Obama's Re-Election campaign Starter Speech

 

Obama makes the most picture-perfect speech before Polls - giving a sense of confidence to Americans that "All izz well" - more jobs since 2005, no war in Iraq and Af-Pak, no letting Iran loose, no outsourcing to "poor" countries, veteran job school, no tax subsidies to rich, no equals in China+Germany, GM-still the best automaker in the world, reforms, in Wall Street, blah blah. Its incredible ho...w these Americans drum themselves up to the world. As a friend said, "they are like a shopkeeper who is bankrupt (US) who wants money from customers (rest of the world) so as to be able to sell the same goods again and again." But despite the truth, and despite the chinks in the logic, US rules because of a system thats created to continuously re-invent, throw up new enterprises and innovate, a democracy that looks like one and a currency that can deflate its way out of the sovereign debt. It also superb pride and confidence in everything American that each of its population with a percapita income of $43000 enjoy and revel. On the contrary, on the eve of our 63rd Republic Day, India has lot of things going for it - still 7% plus GDP growth, culture thats myriad and richest, a majority of religion that still allows minorities of religions to asssert themselves with occasional blemishes, democracy thats running with all its earthly flaws, a society thats not broken down in its innards, population that is unequal in all material possessions but richly endowed with tolerance, enthusiasm (unlike Japanese middleclass) and ability to survive its politicians and capitalists, freedom to still breathe our usual selves in the way we wanted to live, a co-existence of so many languages and religions, prides and prejudices, cinemas and festivals, a civilisation thats not dead as the Mayans or the Egyptians, a nation always in threat of a breakdown and an attack from coast or landmass from 20 directions, a nation that has so many centrifugal forces working and yet has a faint of a centripetal force thats keeping us on the edge but intact still, an Entrpreneurship and a Diaspora that continues to sizzle and furiously astound the world with good and bad intentions. I fail to understand why Indians cannot be as supremely optimistic as the Americans. The Bible says, "...The meek shall inherit the earth." It has to be definitely the Indians then, not the Americans, nor Chinese, nor Germans. Forget about the pressures of ruling the world - why can't we celebrate ourselves just the way we are? Happy Republic Day friends and Cheer up - the worst is behind us and "That used to be US" will apply to US not us. Lets move on and feel proud. My father always makes it a point to wear new dress on R-Day and I-day. I shall do the same tomorrow. Long live the Republic Day!

Makara Sankranti and its Significance in India

Happy Makara Sankranti to all my Telugu friends, Happy Pongal to my Tamil friends. May you all have the best of the harvest in the coming year - of meeting your personal and family goals, and successes and joys. Even though all in my family get our status and livelihood from service economy activities - Sankranti is one festival we treasure coming together. There is something of this agricultura...l festival thats pure joy and bliss to us - something thats closer to our family roots and rich heritage and culture. Love the Rangoli, the kites, the sonorous sounds of Haridasu, the salutation to the only God who goes "live" - Sun God - for a bountiful year of crops, the assortment of dishes for Sankranti, the sweet dishes, the Bommala Koluvu, the Kanuma and the Bhogi festivals, the usage of cowdung with both hands as an anti-pollutant, the reverberations on top of the terraces with mike boxes and latest songs amidst "Kaate" and "other sirens", the new clothes, the exhibition or fairs and site seeing with the biggest gang of cousins and elders and brothers-in-law, the new movies, the works... Except for the last two generations, my family has always been agrarian in its pursuit of economic activities - but Sankranti is an annual reminder of where we come from and where we finally belong to. We may be a remittance economy and a tertiary superpower, but Sankranti is a pure lifestyle-charging festival thats a package of many worlds in three days. No wonder, Andhra Pradesh which comes alphabetically first in every listing - never mind the boos for the time being- sees a bird-migration of sorts where folks everywhere go back to their villages for 3 days. In Hyderabad alone, it is rare to see a "bird migration" of almost a crore. I hope and pray nothing in the world can take away the pleasures of celebrating this unique lifestyle festival with a God that we see everyday - Sun. And to top it all with the movies. The Sun transits every month into a new Zodiac sign but its transit into the Northern hemisphere is always an auspicious beginning and a special moment in a year - a sign of things waiting to get into momentum mode, to get serious, to wake up and smell the coffee. I hope the same momentum is gathered and seen by everybody who believes in this festival and even by those who do not believe in this festival.

India's Triple Transition and Work-in-Progress

We are seeing a colossal work-in-progress in India's next-level transition in three areas - Social, Political and Economic - that it is easy to see the ongoing flux as turmoil. I am fully convinced that this is India's second or third-greatest inflection point before we get back into the world orbit of adulation. Parliaments are challenged, ministers are getting jailed, Judges are impeached, peopl...e pose questions to Prime Minister that should have been raised elsewhere, Gandhian incarnations re-enter the national consciousness, business icons are getting milched. I don't bother if the stock markets or currency or gold markets or bond markets take a beating from here - thats the bye-product of bellweather reactions. I am more concerned with what the "cause" is, not effects. I am 500 per cent convinced that these transitions on many counts are going to cleanse India more and make our future brighter for all of us. I mean it and can smell it in my blood as someone who knows India since the 70s that this phase is going to do multiple good to our country in many ways that historians will extol. You can deride India or ride this wave - and the opportunities it provides in many ways.

My visit to Nepal: View from India

Nepal may not be the most glamorous destination in Asia and doesn't have the edge in class even over Thailand let alone Singapore and Malaysia or the more picturesque Mauritius, Maldives or Seychelles. But there's something about the soul that beckons you and holds your awe. We went there sufficiently under-expecting and had taken with all plan Bs - no INR 500/Rs.1000 notes as they are banned in Nepal (because of fake currency scare), enough cash bundles stacked up closer to every body corners, no woollen clothing since the snows are melting and lightest clothing and some packaged food because you may not get vegetarian food.

Landing at Tribhovan Airport actually made us go back to India - the airport was that bad - unclean and ill-maintained - it looked like a cross between Rajahmundry Airport and Old Begumpet Airport to me - everything from carry handles to carousels was archaic - the lobby looked like some dingy old Annapurna Hotel reception area and the frisking and check-in counters were not well-equipped. But Indian tourists seem to be all over the place and there are good number of folks from SAARC countries, and trekkers from Australasia, Japan, and Europe. You then realise that you are in better company. There is great deal of respect for Indian tourists inside and outside Airport and it comes because Nepalis love most things Indian - they love Bollywood music, Indian Rupees, Indian films and Indian dresses and Indian tourists - because they are spending more and seem to tip well. I have never seen anywhere else a hawker's eyes light up over a Rs.100 note - not even in India @ 8.50 per cent Inflation rate.

As you step onto the roads, you realise its no different from Indian City roads with more pollution - smoke and honking- perhaps more chaotic with less flyovers and lesser public transportation - commuting is done mostly through taxis - Maruti 800's are the ubiquitous vehicles but there are the occasional Wagon-Rs and Santros. You get an idea that all the cars we moved out of in the last ten years are being re-used in Nepal. People are friendly to tourists despite a tendency to fleece - you have to haggle for every knick-knack you buy and talk down almost fifty per cent.

Nepal is responding to tremendous upheavals internally and externally with lot of courage and faith. Its now six years since the Royal feud happened and the Maoist government has driven out King and his suriving son to Nagarjun. The day we were in Kathmandu, right next to our hotel a few blocks away in the Parliament there were massive demonstrations on re-drafting of the new constitution - we were told that the government promised to give a new version in six months time. Maoists in Nepal unlike in India are quite open and transparent in their dealings - they contest politically and are trying to build bridges with public and business community. They are fighting the corridors of power with outcry and open agitations not through guerilla warfare as in India but they get plenty of support from China - they managed to stop Dalai Lama from visiting Buddha Lumbini - the birthplace of Buddha this year. The public is very stoic and dejected with the new ways of Maoist Government after the removal of the Royal Guard but seem to be quite patient and hopeful. Agriculture which used to be mainstay of Nepalis has now given away to Tourism. Nepal declared 2011 as the year of tourism and to win public symphathy the Maoists too have said they won't interfere with business or disrupt tourism flows - that makes this year one of the safest years to still visit Nepal - which has 8 of the 20 tallest mountain peaks of the world and has still the best scenic places on earth - Jumsum (resembles Kashmir), Pasupathi Nath temple (Shiva), Mukti Nath temple (Vishnu), Mana Kamna Temple (Shakti), Bodhnath Sanctuary, Pokhra (considered Nepal's honeymoon destination) and the peaks of Mt.Everest, Gowrishankar, Annapurna Devi which see huge trekkers' interest.

Even if you are not a trekker like me, Nepal will make you walk even if you see few places that require more than a walk through the clouds. One unforgettable experience is the mountain plane trip through the peaks of Mount Everest - at 25,000 feet above the world's highest landmass - you don't get more nostalgic and euphoric with an experience that cost less than a hundred-dollars.

But coming back to the economy a bit more, it looks Nepal is getting the benefits of globalisation and tourism - last year, Nepal received about $760 Million in remittances (nowhere compares to India's $50 Billion plus) and you will find many centres of coaching for GRE/GMAT/SAT. There are plenty of institutes offering English and foreign languages coaching and an even higher number of communication skill-development institutes - it apppeared that despite low literacy rates, Nepalese families are keen to send their wards to school. So thats a good sign.

Nepal has many sects within a pronounced caste system of the Hindus (who still form the majority @ 80 per cent) and Buddhists (mostly the Hinayana sect as seen in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Tibet and Singapore). There are more than 100 local dialects and depending on where you are from - you cannot make out the other language.

In Kathmandu and in Pokhra, it surprised me that shoppers are spoilt for choice on all the wares that are available in India and any other Southeast Asian country. You cannot miss out on the lovely Buddha statues in various postures and lovely pendants and exquisite handbags and paintaings. For those who love books, you get them at every nook and corner - almost one bookshop every fifteen "other" shops which is a surprise to me. One owner told me there is a good reading culture in Nepal - public libraries are well-thronged and the mountaineers also sell their books on their way to the peaks or descent down. Besides, most bookshops offer a unique facility - you can buy book and sell the same book at fifty percent of the original price. I thought I should henceforth buy books only in Nepal - besides one INR gets you One Nepali Rupee and Sixty Paise - that's 1.6 times more purchasing power. I didn't miss out buying my music either - Nepal has a very eclectic range of music - mountain music, Tibetan Buddhist music, world music, film music and western, classical and Indian music. Bijyoya Vaidya is one of the rock stars of Nepali music but even they listen to Ravi Shankar or Yanni or Indian legends as of Western composers. Music CDs - here is a tip- are available at throwaway prices - you can pick any CD for less than Rs.150 (INR). But books were a revelation - I found some enchanting books you don't get in Sunday bazaars in Hyderabad - that rare book of William Styron, that missing book of Pico Iyer or Amit Chaudhari or the rare banned book on the Gorkhas or the Karmapa or the more informed reportage on Nepal's political climate. In most streets when you shop, you can bike your way through motorbikes or bicycles charged per hour. Spirituality and materialism go hand in hand in Nepal but you won't find a synthetic culture here - the Nepalis have lived through so much tumult in the last ten years that nothing can dent their psyche further - many just eke out their living and want to put in an honest day's labor.

Food is quite good in Nepal not just for non-vegetarians as LoneyPlanet guide warned us. We found good food for vegans like us. You find plenty of jain, marwari, Indian restaurants and Chinese restaurants and must visit some exceptional mo-mo and other platter-rich cuisines - especially Nepalese and Thai cuisines. We found a restaurant that employs only deaf and dumb waiters and struggled to place orders in sign language. Playing Dumb Charades the previous day in transition to Pokhra helped a bit.

The public mood keeps swinging from despondency to realism and some optimism because the local economy is almost in shambles - so most people turn to tourism - there are others who are forced into drug-traffiking and sex-tourism and others who are "recruited" by the Maoist government to be infomers. There's great admiration for Indians in Nepal contrary to what the media projects outside - but somewhere I feel India is losing grip over Nepal - the momentum is with China now because of the Maoist Government. Massive Debt is being raised by the government with loans from IMF, China, Japan to build infrastructure for the country and the average debt is INR 15000 per capita today. The newspapers usually do not try to rabble-rouse but there seems to be a quality English and vernacular press that listens to what the people are saying. There are diversions for the people though - many folks work in India and China for low-skilled labor, that's what goes back as remittances and those that remain are happy to be bystanders to the passing parade of democracy. Others watch movies - Nepali movies are all about what can easily be done on screen that's why you have titles like " Himalaya" and "Sahasi" - sesi versions of Gladiator and Robin Hood. The fastest growing relligion in Nepal is Tibtan Buddhism and it was evidenced after a visit to Bodhnath Sanctuary. When oppression is rampant and the people have few outlets (many temples of Nepal have been closed down after the Royal Family massacre) and cultures are clashing, I expect Nepal to bounce back faster than the counterparts like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan or Sri Lanka but for that India must come forward and not allow China to infiltrate Nepal the way they did in Tibet - where the cultural identity of Tibet is lost to the world and Tibet is more of an idea than geography (and thank God that idea is buzzing in Dharmashala, California, Japan etc.

I do not know when Good times will return to Nepal - I definitely see green shoots of them in the eyes of the people, their undying optimism, their root-centeredness and the spirit of patient self-struggles, but I and my family had a wonderful time. And I think, Nepal is one of the places to see before you die. It connects you to your roots better than air-conditioned atmosphere cities.

World Cup 2011 victory for Incredible India!

India 2.0 finally gets to see India 2.0 lift the World Cup in 2011 after 28 years of wait...It was the best of  times - when India already holds centrestage to the game of cricket  straddling the best of Advertising Monies, Cash-rich cricketing body, eyeball for popping out eyeball attention, passions for a whole nation...Now it will the rule the world as a Benign superpower, already known for sportsmanship, non-controversial play, and spectacular passion. Now, I can tell that I have watched India's greatest cricketing victory in color and HDTV screens befitting the new resurgent India  - not on Dyanora B&W TV. Its a sign of how a nation of 1.21 Billion people are taking on the world  - and this world cup win is going to make India shift the earth's axis by a few more degrees  - and that will stay for many more decades to come.

Warrren Buffett in India Today

Warren Buffett may not be second-richest man on the planet but he has enough Ekalavya followers in India from RaamDeo Agarwal to Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and from Nilesh Shah to Prashant Jain. Not surprising his visit beginning today is generating blitzkreig publicity. Whatever he says - markets will gyrate in India interpreting madly like Wall Street. I hear people are getting re-born again to get themselves insured with Berkshire Insurance, some are buying hatchbacks to get new cars insured by Berkshire Insurance to grab a seat to hear the Sage of Omaha speak.
The demand for Buffett's books has always been good in India and I hear that sales of "The Collected Essays of Warren Buffett" has hit a four-year high in the last one month from publishers - a sign that Billionaires in India invited by the CII are ready to hear them so they can cut loose with their cheque books. But I guess many of them may be unfamiliar with Warren Buffett's methods of rewarding shareholders and transparency. Now, Buffett is going to talk about Charity (which already began at home for him and Gates) to Indian Billionaires. But I guess this is going to be a signature event - Indian Billionaires have made it big only in the last two decades after unshackling of the license Raj system. Its only now they are smelling the coffee - so to talk about pledging billions is not going to appeal to many. They will say they are generating employment already which has lifted many out of poverty. Besides, we have Tatas and Birlas used to doing philanthrophy in their own way - unassumingly and consistently. We must remember that Gates and Buffett have been icons of American capitalism who started pledging their billions only in the late nineties after decades of unbridled expansion and ambition. Indian businessesmen, on the other hand, do charity when they are growing as well - so this talk about cajoling them to pledge their millions is not impressive. At the end of Buffett's visit, I will not be surprised if a few more billion dollar deals are announced.
What is important, however, is that Buffett may be pleasantly surprised by the verve and vibrancy in the corridors of Indian Business, Polity and Parliament - if they keep their best foot forward as always happen. Buffett is himself a rank opportunist and he may not give anything away before he takes away more from India. In his annual letter to shareholders in 2011, I read that he was hopeful there will be no major catastrophe that will eat into his Reinsurance profits - and bingo, you had Japan catgastrophe which will nibble away some of the profits in Munich Re and other companies. He has never taken any exposure to India so far in underwriting of risk - so he and Ajit Jain, colleague are meeting IRDA chief J Harinarayan to assess whether Risk in India is profitable. Ask Indian businessmen on Risk, they can talk to Buffett on profiting from Risks here till the cows come home.

"2012" movie review

"2012" by Rolland Emerelt is Hollywood's ultimate blockbuster on a near-distant apocalypse with special fx the world has not seen - on a magnificent scale. The surprise packet is captivating human drama that subtly plays out current obsessions - G8, world-is-not-flat, BRIC nations and beyond. Movie starts in India (Vijayawada) and crackles in eye-popping visuals with superb story-telling for 165 mins. Must-see.
16.11.2009