The Indian General Elections are finally over. The incumbent Congress Party led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition is back in power. Most people are heaving a sigh of relief. The only ones disappointed with the end of the election frenzy are the television media who of course, need to have something to report, since they are 24 hour television news channels. Round the clock television channels are media monsters that need to be fed all the time!
More and more people are beginning to recognise India as a potential giant on the world stage. I will give you an anecdotal example. Day before yesterday, my wife and I went up to Grouse Mountain, a scenic peak above Vancouver. The views of Vancouver and the surrounding ocean from Grouse Mountain are stunning. We hired a local guide for a trek around the area. Part of our little trekking group also included an English couple in their late fifties. As we were chatting with our new found friends, I asked them what they thought of India. The elderly couple responded by saying that their son-in-law often travelled to Mumbai from Essex, England (where he was based), because he worked for the Tata Group of Companies in India, which has interests in steel, automobiles and information technology. Our tour guide had been to the Indian Himalayas in the past, and he was now familiar with Indian information technology and call centres, since he interacted with an Indian business process outsourcing centre (BPO) for his credit card problems!
On the same evening, American television host Charlie Rose had two of India’s leading industrialists Azim Premji and Anand Mahindra on his television show which airs on PBS. Rose had obviously done his homework on India and the Indian economy. His questions were regarding the growing world stature of Indian corporates such as Wipro, the Tata Group and Reliance.
Clearly, the international view of India as a place of endemic poverty, slums, overcrowding and cows dozing on the streets is changing; albeit slowly. India is still a very long way from transforming itself into a player on the global stage, but hopefully that process has begun. We fervently hope that this government will continue with the reform process, which began two decades ago. The new government is making all the right noises; it remains to be seen whether they can deliver the high expectations the long-suffering Indian electorate has placed on them.
Among the losers in this general election are the Communists and the right-of-centre National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is led by the so-called “Hindu nationalist” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). I say so-called because the BJP is often unfairly targeted as being “fundamentalist” and “non-secular”. While fringe elements in the BJP certainly are, these tags are unfairly attached to them by their opponents at election time. The BJP as a whole is a secular party.
Both the Communists and the BJP have an important role to play in the Opposition. The Congress has in the past, exhibited a sense of arrogance in its own power. They need to be reminded that they owe a debt to the people who have elected them in the first place. I am a fierce critic of India’s Communists. For the most part, they believe in regressive authoritarian polices which would take India back a hundred years. But I agree completely with them when they talk about education and healthcare reform in India. Of course, they themselves have done precious little in these areas in the states that they do govern (Kerala and West Bengal). Still, their outdated doctrine does place emphasis on both primary education and rural healthcare, two important areas that we must make progress in. They need to quit raising the bogey of so-called “U.S. imperialism” and start pressuring the government to deliver on education and healthcare reform. Hopefully India’s Communists have realized that the electorate is more concerned about basic issues such as education, jobs, roads and water and cares very little about who delivers it. The Indian electorate is fine with being a “strategic ally” of the U.S., as long as their aspirations to a better life are met.
Similarly, the BJP has an important role to play as the primary Opposition party. The BJP is a reform-minded party, and much economic reform was carried out under their rule; the benefits which we are reaping now. The Congress has talked up a storm on economic reform over the past five years and delivered very little. Some of this lack of delivery is due to the compulsions of coalition politics in the last government. However, there can be no excuses this time around – either concerning economic reform or domestic security; another area in which the last Congress led coalition performed poorly. The BJP needs to push the Congress to deliver in both these areas.
A strong Opposition is the lifeblood of any democracy. But their role is not to oppose just for the sake of it. If our opposition parties mature, open up a meaningful debate on national issues and hold the government accountable for delivering on its promises, they will play an equally important role in determining India’s future as the current ruling coalition in Delhi. Let us hope they do.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Music: The Million Dollar Quartet
I was watching a television documentary on the Million Dollar Quarter last night. The Million Dollar Quartet comprised of four musicians who practically invented rock and roll music in the 1950s. They were Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis. All of them were white, born and raised in the American Deep South during the 1930s and 1940s.
The American Deep South was a very different place fifty years ago. Racial discrimination was not only widespread, but legal. The Million Dollar Quartet played a big role in making the US a much more racially tolerant country, by taking old blues music (made by African Americans), speeding it up a little bit and inventing rock and roll. Rock and roll music was invented and made palatable to white kids by these guys. They also made sure that they toured extensively with black musicians. The cross-over appeal of rock music among white kids played a big role in reducing racial discrimination in the U.S – especially in the South.
While Elvis Presley and later Johnny Cash became superstars, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis didn’t. Carl Perkins did not have the luck or looks that Elvis had, though he was much more talented – he played a mean guitar and wrote his own songs. However, Perkins did have a huge influence on the Beatles and Eric Clapton, both of whom covered his songs on their albums. Jerry Lee Lewis’s burgeoning career was cut short by a sex scandal. To learn more about Jerry Lee Lewis, watch the excellent movie “Great Balls of Fire” with Dennis Quaid as Jerry Lee Lewis. Of the Million Dollar Quarter, only Jerry Lee Lewis is still alive and performing; at the age of seventy-four. The other three are dead.
The documentary I watched was narrated by Stan Perkins, son of the late Carl Perkins. Stan Perkins is also a musician. He spoke about the awe he felt when he first met George Harrison of the Beatles. George Harrison told him “The way you feel about me, I feel about your dad – he is my idol”. Both George Harrison and Eric Clapton toured extensively with Carl Perkins when he was alive.
One of the stories that Stan Perkins told was very touching. Carl Perkins died of a stroke in 1998 in the small town of Jackson, Tennessee. He was sixty five years old at the time of his death. George Harrison specially chartered a plane from London, England to make it to Carl Perkins’ funeral. At the end of the funeral oration, Harrison picked up an acoustic guitar and proceeded to sing one of his favourite Carl Perkins songs – “Your True Love”.
What Stan Perkins learned later was that at the time of his father Carl’s death, George Harrison himself was suffering from throat cancer and undergoing radiation therapy. George had not sung in a few years, and was not even sure that his throat would permit him to sing. As George later told Stan; “I wasn’t sure anything was going to come out when I opened my mouth to sing at your father’s funeral”. But George did sing the Carl Perkins song “Your True Love” at his funeral. And as Stan Perkins said on the documentary yesterday; “George nailed the song”.
That is rock and roll. It is a love that transcends time, race, culture and geography. This blog is dedicated to George Harrison - one of the nicest guys who ever picked up a guitar.
The American Deep South was a very different place fifty years ago. Racial discrimination was not only widespread, but legal. The Million Dollar Quartet played a big role in making the US a much more racially tolerant country, by taking old blues music (made by African Americans), speeding it up a little bit and inventing rock and roll. Rock and roll music was invented and made palatable to white kids by these guys. They also made sure that they toured extensively with black musicians. The cross-over appeal of rock music among white kids played a big role in reducing racial discrimination in the U.S – especially in the South.
While Elvis Presley and later Johnny Cash became superstars, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis didn’t. Carl Perkins did not have the luck or looks that Elvis had, though he was much more talented – he played a mean guitar and wrote his own songs. However, Perkins did have a huge influence on the Beatles and Eric Clapton, both of whom covered his songs on their albums. Jerry Lee Lewis’s burgeoning career was cut short by a sex scandal. To learn more about Jerry Lee Lewis, watch the excellent movie “Great Balls of Fire” with Dennis Quaid as Jerry Lee Lewis. Of the Million Dollar Quarter, only Jerry Lee Lewis is still alive and performing; at the age of seventy-four. The other three are dead.
The documentary I watched was narrated by Stan Perkins, son of the late Carl Perkins. Stan Perkins is also a musician. He spoke about the awe he felt when he first met George Harrison of the Beatles. George Harrison told him “The way you feel about me, I feel about your dad – he is my idol”. Both George Harrison and Eric Clapton toured extensively with Carl Perkins when he was alive.
One of the stories that Stan Perkins told was very touching. Carl Perkins died of a stroke in 1998 in the small town of Jackson, Tennessee. He was sixty five years old at the time of his death. George Harrison specially chartered a plane from London, England to make it to Carl Perkins’ funeral. At the end of the funeral oration, Harrison picked up an acoustic guitar and proceeded to sing one of his favourite Carl Perkins songs – “Your True Love”.
What Stan Perkins learned later was that at the time of his father Carl’s death, George Harrison himself was suffering from throat cancer and undergoing radiation therapy. George had not sung in a few years, and was not even sure that his throat would permit him to sing. As George later told Stan; “I wasn’t sure anything was going to come out when I opened my mouth to sing at your father’s funeral”. But George did sing the Carl Perkins song “Your True Love” at his funeral. And as Stan Perkins said on the documentary yesterday; “George nailed the song”.
That is rock and roll. It is a love that transcends time, race, culture and geography. This blog is dedicated to George Harrison - one of the nicest guys who ever picked up a guitar.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Lingerie: The Universal Language
The Indian general election results have finally been declared, and I am happy with the result. I will blog about the Indian elections soon. But for now, I thought I would write a short blog on universal words that are understood the world over.
Over the last century or two, many Indian words such as “bazaar” and “guru” have made it into the English dictionary. These words are widely used in English, and well understood. I recently found another such “universal” word.
Let me elaborate.
Vancouver is probably one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world, with a predominance of South-east Asians – Chinese, Taiwanese, Filipinos, Thais and Vietnamese. Of course, there is a fair sprinkling of Indians as well, though they tend to congregate in greater numbers in Toronto, on the other side of the country. Parts of Toronto, I am told, resemble Chandigarh in the Punjab.
Indians (as everyone knows) are everywhere. The worldwide Indian diaspora numbers about twenty-five million, of which about two million are in the United States. Indians sometimes tend to be resented by locals in the countries they migrate to, because they can be clannish and do not always assimilate into the local population and culture.
As a student in the U.S., I knew a fellow Indian who worked in Africa for some years – in the Congo, I think. He was in the Congo at the height of the brutal civil war there. He was (if I remember correctly) a salesman of stainless steel buckets. He was an interesting character. Once during his travels, fierce fighting broke out in the region of the Congo he was in. It was nearing sunset and he was stuck in a lawless border town in the Congo, where life was cheap. He was afraid for his life, until in the setting African sun, he saw a hotel that had a board outside that read “Shree Ganesha Hotel”. Relieved, he walked through the doors of the Shree Ganesha Hotel, and was provided food and shelter by the friendly Gujarati who owned the place. As an Indian, there is one thing for certain (apart from death and taxes) - even in a lawless, remote town in an African country wracked by a bloody civil war, you will find a Shree Ganesha Hotel!
Now let me get back to the subject of my blog. While travelling in public transport in Vancouver, one sometimes feels like one is in a city somewhere in South-east Asia – Shanghai or Hanoi, maybe. One hears a multitude of languages being spoken, with Chinese being the predominant one.
While travelling on the train here I enjoy listening to people speaking in different languages and I often try and decipher as many words as I possible. It is a good way to while away the time. Yesterday, there were a couple of Chinese women sitting across from me in the train, talking away in Chinese. I do not know Chinese, and I did not understand a word they were saying. Until, of course, I heard the words “Victoria’s Secret”. At the mention of these two words, my ears perked up. It was obvious that the two women were out shopping for lingerie.
“Victoria’s Secret” and “lingerie’ are universal words and part of the vocabulary of all the languages in this world. You do not need to be a linguistic expert to understand what they mean. They mean the same thing in every language spoken on the planet. Lingerie is a universal word that spreads peace, harmony and understanding among the various races and ethnic groups of this world! All you need is love – or is that lingerie?
Over the last century or two, many Indian words such as “bazaar” and “guru” have made it into the English dictionary. These words are widely used in English, and well understood. I recently found another such “universal” word.
Let me elaborate.
Vancouver is probably one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world, with a predominance of South-east Asians – Chinese, Taiwanese, Filipinos, Thais and Vietnamese. Of course, there is a fair sprinkling of Indians as well, though they tend to congregate in greater numbers in Toronto, on the other side of the country. Parts of Toronto, I am told, resemble Chandigarh in the Punjab.
Indians (as everyone knows) are everywhere. The worldwide Indian diaspora numbers about twenty-five million, of which about two million are in the United States. Indians sometimes tend to be resented by locals in the countries they migrate to, because they can be clannish and do not always assimilate into the local population and culture.
As a student in the U.S., I knew a fellow Indian who worked in Africa for some years – in the Congo, I think. He was in the Congo at the height of the brutal civil war there. He was (if I remember correctly) a salesman of stainless steel buckets. He was an interesting character. Once during his travels, fierce fighting broke out in the region of the Congo he was in. It was nearing sunset and he was stuck in a lawless border town in the Congo, where life was cheap. He was afraid for his life, until in the setting African sun, he saw a hotel that had a board outside that read “Shree Ganesha Hotel”. Relieved, he walked through the doors of the Shree Ganesha Hotel, and was provided food and shelter by the friendly Gujarati who owned the place. As an Indian, there is one thing for certain (apart from death and taxes) - even in a lawless, remote town in an African country wracked by a bloody civil war, you will find a Shree Ganesha Hotel!
Now let me get back to the subject of my blog. While travelling in public transport in Vancouver, one sometimes feels like one is in a city somewhere in South-east Asia – Shanghai or Hanoi, maybe. One hears a multitude of languages being spoken, with Chinese being the predominant one.
While travelling on the train here I enjoy listening to people speaking in different languages and I often try and decipher as many words as I possible. It is a good way to while away the time. Yesterday, there were a couple of Chinese women sitting across from me in the train, talking away in Chinese. I do not know Chinese, and I did not understand a word they were saying. Until, of course, I heard the words “Victoria’s Secret”. At the mention of these two words, my ears perked up. It was obvious that the two women were out shopping for lingerie.
“Victoria’s Secret” and “lingerie’ are universal words and part of the vocabulary of all the languages in this world. You do not need to be a linguistic expert to understand what they mean. They mean the same thing in every language spoken on the planet. Lingerie is a universal word that spreads peace, harmony and understanding among the various races and ethnic groups of this world! All you need is love – or is that lingerie?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
