looking at it, one has to wonder how molested the serene beauty of the landscape would have been during the war. and how faithful JP Dutta’s LOC was in paying the tributes.

our solders may not look like the 6-ft cyborg’s like the marines, [...]]]> NDTV has a great tribute to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the Kargil war.

looking at it, one has to wonder how molested the serene beauty of the landscape would have been during the war. and how faithful JP Dutta’s LOC was in paying the tributes.

our solders may not look like the 6-ft cyborg’s like the marines, nor do they step out of humvees so sophisticated weaponry. but the humble jawans do have a big heart and the pride the size of the mountains they defended – even while we play scams with their coffins.

http://www.ndtv.com/kargil/videos.aspx?id=nn1139114

the process get to vote is painfully and unreasonably long. i [...]]]> for the first time in my 37-yr old life, i voted. i guess i never had a chance to vote after gaining civic awareness – and my excuse is that i was in the US pretty much all this while. any guesses who i voted for!?

the process get to vote is painfully and unreasonably long. i printed out my forms from jaagore.com. they have a nifty form to fillout and print. but where it gets tricky is to figure out where to submit it. fortunately i had a driver that sits around after he drops us off at work/school, so i put him to use. i sent him to one of the addresses listed on jaagore form – the Electoral Registration Officer in JP Nagar. he was then tossed from that office to BTM Layout office and then finally to the Koramangala office. you can write off a major portion of the day at each office visit. the office finally gives a tearoff from the application as proof of submission of the form.

and then you have to go back to the same office to ensure that the name is on the voter list. they typically verify it and give you the polling booth and the number at which your name is listed on the voter rolls. i will upload it once i figure out a way to redact the personal information.

you have the option of getting a voter registration card on the same visit. but according to the office, you can return there even after the election and avoid the lines. so we deferred on that.

here’s the location of the office.

View BBMP Office in Koramangala for Voter Registration in a larger map

on the election day (today), the next irky thing is to know where the election booth is, and who to vote for. i found the One Billion Votes site quite handy in knowing the candidates. the same site has a section that promises to show the exact location of the polling booth, but it was showing DB error messages. SQL Server FAIL. the trust building maintenance person comes to the rescue again and points us to the school that hosts the polling booth for our building.

we go to the booth, and stand in line at 7:15 am sharp. the nerdy-goody folks from the affluent neighborhood were already lined up, and many seemed to have already voted. may be 6:30am is the time for an in-and-out voting experience. it was a festive atmosphere at the line., clearly evident in the civic pride and common-ness that all the folks that were present there felt.

the booth is manned by 3 people, one to find the name on the list, one to take your ID particulars (my passport) and the last one to put the ink on your finger. the voting machine was enclosed in a carton that had one of it’s sides removed., placed on a make-shift stool. i was thinking voting MUST be better handled than this. i’d say it takes about 5 minutes for a normal vote to be cast with this staff of three. plus, there is a booth captain type fellow that walks around troubleshooting.

the booth fellow had a hard time finding my wife’s name and actually turned her away. i went in a bit later, and was able to locate mine (because i could read kannada and was looking for my name while the agent was doing the same). these people are clueless and poorly trained.

with all the hurdles and hardships, the spirit is alive and well., reaffirming one’s belief that people want to be heard, and people will raise their voice – even if nobody is listening.

either he is a true statesman or the guy is the master on how to play the media. i think it’s the latter. this whole thing has sent the media fluttering.. especially the standing ovation part in [...]]]> checkout this playlist on youtube – the Q&A session at the India Today Conclave.

either he is a true statesman or the guy is the master on how to play the media. i think it’s the latter. this whole thing has sent the media fluttering.. especially the standing ovation part in the end.

“who do you want to win, obama or hillary?”

i rarely see things in black and white, and she doesn’t like it one bit. i go into this long winded pros and cons, without answering the question. she insists. [...]]]> in the intense battle for the democratic nomination a year ago, my wife asked me at the kitchen table

“who do you want to win, obama or hillary?”

i rarely see things in black and white, and she doesn’t like it one bit. i go into this long winded pros and cons, without answering the question. she insists. i ended with

“i want obama to win. mainly because it’s a lot harder for a black man to win in america than a white woman”.

i am glad a black man will now run the show in the white house. mr.O, you don’t need to create miracles. just please don’t f*&@ up, lest the world forever loses faith in the color of your skin.

——

having lived the life as a reasonably well-off upper-caste life in india, i’ve come to a rude shock in the US in the very first few years. i once went to an auto dealership in shoddy used car, wanting to get pricing on a new car (in woodland hills, ca in san fernando valley of los angeles). the fellow at the dealership pretty much dismissed me, with a message to my face to the effect that i have no chance of buying a new car, i am probably illegal immigrant, and there’s no business for me in the dealership.

you are the dalit there. a very smart, hard-working dalit. you doing well in the united states is recognized and appreciated. to me, that really means that we exceeding a very low expectation of brown-skin people – and that’s to be an attendant at a liquor-shop/gas-station/highway motel. in a flippant way, we are the “projects” of the good-hearted white people.

obama is no “project”. he won with a positive vision for the country and a message that resonated through all skin colors. and his win wouldn’t have been a landslide if it wasn’t also a purgatory for american people. a detox of what george w. bush represents. a cup of green tea after a long night of johnny walker.

(courtesy Mutiny.in) SHRI OMAR ABDULLAH (SRINAGAR):

Thank you, Mr. [...]]]> glad to see omar abdullah become the chief minister of jammu & kashmir state. if in doubt, just watch this video. below it is the transcript of the speech. him and couple of others (sachin pilot, rahul gandhi) are creating a new band of polititians in india.

(courtesy Mutiny.in) SHRI OMAR ABDULLAH (SRINAGAR):

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I think that it is a matter of great misfortune for Parties like mine. (Interruptions)

I do not know whether the Rs. 1 crore that was shown here is genuine or not. But I think that it is extremely unfortunate that if nothing else, this Rs. 1 crore is seeking to buy the silence of Parties like mine who are not being given an opportunity to speak in a correct manner in this House. (Interruptions)

I have been a Member of this House for 10 years, and I have never disturbed this House in these 10 years. I have sat with them and I have sat on this side, and I have never disrupted a speaker and yet here they do not have the courtesy to listen to what I have to say. (Interruptions)

I am a Muslim, and I am an Indian. I see no distinction between the two. (Interruptions)

I see no reason why I, as a Muslim, have to fear a deal between India and the United States of America (USA). (Interruptions)

This is a deal between two countries. It is a deal between, we hope, two countries that in the future will be two equals. (Interruptions)

Sir, the enemies of Indian Muslims are not the Americans, and the enemies of the Indian Muslims are not ‘deals’ like this. The enemies of Indian Muslims are the same enemies that all the poor people of India face, namely, poverty and hunger, unemployment, lack of development and the absence of a voice. It is that we are against, namely, the effort being made to crush our voice. (Interruptions)

I am not a Member of the UPA, and I do not aspire the Membership of the UPA. But I am extremely unhappy with the way in which my friends in the Left have taken on this self-imposed position of being the certifiers of who is secular and who is not. (Interruptions)

Until a few years ago, I was a part of the NDA and I was a Minister with them. The same Left people considered me as a political untouchable, and they considered me an outcaste because I was a part of the NDA. Today, the same Left people are telling me that all secular Parties must unite with the BJP to bring down this Government. (Interruptions)

I made a mistake of standing with them once. I did not resign on the question of Gujarat when my conscience told me to do so, and my conscience has still not forgiven me. I need not make the same mistake again. (Interruptions)

आप लोग अमरनाथ की बात करते हो, आपने अमरनाथ का आरोप लगाया,…(व्यवधान) आप एक जगह दिखाइए, जहां पर किसी कश्मीरी ने यात्रा के खिलाफ बात की हो, जहां किसी कश्मीरी ने कहा हो कि हमें यात्री नहीं चाहिए, जहां यात्रियों के ऊपर हमला हुआ हो।…(व्यवधान) हमारी जमीन का मुद्दा था, हम अपनी जमीन के लिए लड़े और मरते दम तक अपनी जमीन के लिए लड़ेंगे, लेकिन हम आपकी तरह फिरकापरस्त नहीं हैं।…(व्यवधान) हम आपकी तरह कम्युनल नहीं हैं। हम मस्ज़िद नहीं गिराते और मंदिर भी नहीं गिराते। …(व्यवधान) वहां एक सौ साल से ज्यादा अमरनाथ की यात्रा चलती आ रही है और जब तक कश्मीर में मुसलमान हैं, श्रीनगर और अमरनाथ में आपकी यात्रा चलती रहेगी। …(व्यवधान)

[spandana's transation] you all speak about amarnath yatra, you blamed the problems on us… but you show me one place where a kashmiri has raised his voice against the amarnath yatra.. where a kashmiri has rejected the conduct of the yatra.. where there was an attack on the yatra. this was an issue about our land, and we fought for our land and will fight for it till our last breath. but we aren’t turncoats like you. we aren’t communal like you. we don’t knock down masjids and neither do we knock down temples. amarnath yatra was conducted for 100 years in kashmir, and as long as there is a muslim in kashmir, amarnath yatra will go on every year in srinagar and amarnath.

अध्यक्ष महोदय, मैं यह बात दावे के साथ कहना चाहता हूं कि इन लोगों की तरह मेरी सियासत बदलती नहीं है, आज इस तरफ और कल उस तरफ। …(व्यवधान) हमने सेक्यूलर फोर्सेस के साथ हाथ मिलाया है और मिलाते रहेंगे।

[spandana's transation] mr.speaker, i want to affirm that my allegiance doesn’t shift like these people, swinging one way today and the other way tomorrow. we have aligned with secular parties, and will continue to do so.

The Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (J&KNC) will vote to support the Motion moved by the Prime Minister. Thank you.

the parallels are eerie. a friend/family calls to wake us from early morning slumber only to let alert us on the unfolding of a national tragedy on live television. iconic indian landmarks (taj mahal hotel, nariman point) being attacked while the sorry-looking-out-of-shape cops [...]]]> if this picture wasn’t so beautifully shot, it would’ve told a different story.

the parallels are eerie. a friend/family calls to wake us from early morning slumber only to let alert us on the unfolding of a national tragedy on live television. iconic indian landmarks (taj mahal hotel, nariman point) being attacked while the sorry-looking-out-of-shape cops carry out the crowd control tasks.

this is similar to the attacks on 9/11 and the islamabad marriott in september. purely designed to stunt the financial machine. the england cricket tour is already called off.

it’s a shame we let it come to this. amid all this one brave son of he soil laid down his life in the name of doing what’s right. officer hemant karkare was leading the fight back on the front lines, and fell to bullet wounds. as they say in ‘legends of the fall’, it was a good death. here in india, our warriors are our gentlemen.

This kind of function is one of those things I longed to be a part of for many years while I was in the [...]]]> Standing through the Independence Day 2008 celebration at IIM Bangalore, I was trying to recollect the last time I saw the Indian flag raised. Most likely it was sometime in IIT (1990-1994) Chennai.

This kind of function is one of those things I longed to be a part of for many years while I was in the Bay Area.

Â

Functions like this are one of the rituals still left that connect you back to ‘the way things were’. The experience evoked a reflection on my NRI life. Oddly enough, less than 24 hours ago, my iPod picked up the title song from the movie ‘Swades’ on the shuffle play, while I was transiting thorough Hong Kong on my way back from the Bay Area.

Desis packed the shabby Naz cinema hall when the movie came out, most likely due to a strong sense of identity with with the story line: an NRI makes it big in the u.s, returns to India, and single-handedly uplifts a village. A messiah-style performance, set in a in a fairy-tale idyllic village that celebrates festivals with re-enactment of mythology, town hall functions, distribution of cheap sweets, the works.

The subliminal undercurrent among the NRI crowd has always been a mix of condescending patronage of everything Indian combined with a romantic view of a perfect life rich in culture and plush in comforts. I myself should probably plead guilty on both counts.

Once i returned to Bangalore, I chanced upon the movie on T.V., and watched it a second time. It’s as captivating as ever. With the benefit of first-hand view of the dual realities, my reaction this time was entirely different.

The sense of accomplishment and confidence that NRIs develop abroad is no different from the brimming self-assurance i see in my IIMB classmates. People in my age group have developed a can-do attitude that allows them the freedom to dream about what India *could* be. Not as an NRI or a non-NRI, but as any normal new-age professional.

The NRI backdrop in Swades merely provided a pre-text for employing a fresh pair of eyes, stretching the traditional horizons of possibility and took the courage to question everything one more time. These sentiments aren’t a monopoly of the NRIs. Everyone paying due respect to the flag today has no less daring an outlook.

There was a time when one such renaissance occurred. At that time, the Greatest NRI of All actually followed through on the instincts we all now have, and earned freedom for a nation, and taught the civility of non-violence for the world.

Who would be the new face of the second coming of India? If you were to write the New Indian Manifesto, what would it be?

]]> http://valleychai.com/blog/2008/chai/the-new-indian-manifesto/feed/ 10 http://valleychai.com/blog/2008/politics/there-is-no-castration-in-politics/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://valleychai.com/blog/2008/politics/there-is-no-castration-in-politics/#comments Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:13:10 +0000 spandana http://valleychai.com/blog/2008/07/10/there-is-no-castration-in-politics/ like tom hanks from the movie A League of Their Own. but this by jesse jackson is hilarious.

for those in india – jesse jackson is a minister in chicago, that mixes politics from black voters in lousiana to bailing out cramer from seinfeld to unoffical missions to middle east affairs and everything in between. speaks from [...]]]> like tom hanks from the movie A League of Their Own. but this by jesse jackson is hilarious.

for those in india – jesse jackson is a minister in chicago, that mixes politics from black voters in lousiana to bailing out cramer from seinfeld to unoffical missions to middle east affairs and everything in between. speaks from a high moral ground, but gets caught with his pants down with a mistress.