The statements, opinions, or views in the articles may not necessarily reflect that of the Goan Voice Canada.

India, Indians permeate everywhere
http://overseasindian.in/2009/jan/news/20091201-061013.shtml
By: Fakir Hassen

I am now convinced that India, Indians and all things Indian permeate almost every corner of the globe, influencing everyone and everything.

Statements by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi at the inaugural session of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2009 in Chennai reaffirmed to me earlier thoughts as I paged through Sawubona, the in-flight magazine of South African Airways, on a nine-hour flight from Johannesburg to Mumbai. I was en route Chennai to attend the latest edition of the annual meet that brings together persons from the Indian diaspora - this time 1,500 of them.

I pondered just how many things persons of Indian origin in South Africa were involved in that were somehow referenced in the magazine, all of course not because they were singled out as a particular community, but because they had integrated so seamlessly into the broader society where they found themselves as a minority descended from their forebears who first arrived from India almost 150 years ago.

After listening to the remarks by the Indian leaders, I revisited the Sawubona magazine that I had brought with me to reconsider my earlier thoughts in the context of their statements. Reflecting on how Indian culture and traditions could blend with modernity with great ease, the prime minister said: "Indians know the art of living together in a consensual civilization."

Karunanidhi detailed similar sentiments: "People from different races having different languages, religious and social customs are living together in India as one society. It is this extraordinary strength of our country, which has made it possible for the Indian diaspora to go to every nook and corner of the world and assimilate into those societies with ease."

That is exactly what I saw not only in the magazine references, but also on the plane itself.

The passengers were probably about 90 percent of Indian origin, with a smattering of black and white co-flyers. About half appeared to be Indian nationals, mainly families returning home after visits to South Africa; while there were also many South African Indians headed to Mumbai for holidays and business.

It was therefore quite to be expected that announcements on the flight would be made in Hindi as well as English, but when we landed in Mumbai, Karunanidhi's views on language rang very true. The final message, obviously prerecorded in a female voice in Hindi, because the attendants confessed to me later that none of them spoke Hindi, said in the same language that she would now wish the passengers well in Mumbai in South African 'basha' (language) and fluently used the equivalent words for 'farewell' in Zulu and Afrikaans.

To my pleasant surprise as I engaged the crew during the flight, I discovered that only were two Indian cabin crew, Clinton and Rohena Pillay, but also that the First Officer on the flight, Karishta Chatty, was one of the only South African Indian woman pilots on the flight. Thirteen diverse articles in the magazine and advertisements with Indian connections ranged from the Bollywood influence on the Nigerian film industry and a book by South African Indian author Shanthee Manjoo to the Tata aluminium smelter near at a new port in Durban and a "bunny Chow" contest for the South African snack of a hollowed out piece of bread filled with curry, created by the Indians here decades ago.

So as I sat at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas while listening to the prime minister concluding his speech, I again thought about my flight as it came in to land over a moonlit Mumbai. Making a witty remark about India's first moon probe, Singh expressed confidence that an Indian, either from here or a Pravasi, would soon be landing on the moon to meet the mythical Chandamama of Indian folklore. With the strides that Indians have made across the globe with their adaptability and influence without losing sight of their roots and culture, and if my South African interpretation can be extended quite easily to the rest of the diaspora, the prime minister may well not be far off the mark at all.

Perhaps the only challenge left more terrestrially is a Taj Mahal shaped igloo in Alaska, but some enterprising Indian is probably already planning that as you read this!

What Explains the Stunning Success of Slumdog Millionaire?
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?
26 January 2009 - George Abraham
Khaleej Times Online - News - OPINION

It is not the poverty in Mumbai or the realism of the rags-to-riches story. It is not about the venality so brazenly on display in the movie. It is not about the 665m “public defecators” whose everyday lives are accurately portrayed in Slumdog 
Millionaire. And, finally, it is not 
about the obvious paradox in the film’s title.

British director Danny Boyle’s celluloid creation is a box office success and the winner of four Golden Globe awards and has been nominated for Oscar awards in 10 categories because it helps answer the West’s abiding question: What makes India tick?

As the Satyam debacle and the recent Mumbai siege make clear, corporate mendacity and violence stalk the nation, but no people rise faster from the ashes or face adversity with as much stoicism as the Hindustani. To wit, the Leopold Café in Mumbai where gunmen burst in on November 26 to hold the entire city on edge was back in business shortly after the last of the raiders had been captured, even before the bloodstains could be properly wiped off the floor. The two five-star hotels targeted were equally quick to re-open their doors to foreign tourists.

Add to that a canniness that is ingrained in the national psyche. There is a moment in the film when Anil Kapoor (a game now host in the Hindi version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire) suggests an answer to the slumdog, in a washroom — a typically Indian way of cheating, perhaps — but the chap in the hot seat is not fooled.

He blurts out an answer that is different from the one suggested by the show’s quizmaster, essentially cocking a snook at the guy who pretended to be rooting for him. This morality play is akin to the prisoner’s dilemma that is textbook fare for every student of political science; a sleight of hand best understood by the people of India and one explanation perhaps for the nation’s emergence as a maximalist power even as its political elite swear by Gandhian ahimsa (non-violence).

It is surely not an accident that the two big artistic winners of the last few months that have India as their theme focus on the rising power’s bleak side. Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger won the Booker Prize with a literary account of an “India that is two countries in one: an India of Light, and an India of Darkness.” The protagonist, Balram Halwai, a servant, masseur and driver rolled into one, kills his employer and becomes rich by running away with his money. In the days leading up to the murder, he muses about “how the rich ‘always’ get the best things in life, and all that we get is their leftovers.”

Slumdog Millionaire’s storyline follows a similar arc. Opening simultaneously across 500 theatres in North America in early December, as of last week it had earned about US $34 million. I was surprised by the attendance at an Ottawa theatre a couple of weekends ago, with the audience staying in their seats as if in a daze even after the credits were rolling at the end.

The visual onslaught, even for one raised in Mumbai, had been too much — too graphic and frontal, and often times revolting. A fourth of the dialogue was in Hindi, with sub-titles. Yet, it has won approval not only from theatre-goers, but also critical acclaim by movie aficionados, even before hitting screens in India. Although Slumdog is based on a novel written by an Indian diplomat, Vikram Swarup, who incidentally is the country’s deputy high commissioner to South Africa, Boyle has taken plenty of liberties. But Swarup is not complaining pointing out “India is a nation of a billion stories…One day’s newspaper has enough plots for a few novels.” True, but the unflattering portrayal is not likely to go down well with a proud people who watch in awe as their nation fulfils its long-promised tryst with destiny, no matter if they live in hovels.

“Slum” is an evocative word that goes to the heart of the contradictions within India and inarguably part of the movie’s draw. But Boyle wants us to visualise it differently: “They are just places where people live.

They are not wealthy people, but quite resourceful people. They are not provided by the state. The sewage system doesn’t work, but the homes are clean. They are very generous. They were very keen that we didn’t just say they were poor.”  It has been two decades since another book set in Mumbai, Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children opened the floodgates for a new genre of literature and moviemaking that fed into the fascination with Indian mysticism and yoga. But this genre continues to beg the question, are they works of envy or pride?

Are they the West’s put down of a great civilisation that is rebounding to its glory of yore or a backhanded celebration of all things Indian? Slumdog feeds the debate. George Abraham is contributing editor of Diplomat and International Canada published from Ottawa. Reach him at diplomat01@rogers.com.

Text of President Barack Obama's inaugural address
By The Associated Press
Tue Jan 20, 5:04 pm ET

Text of President Barack Obama's inaugural address on Tuesday, as delivered.

My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we the people have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans. That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land — a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. 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.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth. For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sanh. Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction. This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions — who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them — that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. Those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control — and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers ... our found fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all the other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort — even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

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. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment — a moment that will define a generation — it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.
 
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence — the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.  This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.  So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:  "Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it)."

America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.