Forward Together We Go

What factors will shape U.S-India ties in the next five years?

When two biggest democracies from two different continents want to have friendly ties, there will be many hurdles of political, socio-cultural, economic and nationalistic barriers to be crossed. But thankfully, in our case, the two democracies are India and U.S. Hence the hurdles can be overcome if the people of two countries are eager to have a deep emotional & cultural bonding in next five years. Also, U.S. and India should have equal respect in each other’s capabilities. In this post, I try to give some indications about that:

Cinematic bonding: Me and my urban friends are fond of Hollywood movies. But how much do Americans know about Mumbai film industry? A film is a great way to interpret a country’s culture. So, best Bollywood films should be dubbed into English. They should be shown regularly in the popular movie theaters in USA. Special invitations should be sent to the Hollywood’s top directors and actors for awareness. American youths should connect with Indian movies. Recently, the film p.k. made its entry into America’s top 10. So, the scope for cinematic bonding is always there.

Sports: Basketball, baseball and American football are very popular among Americans. And cricket has become the new religion in India. Our challenges lie in popularizing American sports in India and encourage Americans to play cricket. Then we shall have joint sports activities every year. That way, the sports enthusiasts can share their feelings by going beyond boundaries. What about a Wrestlemania or a World Wrestling event being organized in Kolkata? I am looking forward to buy a ticket for it!

Student exchange:  Top US varsities should have student exchange programs with their Indian counterparts. Indian students should enjoy American life and vice versa. There should be one country specific volunteer chosen for each university, who will be primarily responsible for improving bilateral relationship.

‘Be My Guest’ approach: The travel & tourism model can be revived between two countries. Instead of staying into a five star hotel, an American family can be invited to take the hospitality of an Indian family. If I visit America, I may look for an American family with whom I can befriend with. Hearts should be shared, not just the natural beauty.

Literature: I am sure that every year, new set of Indian fiction & non-fiction writers (writing in English) are coming up and most are unknown to American readers & media. We need to have a joint prize in literature where one writer from U.S. and one from India will be honored for their first book or, for their overall contribution to the literature. Governments should be made liable to popularize the contesting Indian & American authors in both countries. Also, NYT, WSJ should broadly cover book fairs like Jaipur Lit Fest and Kolkata International Book Fair.

Others: Governments should continue talking about health, tech innovation and business cooperation. For sensitive defense issues, U.S. and India should have a joint team of army.

The above factors or initiatives should be taken as the joint responsibility for both countries’ leadership. In Abraham Lincoln’s words, “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”

 Let Americans & Indians help each other to live better.

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Note: The image used in this post is not used from a stock photo and is designed by the blogger Biswajit Ganguly. Only Mahatma Gandhi’s quote is taken from a third party site. 

Terror

War on terrorism – ‘a 360 degree’ thinking

Every strategy that is taken by Indian government against terrorism, is not only very conventional but also quite irritating for the common people because they have to face all sorts of harassments by police and army. To stop an incident, you have to find the ‘cause’ of the incident and you have to do a detailed analysis of the incidence. Following measures may be taken to stop terrorism :
No ‘Breaking News’ : every time a blast occurs, news channels show breaking news on the bloodshed. Since mass killing is a sensitive issue, it must be dealt with sympathy and grief and not with breaking-news mentality.
Media positioning : whenever you win against somebody and you call your opponent a ‘looser’, he becomes angry and thinks of the revenge. Do say, ‘Indian army today successfully killed 3 terrorists in an encounter…..’ or ‘Operation XYZ finished’, report that ‘Indian army defended their motherland against three militants who all died in the encounter’. In this way, terrorists will also understand that we are not attacking, we are only doing defense and hence we are the peace keeper and peace maker.
Another positioning is that terrorism is not only a political cause but it’s also a social cause, since, most of the terrorists come from poor class of society and most of them are not much educated. Ad- makers should think about that.
Human Face of admin. : common people prefer to stay away from the army and police forces because of their possible brutal behavour. All those special forces, whose indulge in keeping our city safe from terrorism, must behave like normal persons. I thing, one out of every five police or army people should be given short term HR-training on behavioral skills. This simple initiative can solve many unwanted civic harassment. Also, most of the police should be in plane dresses such that common people don’t feel scared.
Restriction on usage of CCTV : Due to this buzz of possible terror attacks, every small organization is using CCTV. They may have the possibility to use this TV for business purposes or other bad reasons also. So, if anybody installs CCTV, he has to take permission from local police station.
Focus on community development: every community or religion or cast should be treated equally not as per its religion but also as per its geographical/ regional presence and culture. I mean, if Kashmiris see that people from different states are coming to their states and reigning on them and most of them are not highly educated and still are not part of India’s mainstream politics, sports, business etc., then they may naturally have a common hatred against rest of India. They are thinking that if they remains part of India, then one day their culture will become extinct. Under such circumstances, terrorists are only misguiding these people to fulfill their evil mission. Our education minister must see the development in terms of education in the states like Kashmir and other north-eastern states such that youths in these regions can have the freedom of thought. Also, since, travel and tourism industry in these states is largely affected due to terrorism, Government should give loans to the unemployed youths of these states such that they can start their own business. Then the number of people joining terror groups will be reduced.
Follow Tata’s example : I personally think that the step taken by Sir Ratan Tata by reopening the hotel in Mumbai showed that Indians are not at all afraid of terrorism any more. Top level Indians’ body language should be just like Mr. Tata.
Strengthen the border security force : Since, most of the terrorists come from the camps based on outside of India, so our border-security should be strong and more recruitments should be done. Hidden cameras should be there in the border regions which will be taking automatic pictures of moving objects even in the darkness of night and under extreme temperatures.
Change the song : I think, the concept of an eminent singer singing patriotic songs on 26th January or on 15th August is very old. The best way of war against terrorism is to spread the essence of patriotism. Instead of old patriotic songs, spectacular ads should be used in print media, FM channels, television and also on internet. Celebrate Independence Day or Republic Day with a blast in the states of north-east India or in Kashmir. Media should also give publicity to those events rather than giving publicity to Delhi’s special celebration process. Free foods, chocolates, balloons, and patriotic leaflets should be distributed to the kids and common people by the government officials in the militant driven states.
Repositioning terror driven states : The image that Kashmir has nationally and internationally is getting worse day by day. Have we even seen any film on Kashmir whose story is not based on terrorism? Make new documentaries on Kashmir which should bring other problems that Kashmiris are facing. Same process should be followed for other similar states also.
Hidden attacks on Terrorists’ head quarters : India’s defense and foreign ministers must plan for possible commando attacks on the foreign land soil to ruin terrorists’ training camps.
By following these measures, India may be not virtually but actually free from terrorism.
Comment : The views expressed above are personal and as per knowledge and belief of Biswajit Ganguly.

Travel

Bilaspur

It is said about the Bengalis that they love to travel places. Although, I am an Bengali person still I like my city Kolkata rather than going somewhere else. For last 2-3 days I have to come to Bilaspur for the purpose of work. Bilaspur’s temperature is now nearly 40 degree Celsius. It’s too hot over here. There is a hot summer ahead of us. If you go two minutes walking distance, you will find out one stall of fruit juice. Cost of living is higher in Bilaspur compared to Kolkata. The place where I live has no TV, fridge or, FM Radio set. I can get only facility of accessing internet if my boss permits. It seems to me that I shall become mad if I don’t get any of the facilities. I am expecting to travel some rural land in Chhattisgarh state in next couple of weeks.

Bilaspur’s people has taken their personal precautions while riding bikes during afternoon time. They wrap clothes on their mouths and heads such that blow of hot air can not harm them. Bilaspur has less traffic jams and here the number of women bike riders excessively more compared to my city Kolkata. Almost each office in Bilaspur has a cooler. To get rid of scorching heat, people drink lots of ‘Lassi’ ( a drink made with curds ) and other ‘Fal – Sharbats’ (fruit juices ). I have seen many temples in Bilaspur which shows the people here are pious in nature. Lots of Bengali people live at Bilaspur. Even some shops’ names contain the word Kolkata. Roads here becomes dusty at the day time because of hot and dry climate. But Bilaspur has less pollution compared to Kolkata. I have heard from people that during fifties decade, Kolkata was a less polluted city. Now, with the change of time it has become overcrowded and pollution has increased with population. It would be interesting to watch what would be Bilaspur’s condition when the city will be ‘changed’ and overcrowded like our today’s Kolkata.

For more info. on Bilaspur, go to http://bilaspur.nic.in/ or search Wikipedia.