President Obama and His Road Ahead

The euphoria that aroused all over the world after the election of Barrack Obama as the 44th President of the United States seems to have ended for now. That the US has a coloured man as the President within half a decade of Martin Luther King’s famous ‘I have a Dream’ speech is in itself a matter of great pride for the Americans. But now its time to analyse the various challenges that Obama has to face at the helm of American Presidency. Let us discuss the various areas where he would have to concentrate if his promise of change has to become a reality.

• The Economy

The international economy is in serious turmoil and many American MNCs are destined to be doomed if there are no immediate financial package to bail them out of the sub prime mortgage crisis that they are facing. So Obama’s most important and urgent task should be to find a solution to the financial crisis. The American Congress has already announced a bail out package for the financial companies that are afflicted by the financial crisis. But now the automotive sector is also asking for a similar bail out package. The financial crisis has been the most important factor in this US election and therefore Obama has no other option left but to confront the gravest financial crisis that is all set to engulf America and the world since the great depression of 1930s.

• Domestic Health Care System

The domestic health care system in the US is in an absolute mayhem. The number of people out of the health care insurance net is increasing day by day and is going to become quite unmanageable in the near future. In a country where the cost of health care is ridiculously high, health care insurance is an absolute necessity. So it is imperative for Obama to take some immediate steps towards normalising this discrepancy. It is a very important step that he has to take for gaining the trust of the middle class as well as the blue collar workers.

• Internal Security

At a time when the gun culture is quite vibrant among the students and internal violence is on the rise, internal security is a very important concern of the Americans. The remarkable electoral victory that the centrist Democrats have won over the conservative Republicans would give Barrack Obama some serious moral authority to establish some fool proof regulations that would put an end to the reckless use of guns by the ordinary people. This would go a long way in making some headway in matters of internal security. At the same time other aspects of internal security will be taken care of by getting advice from the experts in the field.

• War on Terror

Since September 11, 2001, no American President would dare to forget the war on terror. From that day, capturing of Osama bin Laden and his fellow perpetrators of the heinous crime has been the most important task of any US patriot. But Obama has some serious ideological differences with the way George W.Bush had fought the war on terror. He was against going to war against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq under the pretext of Weapons of Mass Destruction, which the Bush regime claimed Saddam had. In line with such an idea, Obama thinks that the real war on terror should be fought at Afghanistan and not at Iraq. He believes that Osama is hiding some where in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and hence pursuance of Osama should be directed at Afghanistan. Obama believes that the war front at Iraq is redundant and hence army should be recalled from Iraq. He also thinks that there should be an actual time frame for the troop withdrawal from Iraq. That is be an action that he is quite keen to take.

• Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib

Barrack Obama believes that Guantanamo Bay prison is one of America’s most loathsome historical mistakes and wants to close it down before it creates more damage to America’s moral standing in the world. The prisoners at Guantanamo are denied even basic human rights and a lot of politicians in America and human rights activists all over the world have been condemning the US for continuing with the prison. Flouting all international rules and regulations and human rights laws, the US administration under George W.Bush has been keeping the terror suspects without any legal trials or legal benefits. If Obama has to keep his promise of change and to show this world that he is a man who keeps his word, he has to act quickly in this regard.

Abu Ghraib and the gross human rights violations that were committed in that prison by American soldiers are fresh in the memory of this world. Though the US administration was able to instil some sense by bringing to book the soldiers that committed the violation of human rights, it is important for US to close down the prison and improve their moral standing in this world. Obama seems to be the right person to bell the cat and he is armed with sufficient public support and congressional backing to do the same.

• Foreign Policy

Barrack Obama has a very different foreign policy outlook from that of George Bush . He is not averse to talking to leaders of countries that Bush thought are too bellicose to talk to. Obama has already made his ideas clear by saying that he will talk to the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad without any pre-conditions. In this regard his ideas were different from both Hilary Clinton and John McCain, who were opposed to this very idea of diplomacy offered by Obama. As Obama has almost decided to make Hilary Clinton as his Secretary of State, it is to be seen how he is going to move forward on this promise he has made.

At the same time foreign policy experts are quite interested in knowing the policy that Obama would adopt against old rivals Russia and China. The relationship between US and Russia that became sour after the recent Russia-Georgia war and the rhetoric that followed needs some immediate remedy. After the war, Russia has become quite confident to impose its supremacy in the Caucuses, where as the US is hell bent not to allow it. In the post cold war era, after the fall of the USSR, there is more or less a unipolar world where the US is the sole super power. Hence the US doesn’t want Russia to again emerge as a world power lest their supremacy would end. But the resurgent Russia, under Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, is getting ready to usurp their appropriate position in this world as an answer to the US’ hegemonic ambitions. Barrack Obama would do good to reinvent the cordial relationship with Russia, because this world can ill afford another cold war.

The United States consider China as a threat in Asia and are quite interested in countering that country’s emergence as a super power. It is the main reason why the recent US Presidents were quite interested in improving the relationship with India. The US foreign policy think tank believes that economic and political revival of India can effectively defy China’s hold in Asia. The Indo-US nuclear deal should also be seen in this light.

The importance of India vis a vis China makes a lot of experts believe that Obama would continue the good relationship with India that George Bush started. Moreover the growing clout of Indian-Americans in US strategic and economic space makes it absolutely difficult for US Presidents to ignore India and its aspirations. The United States also want to invite India to its strategic embrace, so that they have a larger involvement in this region.

Obama believes that Pakistan should have a larger participation in the war on terror and is not that happy with its present level of unresponsive involvement. He wants Pakistan to focus more on their western borders along Afghanistan and not at the Indian side of Pakistan border. Hence Obama believes that India and Pakistan should discuss the Kashmir issue among them and find a solution to it. At the same time Obama has also said that he would resort to using force in Pakistan internal territory against the suspected terrorists even without the approval of the Pakistan government. But that would be a decision that he might have to rethink on after discussing with his foreign policy experts because it can cause serious damage to America’s moral standing in the world.

• Non-proliferation

Barrack Obama is a strong advocate of nuclear non-proliferation and believes that a world with no nuclear threats is the best possible option for a peaceful co-existence of various countries. He strongly supports the signing of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and thinks that US should first sign it and then push other countries to do the same. India should not have any problem in signing the CTBT if other countries like the US, China and Pakistan sign it.

Right now the President-elect Barrack Obama is busy making his team for governing the country. The promise that he has made, the promise of change, to the Americans as well as to the world, is a very difficult one to satisfy. The expectations on him are quite high as well. But for the sort of person he is - committed, honest, brave and confident - we believe and trust that he would make some effective steps towards improving the moral standing of the United States as well as the future of this world.

Salute the Dada of Indian Cricket

Sourav Ganguly, India’s most successful test captain has retired from international cricket. This is the time for us to celebrate the cricketing career of this legendary cricketer, whose legacy extends far beyond the runs that he had accumulated in international cricket. The number of brave hearted young cricketers that he offered to Indian cricket, the sense of competitive spirit that he presented and the degree of mettle and self confidence that he imparted to the team are the real contributions made by the Bengal Tiger to Indian cricket. The southpaw, called the “Lord of the Off Side”, for his flamboyant stroke play through the off side had been a terror in the minds of bowlers all over the world. As he retires from international cricket, we can rejoice on his astounding career, as a batsman as well as captain, and wish him all the best for all his future endeavours. But we will surely miss the Dada.

Congratulation to Barack Obama for Becoming the 44th President of the United States

Now it is official, Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States of America. He has made tryst with the destiny and has become the first black President in the history of world’s oldest democracy. The message of change that he put forward reverberated all over the country and gave him a thumping victory over John McCain, the Presidential candidate of the GOP. But as the new chief executive of the United States he would have to confront problems of historic proportions. Issues in regards to ailing economy, awful health insurance sector and increasing terrorism against their citizens to name few, will test his character and ability to lead. Hopefully he will bring the much needed change to US policies which will have a positive effect on all nations of this world. Congratulations to him for achieving this great victory.

I Salute Anil Kumble, One of India’s Greatest Match Winners

I salute Indian test Captain, Anil Kumble as he retires from Cricket after 18 years of supreme commitment to Indian cricket. One of the greatest match winners of all time, Kumble has been a role model for every single cricketer and every single Indian. His legacy is something which will inspire generations of Indian cricketers in the future.

Congratulations to My Hero Sachin Tendulkar

I congratulate my great hero Sachin Tendulkar for surpassing Brian Lara to become the highest run getter in the history of Test match cricket. He has been an inspiration to a whole generation to move forward in their lives with commitment, humility and selflessness. March Ahead, the Master, you have more heights to scale.

Four years is a long time

Four years is a long time,
For an unrequited love,
To disappear into oblivion,
For painful memories of yore,
To become facts for awesome laughter,
For heavenly, divine enlightenment,
To set on minds of boorish thugs,
For a naive, indifferent lass,
To learn blissful lessons of motherhood,
For wise men to become insane,
Out of tragic twists of fate,
And four years is a long time,
For their lewd relationship,
To blossom into passionate love,
And in these last four years,
When they’ve stooped from bad to worse,
I’ve risen from bad to great.

Re-creating Mahabali’s Kerala – Possibilities and Impossibilities

When I was told to write about Onam, the first idea that came to my mind as a subject for the piece was the magnificence of the festival that marks the homecoming of the erstwhile legendary king of Kerala, the Mahabali. A detailed account of Onasadya, Athapookalam and all other related vibrant facts associated with Onam would make a really sumptuous article capable of arousing delighted interest. But let us attempt something different.

Kerala, under the rule of Mahabali was a near Utopia, where social, economic and political justice existed in near perfection and perfect harmony was at its zenith. Any thought, in the present world, about putting efforts towards re-creating such a state might sound absurd, but having such optimism is not entirely out of question, as some civilisations, through their hard work and bravado had often made the impossible, possible. Now, what are the changes that we should envisage to re-create such a perfect society? Is it really possible to make such a revolutionary change?

According to the legendary song Maveli naadu vaaneedum kaalam, equality was one of the striking features of the Mahabali’s kingdom. Establishing a society where there is perfect equality is an impossible task as discovered by socialist regimes like in China and Cuba. Economic, social as well as political inequality would be there as long as human life would be here in this universe. So the effort should be towards reducing this degree of inequality with adequate measures in the governmental level as well as individual level.

During Mahabali’s rule, there were no theft or deceit, nor were there any cheating or lies. All these factors seem to be directly related to economic and social inequality and hence they would be hopefully removed once near economic and social equality is established. And in Mahabali’s Kerala, there was no caste system and all human beings belonged to one single caste, humanity. Hence abolition of caste system is one of the most important pre-requisites for the re-creation of a perfect society.

There is no doubt that the tasks that we have to pursue to recreate a perfect society, like the kingdom of Mahabali, are daunting. Now as we know the things that we have to change to create a perfect society, we should be able to find the method that we should adopt to establish such a society. The good news is that the solution is pretty simple; but the bad news is that it is very hard to implement.

Education and knowledge is the simple solution that is available to us in creating such a perfect society. But the fact is that rendering education and imparting knowledge to the millions of people is a very difficult task, which to our amazement, Mahabali’s kingdom was able to do. A paradigm shift in the nature of education, from creation of possessive impulses like money and power to the creation of creative impulses like art and literature in the minds of the people, is imperative. Minds that become enlightened, after getting such an education, would be instrumental in creating a society that would be similar to one that Mahabali ruled.

Though preposterous it might sound at the outset, on serious thinking we could conclude that this is a novel and sensible thought as something has to be done immediately to stop us from becoming a group of people with scant regard for humanity and human life. So this Onam, in addition to tasting Onasadya and making Athapookalam, let us think about re-creating Mahabali’s Kerala and take our small steps towards achieving the “impossible”. May be in the future, history lessons that our children and grand children would learn, would speak about us as the persons who have shown the guts to think beyond the realm of possibility and have made the impossible, possible.

(Republished from the Onam edition of Pine Mag, the official magazine of Calpine Technologies, the firm where I work )

Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech – Obama’s Telling Blow to McCain

The final phase of the American Presidential election has been reached with both the Democrats and Republicans announcing their Presidential candidate as well as the Vice Presidential candidate. While Barack Obama accepted the nomination at the Democratic convention at Denver with Senator Joe Biden of Delaware as his running mate, John McCain accepted the GOP nomination at the convention at Minneapolis choosing the Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin as his running mate. The nomination acceptance speech by both Obama and McCain threw some light on the character of these two men as well as the policies that they would pursue if elected the President of the United States.

Anyone who has followed this blog closely will understand that I am a strong supporter of Barack Obama. The reason for the support is based more on the personality and qualities of Obama as a leader and an orator than on the policies he vow he will follow. As Bill Clinton said in the convention, Obama has a remarkable ability to inspire people. And there is no doubt that he is one of the most prolific orators of our time, capable of arousing awe, respect and conspicuous motivation.

Obama used his acceptance speech to explain his policies and to counter the criticisms that McCain campaign has been pouring on him. He spoke about his Kenyan father and Kansas mother and their aspirations, spoke about his grandmother who sacrificed her pleasure and time to make sure that Obama got a good education and also spoke about how his mother argued with insurance companies for getting insurance while she was suffering from cancer. Thus by explaining in detail the struggles he and his family endured, he counter attacked McCain’s campaign, which often ridiculed Obama as a celebrity rather than a politician, by saying that “I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine.”

Barack Obama, who had often been criticised for his lack of offensive capabilities towards the McCain campaign, chose the occasion to show that he too has the gladiatorial daring which the Americans want in their President. He said that if John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next Commander-in-Chief, that's a debate he is ready to have. While praising McCain for his record as a brave soldier in the American army during the Vietnamese war, Obama derided him by saying that he voted for President George Bush’s flawed policies ninety percentage of times and therefore by choosing McCain as the next President he don’t want to take a ten percent chance on change.

The major policy initiatives that Obama want to pursue include a cut in taxes, investment in affordable energy, investment in childhood education, providing accessible healthcare to all, close corporate loop holes on taxes, end the Iraq war responsibly, direct diplomacy to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and to curb Russian “aggression” and fix the economy which is inching towards a recession.

Obama or McCain, the American foreign policy is not going to see a paradigm shift from the policy the country has been following for a very long time. But as we continue to despise the malevolent foreign policy that the Americans follow, we can hardly help ourselves from admiring the democracy prevailing there and the academic intelligence, acumen and quality of the politicians of various parties. The mutual respect with which Obama and McCain competes with each other is worthy of emulating in the Indian system of democracy as well.

If we Indians get jealous on the quality of politicians that the Americans have, one cannot find fault with us, especially when we are having a lot of politicians who are neither educated nor well behaved. As if this is not enough, we also have a lot of rogue politicians amidst us, who are not at all averse to making ghoulish comments even on the tears of a mother who had lost her son in a tragic event, as depicted recently by a boorish politician in Kerala.

Going back to Obama and his American promise, one can only hope that his aspiration to bring change to Washington will happen sooner rather than later. We can also hope that there will be some change in the warmongering nature of the United States under the Presidency of Barack Obama and peace and tranquillity will prevail in Iraq, Afghanistan and in the world in general. But for all these things to happen he has to win the Presidential election due on 4th November to be the first African-American to become the President of the United States.

A Valediction

Aimless life's long meander,
Destined to the ultimate tomb,
Arguments can hardly prosper,
An awry mind's desolate tread.

I have grown old for love,
And old for any youthful delight,
But once I had squandered my words,
For a beauty's worthless praise.

Why we men, I do ponder,
Stretch some bonds to eternity,
And pursue with expectations,
Rewards for our solicitude.

An advice for the senseless hearts -
Eternal bonds are bothersome,
And now I've this valedictory rhyme,
For my absurdly affectionate heart.

Abortion – The Ordeal and The Argument

After days of discussions on worthless matters of Indian politics, the people of India, for a change, discussed one serious issue. The issue divided Indians into two different and distinctive poles. The issue on discussion was the legal battle that two young couple from Mumbai fought for getting sanction to abort their 25-week-old foetus, as it was diagnosed with severe congenital cardiac problem. The Mumbai High Court denied the couple permission for abortion, as laws in India does not permit abortion after 20 weeks.

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act specifies that an abortion after 20 weeks can take place only if the foetus presents any grave medical risk to the mother. Experts say that there are serious flaws with this abortion law in India, which was made in 1971. Since then much water has flown under the bridge and the medical science has achieved many a serious milestones in diagnosing the health condition of a foetus. Gynaecologists point out that some of the serious health hazard that a foetus may have can be diagnosed and ascertained only after the completion of 22^nd week. So a law that doesn’t allow abortions after 20 weeks have serious imperfections. They also refer the laws followed in other countries like the United Kingdom, where abortions up to the 24^th week are legal.

It is quite imperative to take into perspective the mental agonies and physical worries that parents of children having congenital physical or mental afflictions undergo. The scene of your beloved child suffering under despairing pain is not something any parents would want to see. When medical science has improved so much, it is the responsibility of the human beings to use it in such a way that it reduces the distress and anguish that the mankind would face. Isn’t it right that we use advancement in medical science to improve the lives of people? Do we want to bring disabled people to this churlish world when we can avoid that? This is certainly not an argument in favour of bringing only the so-called “perfect babies” to this world. Even after such great advancement in the field of technology there are areas where human beings become helpless in making everything perfect in this world. So even if one tries to make “perfect babies”, there would be the invisible hands of this nature at work that would thwart his or her attempts. But as far as possible we can use technology to stop the occurrences of disabled children. This is not because we want only “perfect babies”, but this is because we want to create a world where there is less misery and desolation, both for children and for grown ups.

Are there any laws in India that would see to it that all medical and social needs of a disabled child would be met? The answer is a very categorical no. The parents of the disabled children have to carry the whole financial and emotional burden of the disability. As long as state does not have the resources to provide such financial aids to such children, it does not have the moral authority to say no to the abortion of foetuses with abnormality.

One of the harshest comments on the couple Niketa and Haresh came from a section in the society who ridiculed them for going to the court with this issue. They commented that the couple is so merciless that they don’t want their disabled foetus because they don’t have the interest to bring up their child with serious cardiac issues. Such sorts of comments are suited only to a barbaric society with scant regard to the emotional state of a mother-to-be, faced with such a distressing ordeal. It is not because the couple has less interest to bring up the child that they went for the legal battle, but because they were worried about the quality of life that there child would get if born with serious congenital disorders. It is also quite sure that they would take care of their child when it is born, the same way any other parents would take care of their child.

The most obvious thing that came out of this legal battle is that there are some serious defects in the abortion law prevailing in our country, which needs serious amendments. There should be a law that would allow parents to abort foetuses with serious disabilities, as a baby with chronic diseases would reduce the quality of life of the baby and the parents. At the same time there should be efficient mechanisms in place to make sure that people are not abusing this law to abort unwanted foetuses based on the gender of the foetus. The authorities may constitute a panel, of doctors and jurists, who would be in charge of determining the legality of any abortion. So any requests made by parents-to-be for abortion of foetuses can be discussed in detail. The medical and legal aspects of every individual abortion requests should be discussed in this panel and based on their recommendations the request for abortion can be approved or rejected.

The courage showed by the young couple, Niketa and Haresh should be appreciated and so should be the hospitals that offered free medical treatments to the about-to-be born child. Let us hope that our politicians and legislature would take adequate interest in this issue and would make changes in the abortion law to make it more compassionate as well as more sensible, taking into account the improved technological aspects of our medical system.