NEW MAN UP THERE

yes i heard.

very impressive and sincere in his words. Barack Obama was clearly affraid to speak out. 2 minutes in to the speech i thought oh deeah ! he is giving champagne, 

words that people want to hear.

My fellow citizens, thank you for making me your president, here is some champagne, now go home and sleep, i'll wake you up after 4 years. He took 18 minutes to say that. He did it in style.

As an outsider what did i expect ?

Transparency, 

not a word.  

offer transparency to the people. 

Make democracy work. Not a word about that  eeder.

He is not aware that democracy was crushed to death years ago in the US. Closest he came to mentioning the dead democracy was with this statement. 

"......On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the 

petty grievances and false promises, the 

recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too 

long have strangled our politics."

No, democracy did not bounce back on Nov 4th 2008. People were so frustrated that they would have elected a donkey to power. But we have Obama.

Obama was not possible in 2004 

and will not be possible in 2012. 

Obama happened by chance in 2008.

Any hope to  make the democracy work ?

Yes there is.

Obama can do it.

and he can come back in 2012.

and lead the world by exmple.

You have the best. 

Best brains in the world. Science medicine and technology, best in philosophy and journalism, art music literature and entertainment. 

26 nobel prize winners from 2000 - 2004. yes i counted. Highest for any country. 

These best brains allowed the country to be taken for 

a ride by a few criminals. Were they sleeping ?

No, democracy was not working. their voices were not loud enough. and they fell on deaf ears. Media was not on their side. Media supported the criminals.

Now Obama can change all that, offer transparency in administration. He can allow the Citizens to participate in running the government. consult the 

best brains on major issues. 

He made good use of the internet for his election campaign. Now he can use the internet to revive the democracy and show the world.

He can have web site for direct opinion polls on major issues. Direct, not through agencies which are not always reliable.

Have discussion forums on various issues.  He can have a full fledged establishment processing all the views of the people instead of wasting money on CIA, supporting crimes against humanity.

Stop terrorising, bullying, political and economic arm twisting of the small and poor countries. Not a word about that in his speech.

"....... know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy".

i think he very badly needs a crash course on  American history.

i would have called him an honest man if he had said, 

"we are 5% of world population but our contribution to the environmental damage is 30%".  Now lets rectify..  ???

No ??

No

All he can say is

".......nor can we consume the world's resources 

without regard to effect. For the world has changed, 

and we must change with it"

To change, He has time till December 2009 for the next Kyoto Protocol.

"......we'll work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat and roll back the specter of a warming planet" 

He says lessen.  Does not say eradicate. Good start anyway.

He chose to remain silent on Human rights, perhaps he doesn't like jokes.

..."To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds"

But at what cost ?. He doesn't say a word about globalisation.

He did not waste any time blaming the previous government. That was wise. No point in doing that.

Perhaps there were speech writers behind it, but they cannot bring an honest and sincere tone which Obama brought convincingly. 

He means business.

There is no guarentee that he will not invade Iran,  Trinidad or Fiji. Hope he does not repeat the blunders.

He brings hope and dignity back to the White house.

Good luck Mistah ! I wish you well. 

SOME TIMES I WISH

This is the last i saw of her. She smiled.

That smile was a final blow on my head

it came down like a sledge hammer and i sank.

That smile was a slap on the emerging economic super power.

Will the lady wearing red be her future ?

i hope not

This is a desert.

A thoughtless husband allows his wife to walk miles in the scorching sun of Rajasthan to fetch a pot of water in such an advanced stage of pregnancy.

i hated money all my life, but i have desires.

This is a contradiction. If you hate money, don't have any desires.

My whole life is a story of contradictions.

i could never accept that money is a necessary evil

i hated the system of money which created poverty. i am at my best with no money in my pocket. Completely relaxed. i get rid of what i earn very fast, i travel. never saved. Not a wise thing to do. i am allergic to wisdom any way.

it is my duty to keep an eye on my friends, notice changes in their behaviour, protect them from any tension. i am a pain, i interfere in their lives. i am nosey.

not a good thing to do, but i do.

There are times when i wish i had money to help those in need.

it hits me on my head and i go weak and depressed.

There have been a couple of such blows in the recent past

This is Kiran.

She wants to be a doctor.

How i wished all her dreams come true. just wished and wished.

'My parents have already started discussing my marriage'. She said

She is just a child. But this is India, a remote godforsaken village in Rajasthan with no drinking water.

She'll be a mother of three by the time she turns eighteen.

how i wished i could help her. i don't even remember where this village is.

She is the first of five children in her family. A girl child is considered a burden. She has to take care of the younger ones, go to school, study, do her home work and help her mother cook and clean up. i was sinking deeper and deeper. That is pretty normal for her.

i kept showing her pictures on the camera screen. She was giggling to glory.

Any one would love to help. But helping her is not easy as you think.

There are people out there who take advantage of your kindness.

Kindness is a big source of money. its a big racket.

Your money goes to the wrong people.

You can sponsor a child, but not directly. There are agencies involved, nearly all of them connected to Churches or other religious institutions. And you are convinced that a Church would never cheat you.

All you see is a picture of a child and you reach for your check book. Like you there are four or five other people interested.

A B C D, the agency takes money from all of them.

D is not aware that he is sponsoring the same child as A.

i have burnt my fingers. No details, here's the story in short.

my friend in the US sponsored a child in India. the Agency was run by some missionaries.

i wanted to see the sponsored child. They wouldn't give me the address.

'we are protecting you' said the Nun.

They arrange the meeetings.

i started digging, i don't give up, it was a wild goose chase. i got the child's address from his school teacher after a couple of attempts. Another ordeal followed. The child was not there. Got him finally, living in pathetic conditions above a cow shed.

Met his mother, she was a bigger problem. Big yerdake she was. i wanted to wriggle out of the situation. She said that the Agency makes the boy write three 'thank you' letters to three different sponsors.

That was shocking. All the dealing go through the Agency. They don't let you deal with the child directly.

You give 100 dollars to the agency, only 5 dollars reach the child.

Indeed there are children all over the world getting education with the help of sponsors. But most of your money goes to the wrong people.

You can take the trouble of reaching a child like Kiran in some remote village of India. You will not be allowed to handle the child's education directly.

'Give me the money' father would say, we'll take care of the child's education.

The child will not receive the full benefit of your help.

what else can you do ?

i don't know.

There is no guarantee that your money goes in the right direction. A little of it does.

off they go. To fetch drinking water in the desert.

India claims to be an emerging economic power, a software giant ??

what ever.

This is life, bitter and sweet.

KUTTANGI LOOKS AHEAD

Took this picture in the train on my way to Trivandrum a couple of weeks ago.

i'll be 61 next week. i realised that i have always been a very weak person physically mentally and emotionally. This is because i hardly had any bad experiences worth mentioning in my life, and not a joy ride eeder.  i never went after it. Took life as it came to me and made no attempt to shape it. My life is a shapeless ugly and weak building.

Its not the moments of joy, which are very few, but it is the bad experiences which give you the strength,  and bad experiences make you a strong person. Every time you have a bad experience you add a strong pillar to your building, to your life. Its your desire to shape your building as beautiful as possible, using beautiful building blocks, but it doesn't happen.  Very few good looking building blocks, rest are rough and not so good looking. 

That is life.  

The building is kept alive by those who love you trust you. . 

its easy for me give you a hollow wish for the new year and that is what you want to hear. i can only wish you all the courage and strength to deal with any situation that comes your way and

wish you the ability to let go. 

just let go and Look ahead.

that's a strange wish.

oh well .... i am a clown

Love you all.