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Was Obama the Best US President for India in its 70 Year History??
official WH photo by Pete Souza
Mahanth S. Joishy is Editor of usindiamonitor
Now that Barack Obama has just left office and is no doubt miserably plotting out his post-presidential life in Trump’s America as a private citizen, it’s time to assess the legacy of his relationship with India.
Like that between any US president and India, this relationship game was pretty complicated. There were ups. There were definitely some downs. There were times fraught with peril. And just like in a cricket match, there were two distinct batting partnerships: Obama/Singh and Obama/Modi (which incidentally, has the holiest of Hindu words OM as its acronym), each of which had its own unique flavor. Through all of this, one thing is inarguable: Obama was the best US president for India, its people, its development, and its advancement in the nation’s 70 year history. It’s not even a close competition.
Getting There. Any discussion of Obama’s legacy vis-a-vis India must begin and end with one remarkable fact: Obama is the first president in history to visit India twice while in office. The below figure shows the number of times each one visited India since “Ike” in 1958, which I just learned was the first of the official American head of state visits to New Delhi. There have been only 6 since.
usindiamonitor graphic
Looking at this chart, a few interesting things come to light; Kennedy, LBJ, Ford, Reagan, and H.W. didn’t even bother to visit India. Reagan had eight whole years to pay his respects to the world’s largest democracy, whereas the others had less time, in all fairness. Kennedy was assassinated early on. Johnson and Ford became presidents by default via assassination and political corruption, respectively. Nixon, the only one of these presidents to (sort of) threaten India militarily with Task Force 74, actually did swing by. Obama not only visited twice, in 2010 and 2015, but arrived as the chief guest at India’s 2015 Republic Day parade, the first US president in history to receive this honor from India.
(theobamadiary.com)
Meanwhile, Barack and Michelle Obama chose to host Manmohan and Gurshuran Kaur Singh for the first official state dinner of the entire Obama presidency, cherry-picking the Indian Prime Minister over leaders from other close allies including the UK, Canada, Germany, France, etc. in 2009. While state visits in either direction are partly symbolic shows of pageantry, they do help to grease the wheels for real, substantive work to get done. It is clear that Obama, Singh, and Modi all directed their staff and agencies to work together and advance the cause of friendship.
Good Trade. The pulse of any bilateral relationship is the amount of trade conducted between the two nations. While the governments certainly cannot take all of the credit for these numbers, and even less so the heads of state, the vibrancy of the private sectors of both nations depend heavily on government providing some nudges in the right places, while not getting in the way too much.
US-India trade has been on a healthy upswing when it comes to both goods and services, and around the middle of the Obama administration, official statistics from the US Department of Commerce show that total trade crossed the $100 billion annual threshold. While this is dwarfed by, say, US-China trade totaling $659 billion in 2015, a $35 billion upswing in five years still isn’t too shabby. Go back a little further to 2004, and the US-India trade total was only $12 billion. There have been major hiccups, including significant trade wars that dragged on and played out at the WTO, and ongoing battles over intellectual property but we can expect bilateral trade to continue rising in the future.
US Officer Laura Condyles training in India w/ Indian Army instructor Saab Ajit Singh (US Army photo)
Unprecedented Defense Cooperation. Perhaps more important than trade advances, another clear victory in the US-India relationship took place on the military front. After all trade between two countries halfway around the world depends on open and secure sea lanes, airways, communications, and a relative amount of peace. Some military cooperation is essential to keeping the goods moving.
In 2015, a surprising event took place. The Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, and government-run airline Air India answered an urgent call for help from Washington, DC in Yemen, by helping evacuate US citizens among others along with the Indians who were stuck in that war and terrorism infested country without any US military assets in the area immediately available to respond. This is the first time we could think of that the Indian military participated in rescuing Americans in a third country. While the US media mostly neglected this dramatic development, plenty of grateful praise was heaped upon India by the Obama administration and the evacuated Americans. This event did not happen in a vacuum. It took place after years of military cooperation, which made it possible in a highly dangerous situation to trust.
The two nations in 2016 signed the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA), the first such agreement between them in history, and highly tailored for India’s sensitivities towards any sort of formal alliance, which smacks of colonialism. The US and Indian defense establishments have been distant for most of the last 7 decades. Now thanks to the LEMOA, they can officially share fuel and communications, ports and bases, cooperate in cyberwarfare and humanitarian operations, co-develop aircraft carrier technology, and even build US military equipment such as the Marine One helicopter used for presidential transport, as part of the Make in India campaign. Much of the credit for this unprecedented “strategic handshake” between the United States and India in the last two years must go to Obama, Narendra Modi, Defense Secretary Ash Carter, a noted longtime friend to India, and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. In fact, the Obama/Carter Pentagon has been the friendliest of any to India, including kickstarting the only country specific “rapid reaction cell” tailored to India cooperation. All this despite India not being a mutual defense treaty ally such as the treaty members of NATO.
USS Carl Vinson being fueled by INS Shakti (US Navy Photo Andrew K Haller)
Meanwhile, US-India joint military exercises and training exchanges have ramped up. The two nations’ air forces, armies, special forces, and most prominently, their navies are building powerful relationships through increasingly complex exercises such as Yudh Abhyas and Malabar. Malabar is now a permanent annual deep-ocean exercise that as of recently also includes Japan. While these exercises aren’t explicitly meant to threaten any other nation, it’s quite clear that China and Pakistan have taken note, and have been spying on them with a dose of concern. Speaking of spying, India and the United States are now jointly monitoring the movement of Chinese submarines and other assets in the Indian Ocean. The US-India naval partnership is now, in our estimation, the most powerful naval partnership in the world.
All of this means that India can now continue developing into an economic and military powerhouse right behind China, unhindered, without needing to worry too much that the hostile neighbors surrounding it, especially BFFs Pakistan and China, can convincingly halt this rise while America has its back. Meanwhile, the United States gains a partnership in Asia to help counterbalance China. Before Barack Obama came into power, this business had not been settled.
Nobody questions that it’s settled now, even after a new US administration has transitioned in.
The Personnel Front Indian leaders couldn’t possibly say nicer things about the previous Defense Secretary, Ash Carter. But he wasn’t alone. Others among Obama’s appointees, including US Navy Admiral Harry Harris, Jr., Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry, and Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal worked tirelessly on India’s behalf at Obama’s direction, and all of them spent time in India with their counterparts, business leaders, non-profits, and school children.
Amb. Verma (theindianeye.net)
But the jewel in the crown for Indians everywhere was Obama’s appointment of one of our own, Rich Verma, as the US Ambassador to India. The first Indian-American to ever occupy this prestigious role, Verma moved the ball across the goal line since his appointment in September 2014. The US-India relationship finally turned the corner for the first time after almost 7 decades of drift. Imagine in this devastatingly polarized time, that his confirmation was unanimously approved by the US Senate, a sign of respect from both Republicans and Democrats for Verma’s long diplomatic career. In New Delhi, Verma shepherded a dizzying array of initiatives on behalf of the United States, including on the longtime bugbears, nuclear energy cooperation and climate change cooperation. India rightly believes that it’s unfair for the United States, which has been leading the planet’s defiling and environmental demise for centuries before India was even a country, to dictate environmental austerity on India. The United States responded with financial and technological assistance in areas including solar energy. US nuclear suppliers are now active in helping India build up its plant capacity after many years of disagreement and inaction, especially on liability concerns. This is important, because without India’s participation, there is no hope to reverse climate change.
Surgeon General Murthy. via worldhindunews
All of this aside, when a brown man appointed another brown man to lead the relationship with India, India sat up and took note, proud to be dealing with its native son across the table. Many other Indian-Americans were given prominent roles in the Obama administration, finally bending toward being in line with the community’s achievements outside of government: Surgeon General Vivek Murthy faced a brutal yearlong confirmation battle largely due to the NRA’s dislike of his calling mass shootings an American epidemic, but was appointed anyway; Ajit Pai was appointed an FCC Commissioner (and is now the new FCC Chair); and Aneesh Chopra was the nation’s first Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Nisha Biswal was promoted at State, as mentioned before. There are many others.
Tired of Pakistan’s Games Much as I loved visiting Pakistan and the Pakistani people, the US government has been growing exceedingly bored and tired with the Pakistani government’s dangerous games. These include providing disgraceful succor to Osama Bin Laden and other terrorists who have harmed or intend to harm both US and Indian interests. When the Obama administration showed the courage to eliminate Bin Laden without informing the Pakistani government, it proved to India that the longstanding US policy of fierce courtship with Pakistan was on the rocks. The US-Pakistan relationship (by the way, “us-pak monitor” would be a very interesting site!) has been the most intractable problem in the US-India relationship until recently. Now that Pakistan’s games have largely removed the country from US favor, and with withdrawal from Afghanistan US troops no longer rely on Pakistani ports and supply lines, it created a stategic opening for unprecedented cooperation between Obama’s America and India with less concern for Pakistan’s feelings. This could of course change, but I haven’t seen good signs from Islamabad in this regard. Pakistan has been curling deeper and deeper into China’s warm, welcoming, but costly embrace.
Devyani Khobragade (pic Firstpost)
The Worst Moments It wasn’t all wine and roses in the US-India relationship during Obama’s presidency. The darkest stain was the 2013 dustup over Devyani Khobragade, the consular officer at the Indian Consulate in New York who was arrested for underpaying and mistreating her domestic help. Both sides completely bungled this. It somehow turned into a major international incident, bringing out all that was wrong in the US-India relationship, like Washington’s heavy hand and India’s deep insecurities and mistrust. The incident caused the cancellation of numerous high-level meetings, the halt of major projects, and a spiteful war of words between the two nations. Nobody came out of it looking good from either the US government or Indian government, all of whom utterly failed to resolve the crisis even after it escalated to greater and greater heights for multiple months. It was all shameful and could have been easily prevented, as I’ve written before, with a single, quiet, closed door meeting between friends. Instead, we got amateur hour from both sides, and witnessed diplomacy at its worst.
Indians demand Khobragade release…or something… (via the Guardian)
There is no doubt that Khobragade’s superiors should have shut her behavior down to start with; then when they failed to, the United States should have worked out a deal to quietly deport her, under the radar, with Indian cooperation. Instead, she was arrested and publicly shamed and treated somewhat roughly in detention, like many who spend time in American jails. India swiftly retaliated in a number of ways, such as removing traffic barricades near the US Embassy, revoking US diplomats’ duty free liquor privileges, issuing calls to arrest the domestic partners of gay US diplomats in India from shockingly high levels of Indian government, and violent anti-US riots. None of this should have happened, and we can blame both the Obama administration and Singh administration for it.
Then there was the brain-dead Modi visa ban. It might be hard for some to remember, but current Indian Prime Minister Modi was totally banned from visiting the United States at all by the US Congress due to a little-known and bizarre law on religious freedom for a whole decade before assuming national office. This visa ban was enforced as a result of Modi’s terrible management at best, and condoning at worst, of Hindu-Muslim riots that caused the deaths of more than 1,000 people in the state of Gujarat while he was Chief Minister. While Modi’s performance during the Gujurat riots constitute his worst days as a leader and a human being, the US visa ban was stupid and targeted, and did not apply to any other foreign politicians who have done so many worse things. In fact, Modi was the only one targeted by this law. Many believe it was a plot to please Pakistani lobbyists. In this case as well, nobody came out looking good, and unnecessary resentment was caused toward the Indian people. While Modi became a head of state, and therefore earned a bullet-proof passport allowing him to go anywhere, the resentment among many Indians has continued. Obama’s administration should have tried to put an end to it.
The Hug Heard ‘Round the World (sott.net)
The Obama-Modi (OM) Years On the flip side of that, the two-and-a-half years of the Obama-Modi partnership have been so productive that most people can be forgiven for forgetting the visa ban even existed. Today, the US-India relationship is firing on all cylinders, and credit should go to Modi as well as Obama. The two hit it off early on in a heady and unashamed bromance for all the world to see, and continued to grow closer both as friends and as enterprise partners. Their praise of each other in various other venues was copious and sincere.
Some of the diplomacy between the two men was transcendental. In Time magazine’s 2015 issue on the world’s 100 most influential people, Obama took the unusual move of personally penning Modi’s entry, “India’s Reformer-in-Chief.” There was of course Obama’s seat next to Modi at India’s Republic Day parade. That entire trip began with a breach of protocol, as Modi waited for Obama on the airport tarmac and gave him a famous hug right off of Air Force One (pictured). There was also the Mann Ki Baat radio show, Modi’s weekly address to the Indian people, where the Prime Minister quite casually called his guest by his first name, and implored millions of listeners to follow the example of “his good friend” Barack who was lovingly raising two girls, with no son, and if the most powerful man in the world can do that, why couldn’t Indians give their daughters equal respect? There was also Obama’s speech at North India’s Siri Fort, which was unforgettable for its full-throated defense of women’s rights, in an era during which Indian women continue to suffer a heap of indignities, from low pay, poor medical care, abuse in the home from husbands and in-laws, and rapes and gang-rapes on the streets, often without justice. This speech was so powerful, and created such a far-reaching debate in the media and political establishment, I have no doubt that it made a difference.
(unrealtimes.com)
Then there was the first Obama-Modi hotline, or 24/7 secure line of communication set up between Washington and New Delhi in a sign of the prestige being given by both countries to one another. At launch, this was India’s first and only hotline, and only the fourth for the United States after the UK, Russia, and China. Media outlets reported that it was one final phone call from Obama to Modi that sealed a flailing India’s decision to sign the Paris climate change agreement. There were also 9 separate one-on-one meetings in just the short period when both Obama and Modi were in power.
The Future? The United States and India have turned the corner. This means that the relationship has advanced to the point where it is unlikely for the progress to be completely undone under any new administration. While Trump has business interests in India, and has even said that the two countries “are going to be best friends,” a statement beyond anything Obama said, Trump is all over the place, and his policies are unpredictable. However, observers of the bilateral relationship can take heart in knowing that Trump’s obsessions with Islam, Mexico, NATO, and Russia do not interfere with any of India’s core interests. We are still bullish on the US-India relationship due to ever-converging values. We will save progress in the Trump-India nexus for the next article.
I have read many pieces in the US media about Obama’s long-term legacy. There is nearly zero mention in these lengthy assessments of Obama’s India policy. Part of the reason for this is the India relationship is seen as a bipartisan priority among American politicians who all want a piece, and therefore isn’t always controversial like other areas. Another reason for the lack of attention on US-India progress is a severe underestimation of its importance. India is now a key player in US global strategy, especially as relates to balancing against terrorists, Russia, and China for the foreseeable future. Barack Obama is not the sole reason, as his staff, Indian leaders, and previous presidents, especially Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, were excellent for India too.
But Obama has taken things to the next level. He has lit a lamp that should continue shining for the rest of this century. For all of these reasons, it is very much fair to name him as the best US president for India in history so far.
(thehindu.com)
Why do Indians Hate Root Beer?
There are several things that still separate an Indian-American from an Indian from India even in this globalized world: accents and educational systems come to mind, as do sports or movie preferences. These are real, but also amorphous. However, we can point to something much more tangible in nature. Perhaps no single thing in the world is a more perfect epitome of the separation between Indian-Americans and their cousins from the motherland than a dark black, foamy-headed sweet and effervescent liquid drink called root beer. In my lifetime, I’ve found that Indians categorically hate this drink, while most Americans of all types including Indian-Americans love this drink.
Having grown up in the American Midwest, where we’d call all manner of fizzy soft drinks “pop,” I have loved root beer for as long as I can remember and probably always will. Widely available commerical brands include A&W, Barq’s, or IBC, and I could drink any of these happily. What’s more, one can place a dollop of vanilla or other ice cream into a glass of root beer, and you get a magical dessert/drink hybrid like no other, known to most Americans as a root beer float. And yet, as much as all-American flavors like french fries, ketchup, pizza, and even colas like Coke and Pepsi have exploded in popularity and affordability in India over the last few decades, root beer is hard to come by. Even Indians who have settled in the United States for decades often won’t ever drink it.
Why??? On the face of it, Indians should love root beer. It’s spicier than most other American colas or soft drinks (with a notable exception in Dr Pepper). Root beer’s traditional historic roots are in the delicious extract of the sassafras tree root or sarsaparilla vine root. As a kid at summer camp, I remember tasting a fresh and hot tea made of sassafras root, an original root beer formula- and it was divine. Root beer is aromatic and has a number of spicy and subtle hints, much like Indian food itself which draws on fraternal spices like cardamom, anise, and cinnamon. I have a theory that Indians typically hate root beer for one simple reason: it reminds them too much of medical products, including a soothing balm called Iodex, a common household item in India. Throughout my life whenever I drank or even mentioned root beer, my Indian-born mother would make a disgusted face, hold her nose and say, “I can’t stand it, smells like Iodex!” I’ve heard similar sentiments over and over by people born and raised in India. Which led me to look into this recently.
Indeed there’s a basis for it. Iodex utilizes methyl salicylate, made of oil extracted from a group of plants 
called wintergreens or their synthetic equivalent. Commercially produced root beers also use extracts of wintergreens, or very similar plants. Interestingly, just like Coca-Cola, the modern form of root beer was invented in the United States in the 1800’s for medicinal purposes. So, we have come full circle here.
It’s too bad that Iodex has ruined root beer for potentially millions of people in India and other parts of the world. Now you know why. So you say, this isn’t a scientific analysis after all? You must be forgetting that this is Trump’s America now.
Mahanth S. Joishy is Editor of usindiamonitor
MOVIE REVIEW: One in a Billion, the Satnam Singh Documentary
via ESPN
Mahanth S. Joishy is Editor of usindiamonitor
Imagine the extraordinarily low odds for any poor American rural kid to be able to make it to the NBA. Those odds need to be multiplied many times over for a rural kid- even a gigantic one- from the state of Punjab in India to achieve the same goal. And yet Satnam Singh Bhamara now stands on the cusp of finding a roster spot in the National Basketball Association. The 7-foot-2 gentle giant was drafted in the second round of the 2015 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks, and currently plays in the Developmental League. His epic rise, and the massive challenges he has had to overcome, are well-documented in the documentary film, One in a Billion, available as of this month on Netflix. By no coincidence, Netflix is making major inroads into India.
One in a Billion does a fantastic job of laying out this story of someone who most basketball fans in the United States have not even heard of yet, a story whose ending is not yet written as Singh is just 21 years old. The filmmakers gained access to a diverse bunch of people, including Singh’s family members, youth coaches, trainers, and teammates in both India and the United States, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, and Indian hoops journalist Karan Madhok.
The hero of the story could not possibly be easier to root for, regardless of your interest level in basketball. Satnam’s relentless focus on improvement and positive energy in the face of obstacles, coupled with his desire to make family and country proud above all else is nothing short of inspiring. He had to learn not only basketball but also English at a late age, which caused him major academic troubles in America. The gym where he learned to play the game in India had a leaky roof and pigeons interrupting practices.
via sportskeeda.com
Satnam also faced inordinate amounts of homesickness and culture shock coming from a remote North Indian village to Florida for high school, leaving all of his friends and family far behind. In the film even the NBA, which is a giant profit-making machine, shows that it has a bit of heart despite the fact that high-level institutional support for Satnam is very much about tapping the 1.25 billion person India market for money.
There are moments that I really loved. The Indian farm scenes are poignant and sad, despite the upward trajectory of one of the village’s favorite sons. At one point Satnam’s black high school teammates at IMG Academy in Florida joked around with Satnam about dancing and impressing girls, and probed him about what India was like. There are moments where Satnam’s high school coach praises him, and others where he yells at him. Satnam’s workouts, drills, and game footage are also interspersed into the documentary and show his progression. Satnam gets fitted for his first suit and then the draft-day hijinks are very intense, and well-shot. I got chills in the scene where Satnam shook hands with Larry Bird, who runs basketball operations for the Indiana Pacers, my favorite team. Satnam in a Pacers uniform would be My. Dream. Come. True.
“People may look back on that date, and say that was the tipping point for basketball in India,” says Silver about Satnam’s drafting in the film. I tend to agree. India is too big to have just one major sport. It’s possible that at some future date, basketball might one day give cricket a run for its money in India. Personally, I can’t wait for that day to come, and for Singh, the Bhullar brothers, and others to pave the way for more Indians in pro basketball in the NBA and around the world.
In the meanwhile, this movie is the definitive account of how it all started. Credit director Roman Gackowski and the whole crew for that.
Why is Team India so Pathetic in the Olympics?
Team India & Modi, Wikipedia Commons
Yesterday was the last day of the 2016 Rio Olympics. After the closing ceremony ended, India left Brazil with just two measly Olympic medals thanks to P.V. Sindhu’s inspiring run to silver in the sport of badminton, and backup freestyle wrestler Sakshi Malik unexpectedly bagging bronze in the 58kg weight class.
The glory of these two extraordinary ladies aside, this has been yet another pathetic Olympic games for the Indian contingent. Here are a few numbers that tell the entire story.
India’s population: 1.252 billion, or 17% of all humanity
Rio Olympic medals: 2, or .095% of all medals awarded
Olympic gold medals since 1980: 1
The 2016 performance was more or less another disappointing par for India. Why is Team India so pathetic in the Olympics? Much has been said on the topic and there is some disagreement on this. There are certainly multiple explanations for the lack of success, and nearly all of it can and should be corrected in the coming decades.
Playing with Fire? The Bhut Sauce of Naga Bhut Spices
Mahanth S. Joishy is Editor of usindiamonitor
It goes by several names. Naga Jolokia. Naga Bhut Jolokia. Bhut Jolokia. Ghost chili, or ghost pepper (bhut=ghost and jolokia=pepper in Hindi). This naughty little pepper is unmistakable for its infamous atomic sting. For some years, the ghost pepper was certified as the hottest one in the world, registering in at over a whopping 1 million Scoville Units (or about 400 times the heat of say, Tabasco). Appropriately, the ghost pepper originated from the plains and hills of Northeast Indian states such as Nagaland and Assam, but received a global reputation and following for its heat index and unique flavor. Two New Yorkers, Satish Sehgal and Jeff Blaine, decided to partner up and grow, bottle, and sell this fire with their own twist.
It all started in 2010, when Blaine and Sehgal obtained their first set of ghost pepper seeds and began cultivating pepper plants in Blaine’s Upper West Side apartment, which received some media attention. Sehgal, a successful restauranteur, had experience creating Western-style hot sauce recipes, one version of which became the base for the first original “bhut sauce” after some mutual experimenting in the kitchen. These kitchen sessions were both delicious and dangerous- both men, no strangers to intense and spicy flavors, will never forget some of the burning sensations in their mouths, on their skins, and- most interesting of all, the overnight hallucinatory effects from what can only be described as the ghost’s whisper. They were careful to use protective wear and thoroughly wash their hands, but all it takes is a tiny drop landing in the wrong place to cause a physiological (or psychosomatic) reaction. I have experienced all of these effects as somewhat of a heat-seeker myself.
As the initial recipe was perfected and the micro-batches became larger, they approached restaurants and stores with their original bhut sauce. One of the adopters is Han Dynasty, an excellent Szechuan Chinese restaurant chain that originated in Philadelphia, and has branches in the East Village and Upper West Side. The Szechuan region of China is indisputably home to the spiciest cuisine in that country, with tongue-tickling special peppercorns and red-hot chilis. I met Blaine at the UWS Han Dynasty branch for a tasting of the Naga Bhut Spices hot sauce line- which has now expanded to 7 unique products. Cold beer followed, to sooth the substantial burn. Read the rest of this entry
VIDEOS: Donald Trump Profusely Praises India (and then Rips India)
Mahanth S. Joishy is Editor of usindiamonitor
We recently published a piece about the ups and downs with Donald Trump’s projects in India. In 2014, he gave an interview in India with NDTV which is actually quite interesting and even intelligent. Trump praises India, the Indian people, and Prime Minister Modi profusely and disarmingly graciously. He says things like “India is an amazing place,” and “I don’t think India is an emerging market, it’s an amazing market,” and “a tremendous flock of new entrepreneurs are coming up in India.”
As an Indian-American, it’s disarming to see. I could understand why there is a new group called Indian-Americans for Trump and another called Hindus4Trump who are backing his presidential candidacy. Indians hump cash and luxury like nobody else I have ever seen in my life.
But then, typical for Mr. Trump, he has flipped sides and taken to criticizing India for taking away American jobs recently on the stump or in debates, including that “India is taking advantage of America.”
Hard to say where this guy stands on anything at all. That’s why we endorsed Trump recently. We hope he wins the Republican nomination! So do the people at Hindus4Trump who made this bizarre graphic. Lord Vishnu save us!
Courtesy scroll.in
CASE STUDY: McDonald’s in India: Risk & Opportunity
McDonald’s is a special phenomenon, and I know this from my own life experience as a lifelong customer and former employee. Every six months or so, I get a fierce craving for a Big Mac and french fries, or an Egg McMuffin with a hash brown, and it must be fulfilled. I’ve been hooked since childhood thanks largely to the Happy Meals, a bit of tasty marketing genius that evokes warm, fuzzy, fond memories both conscious and subconscious for millions of adults long after they have stopped craving cheap plastic toys in a colorfully illustrated box with their lunches. As children, no less. In my opinion, McDonald’s french fries are also far and away the best around; their formula for fries just works, and always has in my mealy memory. The consistency of flavor no matter where you eat McDonald’s is amazing to behold, especially when you consider that there are 34,000-odd restaurants in 120 countries and territories.
In 1996, just as I was toiling at my first paid, post-paper route job (minimum wage, $4.25 an hour) in a McDonald’s near Cleveland, Ohio, the first franchise in India was opened up by the restaurant chain in New Delhi. India is certainly a potentially huge market for fast food. However, the country poses a formidable challenge for McDonald’s, for several reasons. The company’s very vaunted brand is based on cow meat, the specific protein that a majority of Indians will never, ever put in their mouths. McDonald’s would also need to compete against a large variety of high-quality local delicious Indian
Yes Ronald, that’s cow shit on yo face (pic courtesy tntmagazine.com)
food that is generally more healthy, and packed with spices and flavor. Finally, some Indians are so proud of their heritage that they will always see foreign fast food chains as an affront. So, how is McDonald’s doing at beef-free year 19 in India amid the successes and challenges encountered thus far, and where is it headed?
As you can see, some Hindu activists are NOT amused.
Read the rest of this entry
Corruption & the Downfall of India & the United States
Any person who has spent even a single day in India comes to understand a hard and sinister truth about the country: it remains an ass-backward place because of, above all else, corruption. On one of my trips, it took not even a day in India but less than an hour to learn this. While trying to go through Bombay airport immigration at age 13 with my cousin of the same age, within minutes after landing from the United States, a uniformed and armed customs official detained us in a corner of the airport in order to shake us down for all our pocket money. We were let go only once we had paid him the absurdly high “tax” of US $100 which we two frightened foreign youths gave up hastily. This disgusting act of intimidation and theft 22 years ago produced a bad taste that never left my mouth and venomous thoughts about what I’d do to that man if I saw him again as an adult.
Corruption contributes to all manner of travesty throughout the country affecting so many parts of daily life: gang-rapes with impunity, dysfunctional infrastructure, poverty, pollution, medical fraud, police brutality, etc. No Indian, rich or poor, or of any religious or ethnic background would dispute this, so basic is the acceptance of corruption at every level.
Americans would be stupid to gloat, or think that they are immune from the disease. The United States is not spared from corruption by any means. Throughout the history of man corruption has helped bring down empires, and I have come to believe it is causing the decline of the United States right in front of our very eyes. Knowing a place like India where corruption has become a high art form, in America I acutely see the warning signs sprouting up even as we speak. There is a saying among Indian-Americans. Corruption occurs pervasively and openly at every level of Indian bureaucracy: low, medium, and high. And in America, it is there but more hidden, nearly all of.it occurring at high levels of corporate and government life. But it seems to be getting worse Stateside, even as there are small signs of improvement in India.
Today, we delve into the sweltering morass of corruption in both countries, and what trends to watch for in the future. Read the rest of this entry
FINALLY! The NBA now has an Indian Player
Sim Bhullar, we’ve been waiting for you. I have been quite certain for the last 20 years or so that there was an excellent chance I would die without seeing an Indian play an NBA game. I have been proven wrong, with hopefully some years in my life to spare.
The gargantuan Bhullar, a star high school and college basketball player originally from Toronto, has been signed to a 10 day contract with the Sacramento Kings- owned by Indian-American Vivek Ranadive. This is huge for Indians, and not just because Sim is 7’5″ tall, and pretty wide too for our generally anemic and too often sadly malnourished race. In fact Sim’s width exceeds the height of many fully grown Indian men.
There are players in the NBA from around 80 countries since the last decade or so, when international players became commonplace in the NBA. Till now there have been none of Indian descent. Sim was originally a late draft pick for the Kings last year, but was cut before the 2014-15 season began and thus did not truly complete a stint in the NBA yet. He was sent to the developmental league where he did well enough to get called back up to play with the big boys. Sim has been known to have issues regarding speed and conditioning. Some work in the gym, especially with weights and cardio, should help him immensely.
While a 10 day contract is tenuous at best, like a girl who reluctantly decides to go on a date with you only because you are her BFF’s brother, Sim now has a chance to prove that he belongs in the NBA.
There is no question that interest in the NBA, and in basketball in general, will now explode all over India and the Indian diaspora. Farmers in the countryside will start building hoops on their land for the first time, ever. The NBA has been smart in marketing to Indians- and expanding globally in general, helping make it a truly global league unlike any other American sport. In a few years we predict there will be more players of Indian origin joining the league. Sim’s little brother (as in 7’3″ little) Tanveer just may be one of them.
Kill ’em, Sim.
Mahanth S. Joishy is Editor of usindiamonitor
Obama Speaks Directly to the Indian People at Siri Fort
#ObamainIndia has provided a treasure trove of multimedia, and we will keep publishing videos and other content on this page from the three days. The trip was a watershed moment in US-India relations, and in the days to come we’ll expound on why.
Many people around the world know that Barack Obama is a gifted public speaker. His flowery oratory is admired around the world by fans, and resented by detractors, in both cases for its lilting power.
This week we witnessed something truly unique: a speech directed at the Indian people during his trip to New Delhi, and especially focused on India’s youth. Without an ounce of exaggeration or condescension, I can state that Obama spoke to the Indian audience about the emerging nation’s strengths – and also weaknesses – better than any other American leader or even Indian leader is capable of doing. Some highlights of this speech, which I highly recommend you should watch all the way through:
1) Obama said the United States can be India’s “best partner.” He said when Indians and Americans look at each other, it’s like looking in a mirror.
2) At times it felt like he was speaking to citizens of his own country.
3) Without touching on India’s gang-rape epidemic or chauvinism directly, he spoke firmly about women’s rights.
4) He constantly self-deprecated, mouthed phrases in Hindi, or at times both to great applause. He spoke of his age, and about the future long after he is gone in a way most American politicians abroad never do.
5) He reiterated the goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons in all nations.
6) Most importantly of all, he spoke to Indians in an adult manner about sectarian discord while even acknowledging that his own country had problems in this regard, including against himself, and against Indian-Americans.
Obama’s ability to combine humor, empathy, gratitude, and deadly serious topics in the speech easily makes it among his best speeches ever.
Want proof of its effectiveness? India’s messy democracy, led by politicians and a free media immediately erupted into debate about many aspects of what Obama brought up. There can be no better bellwether than that.
Mahanth S. Joishy is Editor of usindiamonitor
