary leader and he will successfully lead his country into sunshine again, I am 100% sure of that! Nevertheless, America, and the world, needs to give him time. And, he will bring about all those Changes we can believe in! And say with pride: Yes, we can; Yes, we did!

Best of Luck, Mr. President!

Frankly, Shashi Tharoor deserves better!

Frankly, Shashi Tharoor deserves better! I simply couldn't understand the media-created brouhaha. Also, I feel that there was no need for him to exhibit his anger in the press conference. He could have simply given journalists a copy of his brilliant “Nehru: The Invention of India" and had asked them to come back with questions, if any, only post reading the book! (Wonderful platform for advertisement! The sales of the book would have skyrocketed! ... Just joking :) ... I took out his "Nehru" from my almirah last night and re-read the preface and the concluding chapter in order to refresh my memory with the beautiful journey of "Re-invention of India" before writing my opinion here.

It is sad to see Shashi Tharoor get into unnecessary controversies repeatedly and then spend his time and energy in explanations and apologies. The fault is not entirely his. However, he is himself to be blamed a great deal.

Shashi Tharoor should understand that he has an enviable status and people, especially Media, would be ever eager to exploit that for their own benefits. In today's 24x7 news environment and mushrooming news channels, all vying to grab the eyeballs in order to increase/maintain their TRP, a personality like his becomes a favourite fodder! And his tweets have satisfied their appetite regularly! He is their latest and the current TG - Target Group - if I may use the popular corporate parlance! They have got a replacement for their erstwhile favourite TV-friendly personalities like Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rakhi Sawant. (I do not mean to demean him by associating his name in the same context as that of Rakhi Sawant's but I am just trying to explain my viewpoint.) … The best thing for him to do would be to maintain a respectable distance from the otherwise highly alluring media as it is a double-edged sword!

Though I found his "cattle class" remark a bit arrogant and also did not agree with his attitude of tweeting his “difference” of opinion on an official matter on a social networking site (the entire world will collapse if everybody started exercising their democratic rights on Twitter or Facebook!), but I wholeheartedly support him on this "Nehru" controversy. I repeat: frankly, Shashi Tharoor deserves better!

Shashi Tharoor is the most suitable person to handle the ministry of external affairs. His 3 decades of rich international diplomacy experience (he should recall his lessons fast in order to survive in the murky political landscape of India!) will come handy to him in redefining India's otherwise archaic foreign policy. He has the capabilities to soon reach to the status of a few able ministers like P. Chidambaram. He just needs to get his perspective right.

I use my blog page to suggest him something at the cost of making him even very angry with me.

The time Mr. Tharoor spends on reading his half a million plus followers' tweets and posting his own, he should utilize the available time to write a book. He is amongst the select few rare Indian authors in English who are worth reading! In fact I strongly believe that if he gave enough time to writing, his books could be in the league of Nobel laureates! There is a purpose in his books (I especially liked India, Nehru, Great Indian Novel and Riot). Rest all authors are a complete waste of time and I feel that their books should be sold with a "money back guarantee"! Shashi Tharoor’s admirers will be really happy to be able to read a "real" book of his (not compilations of newspaper articles as in "Elephant..." or a hasty job in "Shadows...")! ... At the same time I wish him all the success in his political career, as well! Best of Luck!

Hope NOT to see him in news any time soon for any further controversy!

P.S.: Pl ignore my blog if you found it preachy and a running moralistic commentary on complete nonsense.

How long will India let Australia wear its blinkers?

Wish India had an answer from its government and its ministry of external affairs.

Seeing the state of affairs in Australia against Indians, I am sure, Rabindranath Tagore would have erased his famous “freedom” lines from his Gitanjali: “Where the Mind is without Fear and the Head is held High!” … Indians cannot claim to be “free”, not in Australia, at least!

Because, India is still suffering from its “slavery” hangover! The “please-all” and “do-not-offend” self-inflicted syndrome will always be an insurmountable barrier in its global superpowerdom aspirations!

You think I am being unnecessarily critical of India’s global ambitions? Just take a look at the adverse events continuing with Indians in Australia!

Indians are being harassed and beaten and tortured, and, now even being killed, but India is not yet ready to wake up from its slumber! It’s been almost more than a year and half since Indians are being subjected to serious kinds of racial abuse and assaults but our esteemed government has decided to keep mum! Worse, the Ministry of External Affairs is almost non-functional in spite of having a minister and two minister-of-state!

It is a sad reflection of the fact that the MEA members, though in news almost everyday, are too busy “asserting” their claims to Bossism and pursuing their hobbies – Tweeting for sure is a hobby! – infighting and complete lack of coordination & pervasive confusion. But never in all these months since its formation have we heard the MEA doing anything worthwhile in the arena of foreign policy or fulfilling its responsibilities abroad! The assertiveness with which S.M. Krishna proclaimed, “I am the Boss!” and the time Shashi Tharoor – immensely talented but perhaps a bit lost, thus, wasting his time in trivial things like Twitter - spends tweeting, (Preneet Kaur? Do we still remember her?), if only a portion of the time and energy these ministers had devoted to their “actual” work, we wouldn’t have been witnessing Indians being battered and bruised and beaten, and, now even being butchered in Australia!

The “reason” some experts like to give for continuing Australian barbarism against Indians that the Australians are being “jealous” of Indians for their growing economic clout and prowess, and thus, their hatred, they have to accept that how hollow their analysis is of this highly unfortunate situation down under! If only “this” was the case, then the wealthy Indians would have been on the target and not the students! And why isn’t the racist Australia even attempting attacks on the huge population of Chinese residents? Also, these flawed minds have to understand that in spite of escalating anti-Americanism in the world, no one – absolutely no one! – can ever dare to touch an American anywhere on this earth! Because, everybody knows only too well that their “action” would entail severe reaction from the US!

The Indian government, the Prime Minister included and of course its Ministry of External Affairs, does not have the necessary guts to speak strongly against the callous attitude of the Australia government and its failure in tackling escalating incidents of racial violence against Indian students. Why cannot Manmohan Singh simply pick up the phone and talk to Kevin Rudd in a tough manner that “enough is enough” and sternly ask him and his political colleagues with absurd mindsets to remove their blinkers fast? Why cannot the Foreign Minister (or even MOS) immediately go to Australia to make India’s anger expressed well to the establishment there? And, also show solidarity and support to the victims, who, by the way, are our own citizens?! Why has the Indian government still not issued a travel alert against Australia? …

How long will India take to realize the fact that a meek and mute country cannot – and should not – dream of global political position or power? To be heard – and respected – on the world’s high table, a nations needs to be assertive enough! India has to understand that the geopolitical game can be played only by the strong and self-assured.

To sum it up: I wish India had a P. Chidambaram as the Minister of External Affairs. He would have ensured India’s head was held high – globally and in the down under as well!

Live, but let me die

I fully support a human’s fundamental rights. I truly believe in one’s right to live, with dignity. I equally believe in a person’s right to die, with dignity. Resurfacing of Aruna Shaunbag’s case in public consciousness has once again made this debate of “right to life” alive.

There is a section of people who say one’s life is God’s gift, therefore, only It has the right to take it away. There is another set of people – and I belong here – who strongly believe that in “special” cases, a person should be given the right to end his/her life. Aruna Shaunbag’s is one such “special” case.

It’s been 36 years since Aruna Shauanbag got brutally abused sexually and because of which she has been in this almost dead vegetative state. The State could not guarantee her justice but is now becoming an impediment in granting her a dignified exit from the world. The debate is raging if she has the “right” to end her life: she has requested the force-feeding be stopped.

Before getting into the domain of God that where was It when she was almost fatally tortured by a sex maniac and who is roaming free still and how does this “right to her life” still lies with the God, I want to explore what do we exactly understand by Life.

A person is deemed alive when one's all physical faculties are functional: this includes brain and heart alike besides other crucial organs; the whole body actually. In a brain-dead condition, a person is considered to be in a vegetative state. After all, a human is human only because of his/her ‘thinking’ organ i.e. brain.

Going by this scientific definition of Life, Aruna Shaunbag died 36 years ago. Then why continue with the sham of keeping her alive, forcefully? What purpose is it serving, anyway? Is 36 years of suffering not sufficient enough? If the world was genuinely affected by her condition and was concerned about her “life”, then it should have ensured the criminal was rotting in prison - for life.

I put this simple yet soul-searching question to all: will you ever want to be in Aruna Shaunbag’s position? If No, then join me in my appeal to all those concerned – with the “right” to decide about someone else’s “life” – to let Aruna Shaunbag die, with dignity. And, let her go to God and confront the Almighty for It’s inability in saving her dignity.
……….
I also appeal to the administration to bring to books the demon who is supposed to have escaped to Delhi and is living there ever since.

Minister Twitter's Tweet-22

To Tweet or Not Tweet?!

I start with stating a fact: I am a great fan of Shashi Tharoor! Therefore, my views as an individual on the recent Twitter controversies is an honest attempt to understand the whole thing comprehensively, which also has expressions of concern embedded for him – all done as his sincere and selfless admirer - and nothing more.

“To Tweet or Not Tweet” will apparently become a dilemma with Shashi Tharoor as he lands himself in difficulty quite frequently with his tweets! As an individual I fully support his rights to indulge in his hobby. However, what I do not approve of – again, my personal opinion as an Indian citizen; remember he is our minister-of-state for External Affairs – is his obsession with tweeting! He seems to have got carried away with the number of “followers” on his twitter page which has crossed half a million mark, the highest for an Indian. I too am his “follower” in that sense of the term! And so is his Boss, SM Krishna, and here, on the Twitter site, they both are on the “same page”, at least!

As a hobby if Shashi Tharoor uses twitter for posting his views on myriad and mundane subjects of the world including his personal life, that should not be anyone’s concern. But it looks like he has got a bit disillusioned: he often treats his tweets as a tool to “remain in touch” with the aam aadmi! He forgets he is a minister and that he cannot – and should not - conduct his ministerial work in a public forum. He is not a newspaper columnist, anymore! He is a responsible member of the council of union ministers!

Imagine, if in the name of “democratic rights” – inspired by Shashi Tharoor, of course - every member of the UPA government – ministers, MPs – starts using numerous social networking sites – Twitter is one such site – to express views on government’s policies etc., what will happen to the overall functioning of the Indian administration? I also wonder if Shashi Tharoor will ever exercise his “democratic rights” – as his “followers” would like to put it – against the Prime Minister or his party’s President? I am sure he must be having many points of disagreements with them too. I already see Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi reach out for Saridon!

Or, for that matter - just stretching my horizon of imagination a bit in the hindsight – would Shashi Tharoor have used Twitter to comment on his UN boss Kofi Annan or the colossal body’s mostly controversial functioning? No, I am sure of that.

Therefore, I wonder why our highly competent minister has forgotten all his diplomatic lessons. He is after all an accomplished international diplomat. No one can understand it better that politics, like diplomacy, is a sensitive subject, which needs to be conducted in a matured manner. And a ministerial post is equally sensitive, and responsible. I do not blame SM Krishna for using the media – a public forum – to reprimand his deputy; he was clearly hugely miffed. Any Boss, in every field, would get wild at the “wild” acts of his junior! (The world will collapse if everybody started using Twitter to conduct business!) Shashi Tharoor himself will not like any of his staff member adopt such ways.

Moreover, he has just started out in the field of politics. He has to establish his credentials here too; his fan following from his author days or his “followers” will not help him much in the long run. Media attention to his tweets should not blind him. After all, he has enjoyed – and continues to – the “limelight” for ages. Also, his party superiors may find difficult to defend him every time. As a minister he should concentrate more on his actual work rather than get distracted by a trivial thing as Twitter. He has all the necessary skills to get counted as the best ever foreign minister; he simply has to reapply himself in his job, fulltime. I am sure, even SM Krishna realizes Shashi Tharoor’s worth. Otherwise, with anybody else, for similar “transgressions”, he would have acted really tough. And so would have the Congress.

Therefore, tweet Mr. Minister as much as you like, but remember that you are capable of being much more than just a “Minister Twitter”; do not let those 140 alphabets control you, or get you “out of control”, as your Boss would like to say!

Happy Tweeting :)

Media Trial: a must, now?

Yes, perhaps. With a crumbling and crippled system all around, the Indian media, television in particular, will have to shoulder this responsibility. Cynics and puritans may list the hazards of making the media even more powerful by putting the judicial rein in their hands but the fact is that if the media had not intervened directly with sustained efforts, Jessica Lal, Nitish Katara and a few others would never have got justice. Though the justice was delayed customarily in both these cases but at least it was not denied. Ruchika’s case is also progressing in the same direction. Haven’t we already seen the various wings of the Indian establishment swiftly swing into action since Media’s campaign?!

The much protracted judgment in Ruchika’s case represents everything that is ailing and rotten in the Indian system: a super corrupt cop - morally and otherwise, an equally corrupt administration, and a handicapped court. All three pillars of our country’s democracy damaged beyond repairs; all three pillars in collusion to protect the criminal. And left is the memory of a young molested girl and her tormented family and friends, fighting the establishment - all out to destroy them for their “audacity” to go against it!

19 long years it took the judiciary to come out with its verdict: a mere 6 months imprisonment for a senior police officer who molested a young girl and later went all out exercising his political and police powers in harassing her family and friends, so much so that her brother was framed with six false charges and tortured to an extent that he became a mental wreck; she was thrown out of her school on flimsy ground; even the tennis academy buckled under pressure and banned her entry; her family had to sell off their home and flee; not to forget that in not being able to take it any further, the girl committed suicide. And, the nation saw – after 19 long years - a smiling SPS Rathore walk out of the courtroom.

What shocked me the most, like the entire nation, was this crooked cop’s mocking smile! How I wanted to smack his face hard enough to wipe away that demonic grin, forever! His nauseating grin also made me feel really sorry for his children: how unfortunate they are to have such a father!

I am sure that with Media’s active intervention, Ruchika will get justice, finally. I salute her for her extraordinary bravery in standing up to an immensely corrupt and hostile system; I salute her family and friends for their exceptional courage under extreme adversity. Now, India is with them, though belatedly – all thanks to Media, again!

But we should not stop here. Media, along with public, has to sustain their campaign and force the Indian government to bring about much awaited reforms in its systems, judiciary included. Otherwise, we will continue to pretend to be waking every time a Jessica or a Ruchika gets thrown in our face. Otherwise, the smiles of many more Rathores will keep haunting us!

May 2010 be a watershed year for India and we see our country become safe and secure for all :) ... Happy 2010!