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Saturday, May 16, 2009

I wish there were more like Tinish

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Lone Indian voter defies mob

I happened to ask a friend of mine who lives in India whether he had voted. His response was - too much of a hassle, no candidate worth voting and effort not worth it. He, of course, is not the only one - my in-laws have only started voting after their retirement. Their story was - work required posting in different places, could not handle the hassle of making sure they were on the local electoral list etc... Of course, all of them complain about the quality of the leadership, corruption and what not...

Jai Ho...India is shining

Once more everyone has been confounded by the verdict delivered by the world's largest democracy. Lucky for me, I am no expert on elections or Indian politics. I only got two posts wrong (that is about 66% of all posts on elections that I made). I did not think Dr. Shashi Tharoor would win and I did wonder aloud if "Jai Ho" would be a disaster like "India Shining". Dr. Tharoor won handsomely and "Jai Ho" continued its winning ways...this time for Congress(I) in the Indian elections.

Overall, I am glad with the outcome of the elections. I may not agree with the results but I do think it is better to have continuity for some time rather than changing governments like a heroine changing outfits during a song sequence in a Bollywood movie, it is better to have a strong mandate for a single party rather than a coalition of power hungry parties, the left parties have been left out and that Mayawati's vulgar ambitions have been trampled. So, is there anything to feel bad? Sure. I feel bad that Mumbai, my favorite city, decided that elections did not matter. 43% turnout is pretty pathetic. I thought Mumbiakars knew better - it is showing up for elections, not for candle light vigils that matter. As they say "Bad politicians are elected by good citizens who fail to vote" and "you only get what you deserve."

Shashi Tharoor wins in Kerala... Has hell frozen over?

It is official. Shashi Tharoor has won the Indian elections from Thiruvanthapuram. Congratulations to him. I never expected this to happen. Now that it has happened, am I glad that it has happened? I don't know. A few days back an anonymous commenter to my earlier post "Is Shashi Tharoor eligible for ST quota?" had asked me whether I would change my views if he wins. The answer is "No." And, why should I?

I have reasonably high regard for Dr. Tharoor as a writer and a diplomat. I don't think there is enough in his resume to judge him as a leader of Indian people or a politician. He is going to have to do that, now. As Tom Hanks' character in "Saving Private Ryan" says to Private Ryan, "Now, earn it.", Dr. Tharoor has been given a mandate and now he has to earn it.

I am not sure what the voters were thinking. Is this hope triumphing over reason? Or, is it cynicism triumphing over reason? Or, is it sense and reason in action? And, have the folks in Kerala gotten over the parochial narrowness that they are known for. I, like, Dr. Tharoor am a non-resident malayalee - NRM. Unlike him I was born there and have lived there for a few years. I even did my undergraduate degree in Kerala and was referred to, at various times, as "Pandi" (since I did my schooling in Tamilnadu), "Britisher" (because, I preferred talking in English) and "Dollar" (when I started applying for masters programs in the US). Or, did Kerala fall for the "glamour" factor? Neighboring Tamilnadu always had a weakness for its movie stars. Maybe, Kerala has a weakness for its diplomats. Anyway, I do hope that what happened to Rajiv Gandhi does not happen to Dr. Tharoor. Someone once described Rajiv Gandhi's years as - "He tried to change the system. But, the system changed him."

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Needed... someone with Photoshop skills @ White House

White House aide resigns over NYC flyover - White House- msnbc.com

The Obama administration might have a CIO and a CTO but they seem to lack folks with Photoshop skills. I bet if they had someone with decent photoshop skills they could have avoided the NYC flyover incident and the associated ruckus. Maybe the aide who resigned might consider taking some photoshop lessons.

Friday, May 01, 2009

Is Shashi Tharoor eligible for ST quota?

Ok, the title is rather provocative and figment of my imagination*. I have lot of respect for Shashi Tharoor. So, it was with some amusement, concern and disgust that I greeted the news of him standing for the Indian parliamentary elections from the south indian city of Thiruvanthapuram. He has snowball's chance in hell in making a mark, leave alone winning the constituency.

Almost all well meaning Indians of reasonable charisma and fame sooner or later decide that the way to "serve" the country is by becoming an elected representative. I thought Dr. Tharoor was smarter to fall for that (Maybe, he went off the rockers when he did not become the UN Secretary General. Or, maybe, the keralite in him caused him to reconnect with Kerala on retirement, just like a lot of Non-resident malayalis (NRM) do). For a man who has lived almost all of his entire adult life outside the country (leave alone Thiruvanthapuram) to think he can connect with the people and can fulfill the role of their representative smacks of naiveté. Dr. Tharoor does a great job of presenting India to Indians and the world from his vantage position of a native looking in from the outside. However, elected representatives need to be insiders looking out. And, no, I don't think they need to be natives.

PS: I don't think just because his initials are ST (scheduled tribe) gives his any advantage. And, the constituency where he is contesting is not a reserved constituency.