The first is an HT editorial quoting my favorite misunderestimated US president, Mr George W Bush on a recent private visit to India. My first thoughts were reactive and caustic – why the hell do we need other people’s approval? Surely, we achieve a lot more by doing and less by talking and only ridicule by asking for a pat on the back. Thank god for Texan directness. Bush is right, we should get over it as we haven’t arrived. We are an ancient civilization yes, but we are still a young country and an even younger economy. While we are experimenting in the shallows of the pool, China has already waded out to the deep end to join the big boys. For all the talk of India as an outsourcing, IT and R&D hub in a globalized world, China’s level of integration into the global economy and its corresponding stature far outweigh India’s. Obama would visit us a lot sooner if we offered to buy up billions of dollars worth of American debt instead of buying gold from the IMF to hedge our bets. Or at the very least, we should do both as the Chinese have done very quietly for a long time.

Which got me to wondering, if Obama did come, how would we react? This brings me to the second article, about Obama’s upcoming visit to China and the debate it has engendered. Yes, the Chinese are deeply prejudiced against dark skin and they are ambivalent about interactions with non-Caucasian foreigners. But my question, how different are Indian attitudes to people of color? I would wager not much better. Too often have I come across negative Indian attitudes to dark skin, not just to black Africans and African Americans, but even within India across North-South and caste divides. Indian TV is blanketed with skin whitening cosmetic product commercials representing a very large market that may rival China’s. Matrimonial columns and web sites are replete with the “fair and slim” stereotype regardless of actual accuracy. Indians in America are generally prefer to keep their distance from African-Americans although they would be loath to admit it in English. A conversation in Hindi usually breaks the ice and allows for more ‘colorful’ views to be expressed.

So if Obama did visit, would we fall over ourselves to prove to him that India has arrived? Or would India be able to treat him like any other Head of State, that is, on an ‘equal’ footing and not supplicant? I am sure I will have the opportunity to find out before too long. After all, now that half-black, half-white Obama has officially celebrated Diwali in the ‘White House’, why wouldn’t we consider him a good guy, one of ours and invite him for a photo op involving Chinese made Diwali fireworks on the lawns of a British-built Rashtrapati Bhavan?

I got a strong reminder of how I should be leaning…

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/mumbai/Karan-kowtows-to-Raj-Thackeray-sorry-about-Bombay/articleshow/5082138.cms

This is the latest installation of a naming convention being used as a political “wedge” issue. Elections for the state government are right around the corner so this is hardly a surprise. But a basic question comes to mind. If Raj Thackeray is indeed the newly self-anointed guardian of the Marathi manoos, then shouldn’t he begin by de-Anglicizing his name? If it isn’t Bombay, but Mumbai, then so be it. But why stop there? Let him walk the walk and go back to his roots…Raj Thakare. Now there would be someone I could respect!!!

The submissive, pacifist image of Karan Johar prostrating himself before a dominant figure may not surprise some, but to those who will cry foul because of free speech issues, spare a thought for Karan. Free speech is only a cause worth fighting for the truly artistic, not when there is money involved. 

I guess I better print and laminate a business card apology for the several times I will slip up and refer to the city as Bombay…I hope I never forget it at home.