Sunday, May 31, 2009

Hey.... who moved my cabinet?

Politically Incorrect 29th May 2009


Who moved my cabinet….?

I tell you…. these guys in Delhi, na! Ooof… too much musibat. We know God moves in mysterious ways…. but Manmohan, too? Last week’s drama and hungama has left us very baffled. It is pretty hard to keep a track of all those portfolios and designations, family feuds and party adjustments. By the way, just how many wives does Karunanidhi really have…. does anybody know? How many children, grand children, nephews and nieces does poor Manmohan have to deal with? At last count, there were thirty- seven of them expecting key portfolios. Poor Manmohan was stuck with the rather tricky job of peace keeping – within that family, plus his own extended one .Of course, I am kidding. But the point remains that after the wonderful Congress win, it was back to business as usual – Singh and Sonia ( what a great talk show that would make), spent sleepless nights performing a difficult balancing act – massaging egoes, soothing ruffled feathers, consoling the rejects, pampering new best friends, reassuring old enemies. This political circus needed expert trapeze artists capable of swinging across tricky terrain minus safety nets . There were far too many ring masters to effectively handle the restless animals, and the mustachioed lion tamer was missing.
This was meant to be a designer cabinet represented by the Bold and the Beautiful. But disappointingly enough, the average age remained stuck in the sixties, brought down only by a couple of inconsequential years . And that statistic, I suspect, is thanks to one individual – the bright and sparkling youngest cabinet minister, 26 year-old Agatha ( we want to know what her sibling ‘Christie’ does) Sangma.She remains my favourite in the present mantriji line up. Rather someone like her than some of the rather dodgy veteran netas appointed to key posts. It was clear, this took a great deal of tactical planning and strategic manipulation, which made the earlier style of distributing posts like chana, look old- fashioned and passé. The other ‘youngsters’ who made it, are technically a little past their sell- by dates as true blue representative Babalog ( come on…. forty is forty), but at least they appear connected, contemporary and concerned. About what? Well…. they’ll eventually figure it out. And so will we. But their body lingo and sound bytes are both very cool. It is definitely a photogenic cabinet, and that’s important, given that we shall be seeing one hell of a lot of these guys , at least the top guns, on tv and in print. Never mind that the two Most Wanted ( Rahul and Priyanka), are outside the cosy cabinet – we shall see a lot of them regardless.
Talk to the average Jane and Joe about expectations from Singh’s Dream Team, and you’ll get the answer in one word - results . Young India responds strongly to that single word and little else. By results, the reference is to just one thing – quality of life. The voter wants to know exactly what this government will do for him \her, in real terms. No more bhashans, no empty promises, no fake assurances. Impatient Indians want a commitment from the government on actual deliverables. Time frames. Specifics. Will prices come down? Can Mr. Joshi finally get that new car\home\foreign vacation at a price that won’t lead to a cardiac arrest? Is it now possible for Mrs. Joshi plan her children’s higher education sensibly without borrowing money? Who is going to reassure Joshi Jr. about hanging on to his job? And will Ms. Joshi be able to make her dream of starting her own business come true without over extending herself servicing killer credit facilities? What about the khaana-peena expenses? Gas bills? Phone bills? Lifestyle worries and weekend fun? India’s Bachchalog who voted for the Bablog want it all. And they want it now. Safety, stability and security issues came next. The message is clear – perform or else. Political Viagra allowed for an enhanced experience. Though the moody Sensex is looking sexy enough right now !

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This was published today in the Sunday Times

It's been a perfect sunday - a great lunch ( Chef Anando zindabad!), a long snooze, son-in-law visit ( it's Pramod's birthday tomorrow), great dinner ( kaachha aamer chatney with lots of hing and mustard), and a movie picked by the husband. An unbeatable 'caftan moment'.

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I am so glad Amitabh took a position on the Aussie racist attacks. More super celebrities in that league ought to put their own selfish agendas on hold in the larger public interest. By turning down the doctorate offered by a university in Queensland ( or at any rate , rescheduling it), Bachchan has sent out the right signal. You can't abuse our students, attack them verbally and physically and then honour our cinema icon at the same time.

I must say I was horrified and deeply disappointed by what's been happening Down Under. There's simply no excuse, no justification. The truth of the matter is that our students out perform locals wherever they go, are smarter and more affluent than the rest. It is jealousy at its most basic that leads to such attacks. Australia has always been amongst my top ten travel destinations. I have been there several times and enjoyed every minute of my stay. I guess the time has come for Indians to rethink their plans of visiting this amazing continent. Why go some place you aren't welcome? Our student population was second only to the Chinese, the numbers were growing, and that's going to take a big hit. Too bloody bad for Australia.

39 comments:

Harish said...

regarding racism:

absolutely bad for the indian students and worst for the aussies, their image has been tarnished beyond repair....

Another view, i find this as a time to look back at ourselves... though no doubt on the fact that what has happened is gory and highly condemnable... we need to take this time to look at the racism that we subject foreigners to.

A walk down Colaba market would unravel that if there is a scarf or junk jewellery that costs 50 rupees for an indian, the same costs 10 $ for a white skinned buyer.

so are the black skinned ones better... NAAA... they are thought of as drug peddlers.

This is a time that we could reflect upon ourselves and STOP racial discrimination ourselves too... while we demand action from Australia.

------------------------------------------------------

ohh SoniMohan must have had such a tough time... but the whole thing looked kind of funny.. teh average age bhale hi... drastically down na aaya ho... im happy that it is definitely a step in the right direction...

Ohh I saw agastha in a TV wearing jeans and tee. Wow! and she speaks sense, minces no words, is not a natural rebel... and is smart... she might be 28, but looks much younger than that...

ZB said...

politics has anyways not caught my fascination. In fact its become abominable. i agree with you on the aussies, bloody racists. Most Whites countries are racists, or so i have felt. The way they treat you starting from airports to a supermarket, as if we all just came to the civilised world for the very first time. I have experienced hands on. Cheers to you.:)

obssesor said...

Australia has always been racist. Look at their cricket and rugby teams, look at their treatment of aborgines. Lets hope the govt has guts to deal with the bullies down under!

How do we know said...

i REALLY enjoyed this post.. and obviously, agree on everything.

Opinionated Indian said...

I am so proud of Indians who took the patch of peace(Gandhigiri) to protest attacks in Aus. May be this attitude is perceived as naive or passive. Look at the number of mass killings that have happenned within India, just blasting bombs everywhere not sparing hospitals and the sympathy wave such attacks get in India is shame on our face. May be we need to pickup a lesson or two to learn how/when/where to plant bombs.

Unknown said...

Celebrities like you, Amitabh Bachchan and others must take up these causes through the blogs and your efforts are commendable. All sorts of terrorism and violence are flourishing with ineffective or supporting governments. Most of the Australian cricketers along with other sportspersons(remember the tennis star who did not want to participate in Davis cup in Chennai) are racist and that speaks volumes about every other Australian citizen. I agree that we are also racist but our racism is limited to our stupid gestures and ripping off but we rarely become violent. Inspite of the huge population, our police are doing commendable job by giving minimum possible protection. Why Australia with such a sparse population cannot control criminal elements? Indians are usually well behaved in other countries. I thought of visiting that country, but I never will.

Rajesh Rajoo said...

The vote surely is for performance.

Perform or perish! We need good roads. Our cities need urgent attention - if you've noticed they are getting more and more traffic-snarled each day.

We need water. We need action on issues like global warming. Heck! We need action on a whole host of issues.

As for the Australians, my friends have told me enough of life in Australia. "Curry bashing", or bashing up Indians is an everyday affair there. We have no one to blame but us. Each such incident is hushed up because the victim either wants to apply for permanent residence or is in Australia on work and his/her employer wants to hush up the whole affair.

That makes all Indians soft targets. "These curries hardly ever protest, so lets bash them up severe..." so go the racist Aussies.

Unknown said...

Blah blah blah... abt all the comments and wat Amitabh said I don’t agree a bit... I fail to understand people who r commenting in the most PC ways...wat do they have to say abt North indians plight in mumbai [not Bombay pun intended] where they almost were required to get visa ..and this includes amitabh n many more big names ... when we talk abt above we shud see things in perspective ..does that make all the peple in mumbai racist to north inidans..if the answer is no thn same applies to Australia... Why the F we go on gandhigiri marches n BS at drop of hat without knowing the matter... n where was a mass march for wat happened to north indans in mumbai and so many similar issues… all these people who i saw on news were having a jolly good SMILEY time in the protest,,, they didn't look concern at all n I think loved thr 2 min of fame saying hellos to t hr families in India... they all shud take first flight back and get a job in mumbai..... I AM WAITING...

चंद्रमौलेश्वर प्रसाद said...

" Poor Manmohan was stuck with the rather tricky job of peace keeping – within that family, ..."
DO THEY NEED IPKF TO DO THE JOB OF PEACE:)

The Unsure Ascetic said...

Racism is everywhere. It is in India too. There is a lot of parochial divide even in the educational institutes of high repute. Tamils get beaten in Malluland and sandalwood land. Why don't we raise our voices against this? Racial cleansing is happening in Srilanka. We are not bothered.

World is in a very bad state bhai. Jo powerful hai, usi ka duniya hai! Baaki sab bechare. Children of the lesser God. Unfortunately they are in the majority.

Unknown said...

DAY 404
Posted on: May 31, 2009 - 10:58 pm

Sopaan, New Delhi May 31, 2009 Sun 10:57 PM



352. Amit Australia says:
June 1, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Reality Check.
This post is for those who belongs to educated fan base , fans which digest indigestible things from mentors/actors just because they love their actors and respect them. They keep portraying that they agree to everything that has been said on the blog, papers ,tv or in their interviews just because we love them but you try to say some one like Tarun said even if it is wrong sms or post then you are left with humiliation by hundreds of fans on public platform. Every one wants to talk to their mentors and hero’s and now days all have become so easy that one google search gives you phone nos try this http://ketanshuklahacker.blogspot.com/2008/12/bollywood-stars-personel-mobile-numbers.html .
Why humiliate fans if your nos are on web. What if u doesn’t give attention to polite requests? What if years of your ego has not speared you.
Why people want to talk to you , men , boys, girls every one because they just want to feel you and have that as a souvenir nothing more that.
This respect is always taken for granted and educated fan base is also go under those emotional fan bases who feel their heroes/actors are next to god and not normal human beings.
Let’s see some blogs from day one for example. *( all from bigb.bigadda.com)
Welcome from AB asking comments.
Archive for April, 2008
welcome
Posted on: April 17, 2008 - 10:39 am
Comments: 453
this is my blog..welcome to it and hope we have a pleasant time reacting with each other.
i shall start with a few views on my upcoming film ‘Bhoothnath’.. hope you will give your comments.
Posted in: Uncategorized
My First Day on the Blog
Posted on: April 18, 2008 - 11:05 am
Comments: 996
No one is ‘common’. We are all in God’s world ’special’ humans, each one of us. Each one of us have qualities unique and different from others. I do not and certainly not my family, hold any kind of ’special’ status. I am as ‘common’ as the common man and as ’special’ as him too.
My love and my regards to all the readers for entering my heart and providing me an opportunity to enter yours..
Now this is time for you all to read each and every blog from day 1 to today and make your mind.
If I write anything more than this I will get humiliated and also with lot of abuse (which I don’t care) so my friends no matter who u love as ur actor keep them only for ur imagination if you try to bring them in reality they will prove 100000% more than monster.
Love sun from far to get heat in winter but don’t get near u will burn.
I know you won’t buy movie tickets if it’s not worth no matter what.

Anonymous said...

All its deficiencies notwithstanding, the present cabinet does seem to possess the right firepower to take the battle with recession to its justifiable end. No loose cannons, no shotguns and absolutely no damp gunpowder. Only the best long range howitzers, and a few brand new, rapid firing kalashnikovs :-)

Shilpa said...

I was appalled at how openly Karunanidhi flaunts in multiple wives(isn't that illegal, given that he is a non-muslim?), demands government positions for his daughter, son, niece and what have you! When will we change and say no to all this?

Tom Kat said...

The truth of the matter is that our students out perform locals wherever they go, are smarter and more affluent than the rest. It is jealousy at its most basic that leads to such attacks.Not sure about the veracity of that statement. My personal experience belays that 'factoid'. In my toughest classes at school, I found locals leading the class averages rather than Indians. The perception of Indians being 'smarter' is flawed, and there is no basis for genetic superiority in the Indian DNA versus the others in the world. This is not to say that the best of the best of India are incapable of competing with the best of the best of the world, after all the law of averages always hold true, but it would be irresponsible to issue a blanket statement like the one above.

The political reality is that people in these countries, thus far, led the good life without really having to claw their way up as we have too, in India. In times of economic recession like present, the jobs at the bottom of the pyramid are the first to be wiped out. This leads to further resentment in the small proportion of (already) xenophobic people and manifests itself in violence. As mentioned in the comments above, this xenophobia isn’t isolated to Australia alone, rather it extends across every part of the world, including India. So, going by the logic of not visiting xenophobic places would eliminate stepping out of their house for most people. There is a small portion of the population in every country that represents the bad eggs, and it would be a pity if we let them define our views of the broader population.

Finally, as educated people with a broader outlook, we ought to condemn violent acts as and when they occur, and kudos to AB for taking a moral stance. But hopefully our words and actions are not reserved for activities outside our glass houses.

Nandini Rao said...

@ Shobha De on Racism, I cannot agree with you this time.

About racism, I have a point to make here. Are we talking about the generalized definition of racism where prejudice often benefits the lighter skin, or are we barging into something more profound, more complicated, that which is not only seen in countries like Aus.,but also on home turf.
If it's in the general sense, then I'm sorry, I will have to say that what happened in Australia cannot be termed as racism.

I have seen the conduct of our Indian students on foreign shores, & will have to admit that they tend to be OVERTLY SMART, so much as to disrupt the peace of mind of the people in the vicinity. Instead of pointing the finger at a third person, why don't we analyze our own countless histrionics that we exhibit, much to the irritation of the local people.

We tend to believe that we are all saintly, but on the flip side, what we deem as wise & smart tactics to deal with everyday life is actually looked upon as outrageously unruly & discourteous.

For starters, the most basic & common antic characteristic of the INDIAN( EXCLUSIVELY) is not to stand in a queue.
What are we trying to convey, are we trying to show our invaluable wisdom by breaking the rule there? You mean to say that there can be no other man in the world who could demonstrate such act of bravery. Rightly so, I don't think people of other nations, even Sri Lanka( whom I respect the most for their discipline & a sense of orderliness) would want to display their courage in such a cheap way. Well, let's get to the other amusements:
1.We want to pay the rent only after the due date.

2.We would of course not want to move out of the way when someone is approaching through the other end of the corrider, it is a matter of the INDIAN EGO.

3. We will litter the space around us when no one's watching, it is our privilege, & a matter of self satisfaction.

4. We cannot afford to ACTUALLY BUY STUFF, our WISDOM allows us to return the goods once its use has been exhausted.

5. WE do of course want to enjoy going to every single restaurant in the book, but cannot bear to pay for the cab service, or the restaurant bill. We actually save the best crooked tactics for this part, not wanting to even realize that while we have a meaningful sensitive discussion on who should pay, we are making the cab driver wait. APOLOGIES DON'T EVEN ENTER THE SCENE HERE. Again, it is a matter of the INDIAN PRIDE & EGO.

6. Laundromat, our favorite space because we can manage to get the job done without paying a penny. And what about the used fabric softeners, well they should obviously be on the floor. So much so that we could audaciously allow a passerby to pickup the mess & throw it in the bin. This passerby cannot be an Indian. It's just too much to deal with.

Nandini Rao said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nandini Rao said...

contd...

7. Smelly Indians? I've heard that one before. But why is it demeaning when someone accuses us of that trait? Do most Indians actually have a bath in the winters? Well, I don't think so because I have witnessed it!

8. Our cultural programs offshore cannot be termed as 'cultural', at least I don't think so! With those stupid vulgar dances reminiscent of the 'mass phenomena' showcased in films, we only have the western audiences infer that this is 'The Indian Culture'. No wonder then that they perceive us with so much repulsion!

Let me tell you, only when you respect yourself will other people respect you. I have never faced a problem in their universities, & was as much a part of their social structure.

Invitation cannot be for all & we must realize that. It is after all a foreign land. How dare we expect someone to accept us despite all this nonsense.
This is only a recollection of what I have witnessed. I do not know how many other circus tactics are adopted by my fellow Indians.

What was amazingly reassuring was that I have never faced the brunt of all this nonsense from the foreigners, because they never believed in generalising.

Why are we then concluding with the accusation that all Australians are Racists?
Isn't that unfair. Talk of prejudice!

SHAME ON US FOR BEING SO CYNICAL & NOT CHANGING OUR OWN RIDICULOUS BEHAVIOUR.
Why, we never even come out so strong when women in our country are raped!

SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!

Anonymous said...

Shobha,

I hold no forte for the Australians. There are plenty of good guys there as we have here in India.
I agree with Nandini on most of the points she has raised.
I have friends and very close relatives who are living in Aussie land for over 20 yrs. and doing very well. They may have initially gone through a bad patch, but today they are Managers, Doctors Top Registered Nurses (boss of the whole hospital)and Property and land owners(no bank mortgage)
Yes there is jealousy etc. but do we not have it here? In fact there is all the good and evil things that happen all over the world, including corruption, only the scale % is different due to the Population of respective Countries.

Take most building Societies here in Mumbai. The Committee Members feel they are the PM's, President and all in one.

Have personally witnessed 8 Indians in NZ being caught and taken to the airport to be deported for illegally staying beyond their Visa expiry dates.
You will not believe this. It was a few of their own relatives who were the whistle blowers.
Why do they take such risks?

Trust me all these issues will be overlooked within the week, and our guys will go to Aussie land, as they know where their bread, butter and jam is. With all the beating and bashing etc. quality of life on the whole there is what we Indians will never see in our life time here, even with the money we have. Once you step out of your house.....From the day an Indian is born to even the day he dies, his relatives have to shell out money (bribes)for the last rites.

We are suckers, we like to be treated thus, as we experience this over here in our everyday life (it is by our own Indian brothers)
So the world goes on and on.

Norman

Sidhusaaheb said...

The cabinet-formation seems to have been a lot of fun and games (eenie meenie miney moe, sort of). There appears to be little logic behind Mr. Oily Moily having landed up in the law ministry, for example.

BTW, I suppose it is commendable for Mr. Bachchan having returned an honour on account of mistreatment of Indian students in Australia. However, I do not recall him or too many other celebrities having returned their honours to the Indian government when thousands of their fellow citizens were killed in the most brutal manner possible within India, with the collusion of the police at worst or while the police deliberately looked the other way at best. That should not really take away from Big B's gesture, I suppose, but I couldn't help thinking that those thousands of innocent victims of communalism are probably considered the children of a lesser God even by celebrities like Mr. Bachchan or so it appears from his actions at least.

For example, when 4000 innocent Sikhs were killed in a state-sponsored pogrom in 1984, the only person I recall having returned an honour to the government of India was the writer Khushwant Singh.

Unknown said...

Nandini, You are assuming that the Indians attacked with screwdrivers and other weapons were not taking bath in winters, they were not giving right of way to others, they were throw away the fabric freshners on the floor and umpteen other midemenours. Shame on you if you are an Indian for generalising. Australians are racist because their prime minister does not accept the attacks as racist inspite of overwhelming evidence, their police dont care about the Indian students' complaints and the general public(the Australians themselves) are not supporting the Indians in their just grievance unlike Indians who support Pakistan, China, Australia, Mogambo and what not. I am surprised by your callousness and your smugness and you tell us smugly that you are the anti thesis of the typical Indian and so you are treated very well. Get lost.

Unknown said...

sidhusaheb, sikhs like you bring ignominy to the glorious sikh community. Dont forget that sikhs waged a war against the Indian government and took the help of Pakistan, China and other countries to achieve their goal. They misguided patriotic sikhs. They killed scores of innocent people, soldiers, policemen in cold blood. They mercilessly brought down Kanishka. They killed the prime minister in cold blood and then went on to celebrate her death. All these does not justify the killing of sikhs in 1984. What I want to say is Dont forget what happened during the years before that infamous 1984 sikh massacre. Why blame Amitabh Bachchan for not returning his honours? In every part of India riots happen and so many people are killed. In Assam, in Andhra pradesh, in Gujarat, in West Bengal and almost every part of the country at various points of time. Not to forget atrocities against dalits and tribal people. There is a difference between civil strife and discrimination in a foreign country.

Anonymous said...

Shobha,

From this little episode you will find the difference in attitudes.

While travelling to the Indira Docks in the late nineties in my vehicle I saw a guy pull down his car window and throw his meal packet out on the road.
At the Dockyard signal I went along side and was surprised to see that the culprit was an European. I asked his Chauffer to let me speak to the guy. I then said " Gentleman, I know that our streets are not clean enough for your liking, but I do not expect you to mess them up some more" The guy apoligised, asked his driver to take a U turn, went and picked it up and waived out to me, as I waited at The Rosary Church to check him out.
Ask/request one of us not to mess up and ......
Recently a few college students threw their cold drink cans into a drain. I told them that, that was not the place for rubbish. A few of them retorted quite rudely that it was for garbage. A couple of them tried to be nice and removed their stuff, but once on their bikes, they gave me a mocking look and flug their stuff back into the drain.
You see it is "Force Of Habit" If one is trained from childhood to do good things, be civil etc. It will be automatically edged in his self, in his/her blood.

Cheers.

Norman

Nandini Rao said...

@ Kala,
hey! there! take it easy darling! I'm sure i have a right to an opinion whether you like it or not.
so, let me not get lost anywhere.
phew! talk of democracy!

Theyoginme said...

Shobhaa, Mr. Bachchan polled his "EF" on his blog and majority said don't go (including moi). So heres to the power of the blogdosts... :) Hope the rains are hitting Mumbai soon.

kaleidoscope said...

Dear Shobhaa,

I am visiting this space after ages and I must say I am grossly disappointed with your outburst with tragic events in the land of Oz.

Firstly, it is extremely short-sighted on your part to make a generalized conclusion that Indian students outperform the locals wherever they go. Education is a great leveller and those seeking Graduate level education in Uni's across the globe compete with some of the best brains regardless of their national identities.

Secondly, to assume jealousy as the prime cause of attacks is stretching the degree of assumption. It reads more like an emotional response to events still under investigation.

Thirdly, the suggestion that Indians need to rethink their plans of going to Australia is no worse than the West shunning India post November Mumbai aftermath.

In any event of crisis, it is increasingly becoming a norm to tag someone or some group or even a region as the "other," from which to keep a distance and with which to severe ties.

C'mon De. This was not expected from you. You can do better than this. On a different note, I completely agree with Aham that its high time we stop blaming the other and look inwards.

Peace!

Unknown said...

KSH, Instead of taking irrelevant points like performance of the students and asking Indians to look inwards, why dont you want to talk about the issue upfront? Everyday, we are reading the experiences of the students in national newspapers and one must be extremely prejudiced to ignore such evidence. They are not cock and bull stories. The fact is that Indians are victimised. I think the root cause is Indians as a matter of fact dont look smart and act smart. They look different from one another and only some village bumpkin mannersim is common to all of them. They look vulnerable and they look like cultural outcasts in the OZ land. It is better if they stay in India or try to get that international attitude. Indians lead a sheltered life with their parents providing everything and they dont look independent enough even when they are on their own.

Unknown said...

Kala sit outside the OZ embassy and stop everyone from applying .... Wth ur comments I am not sure which side u r they r confusing..Nandini's comments were not generic abt Indians n that is wat she meant - if some idiots in Ozy land r behaving weird that doesn't paint the whole country bad.. I have frnds from Oz & NZ n they r the most wonderful peple ..love me to bits..watch hindi movies n a lot more... so don't make comments in isolation... being PC is easy when u r sitting outside teh fence.. I live in foreign land n hv gt the best treatment n job... wats ur vent coming frm... if u r so concern pls change India since u r thr n u sound like a revolutionary (pun intended)

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Gulshan, I am firmly on the side of Indians. Not on the side of racist Australian. You have got some wonderful friends from there. So have I. But they are few. I am not criticising Indians but I only feel that they are different. I have seen them adjust beautifully, follow traffic rules and other rules while they are abroad. They generally are on their best behaviour. Every Australian is not a Steve Waugh.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

One brutal attack woke up the indifferent, sleeping Indians. Now all the stories are coming out. What our consul general is doing there?

Unknown said...

Hey kala...

Trust me nothing has happened n nothing wl... atleast if these countries say something they wl do..we're contributing a lot to the economy in these countries n inturn of our own country ... all said n done i am bothered abt the PC comments and b a part of herd...

gandhigiri my foot...did u c these guys on the channels in this march.. i was ashamed..

i tried changing things arnd in india but cudn't ...moved to UK ...happy n love it here.... u talk abt racist comments few here n thr... they r better then a** hole managers..no work ethics.. bribe and i can write an essay on our problems...

I am NOT going to say like so many 'MERA BHARAT MAHAAN' when it is not...

Shobha I hoep u r reading us here..need ur view ... u have opened pandora's box.. :)

ekta khetan said...

Racism has found a new name in "Curry bashing". It was so disheartening to see Indian students and their trauma abroad.

Brain drain is one thing but curry bashing is totally not called for.

Reg cabinet
I was hoping that Mr. Ahluwalia would be next FM...hmmmm

ektakhetan

Shobhaa De said...

Phew! What amazing comments. Hard hitting, thought provoking and very impassioned. I'm planning a column on the subject for Asian Age on Saturday. And shall therefore reserve my 'josh' for that. I'll try and address at least a few of the key issues raised in this Comments' space.

Another Kiran In NYC said...

KSH I totally agree. Having been through the grind myself, I concur with your views.

I have got to a point where I cannot rouse the energy to comment on the desi perception of racism towards ourselves. Desi perceptions cannot be changed without longtime exposure to the actual conditions. Being in the trenches so to speak. The two most common emotional crutches of "perception of always being victimised and of some cultural/moral superiority over another" dont stand us in good stead. We "otherise" ourselves too much just based on these.

And as for Amitabh Bachachan and his doctorate or not dilemma, this is such a non issue. Big deal. I am not going to commend him for that. He could have indulged in more significant protests for events closer to home that really matter to the aam janata that actually buys tickets to see him. Instead he wastes his energy and goodwill on stupid things that dont do anything for the common good. Pshawwww.

Anonymous said...

shobhaa i love you, just putting it out there.
so i'm from melbourne and i completely agree with mr bachchan's stance. i'm pretty sure everyone here will hate me for saying this, but i dnt think the attacks are racially motivated. these students have merely been easy targets for the crazy youth to prey on at night. all of these incidents have occured during the wee hours of the morning or around midnight. it is just that these students are too often in the wrong place, eg: they catch trains at midnight after finishing late shifts to fund themselves...

Raefah said...

Oops... missed reading the blog at the RIGHT time again!!! (fighting with local authorities about their prevention process for flu like swine/influenza type-a,b)... man...

Comment about Karunanidhi that too wondering about number of wives, next time watch yourself, when you are in Chennai (Stay away from trouble)!!!

About, TOO Bad for Australia, I dont think so... it happens everywhere... what about Sardarji friends in Delhi after Indira Gandhi's assassination? People have very short-term memory, this is not sponsored by Aussie govt and I am sure, they will book the guys !!!

Oops... Bachchan missed an opportunity to help the Indian community there in Aussie during these difficult times rather he opted to behave like a politician!!! This is not the right signal, rather he is afraid to use his influence/good office to HELP the Indian community there, my 2 cents!!! he is a class C- LOSER !!!
I am sure that he would have been there for a launch of his or his son's movie if the distributor agreed to pay him few Crores !!! Shame!!! He would NOT have canceled that one.. would he?

Unknown said...

nice posting yar.....

Work from home India

ganesh said...

interesting blog. It would be great if you can provide more details about it. Thanks you


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