Dubya is here...
My last two days at home have been spent reading and watching and listening about our very own George W Bush who's now here in India. I remember the time when Clinton came a few years ago and the kind of atmosphere that was created then. He was more than welcome then and everybody was gaga about his visit. This time though, I couldn't really see the same excitement. On the contrary, there have been wide range protests against the visit and from what I heard last, there has been violence in Hyderabad.
I've followed almost every bit of news that's come up over this trip since I haven't had anything else to do except watching the television back here. It started of with my fascination for "Air Force One". Read about it in the news paper (as in the defense system, the luxuries and of course how there were going to be 4 of those aircrafts that were going to land in Delhi) two days before Bush arrived. Now that its 4 hours from when he leaves for Pakistan, I've seen a whole lot of the whole trip. Starting from the issue over the “break of protocol” by the Prime Minister, to the N-deal, the visit to Hyderabad, the meeting with Murra the buffalo to the one at ISB and have also seen a whole lot of reactions. I've heard Arundhati Roy calling home the less intelligent president, the protest from the Left, Manmohan Singh's calling him the most friendly and also how India is now one of the rich and powerfull countries according to Mr. Zakaria of the New York Times.
Coming to what I've gathered of Bush's personality from the whole trip, I've seen him totally nervous and not at his best, a rather unpolished and stuttering US president at the press conference after the talk with the Prime Minister at Hyderabad House, then a little mocking fellow at the Lunch and finally a little better and well informed (the kind the US President would be expected to be) one at the ISB. He does look very amiable to me but he has to be a shrewd fellow. After all he is the president of the United States.
On the protest against him, I guess its good that it’s happening. It’s required and sends the right message across. Of course, nobody in India liked what happened in Iraq and neither are people ready to forget, but on the same lines, if one has to talk about the kind of welcome he got from the Government, I would've more or less done the same if I were the Prime Minister. It is only in the interest of the people of India. It would only be foolish not to welcome the President of the world's most powerful country.
As a whole, I would see the progress of events to be just the right way forward. The agreement on the nuclear issue seems to be a great deal in India's favor and definitely the opposition has not gone unnoticed.
I've followed almost every bit of news that's come up over this trip since I haven't had anything else to do except watching the television back here. It started of with my fascination for "Air Force One". Read about it in the news paper (as in the defense system, the luxuries and of course how there were going to be 4 of those aircrafts that were going to land in Delhi) two days before Bush arrived. Now that its 4 hours from when he leaves for Pakistan, I've seen a whole lot of the whole trip. Starting from the issue over the “break of protocol” by the Prime Minister, to the N-deal, the visit to Hyderabad, the meeting with Murra the buffalo to the one at ISB and have also seen a whole lot of reactions. I've heard Arundhati Roy calling home the less intelligent president, the protest from the Left, Manmohan Singh's calling him the most friendly and also how India is now one of the rich and powerfull countries according to Mr. Zakaria of the New York Times.
Coming to what I've gathered of Bush's personality from the whole trip, I've seen him totally nervous and not at his best, a rather unpolished and stuttering US president at the press conference after the talk with the Prime Minister at Hyderabad House, then a little mocking fellow at the Lunch and finally a little better and well informed (the kind the US President would be expected to be) one at the ISB. He does look very amiable to me but he has to be a shrewd fellow. After all he is the president of the United States.
On the protest against him, I guess its good that it’s happening. It’s required and sends the right message across. Of course, nobody in India liked what happened in Iraq and neither are people ready to forget, but on the same lines, if one has to talk about the kind of welcome he got from the Government, I would've more or less done the same if I were the Prime Minister. It is only in the interest of the people of India. It would only be foolish not to welcome the President of the world's most powerful country.
As a whole, I would see the progress of events to be just the right way forward. The agreement on the nuclear issue seems to be a great deal in India's favor and definitely the opposition has not gone unnoticed.
posted by nisarg at 12:53 AM
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