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VOL. 28, NO. 08, Oct 24 , 2008 (Kartik 08 2065 B.S.)
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Snippets From the American Trip ( I )
- Madhav K. Rimal
My visit to the United Sates this time has been quite interesting. Besides meeting old friends and acquaintances, I did meet leaders from various countries. New York and Washington DC are the melting pots of the world where you do meet peoples from the far corners of the earth and can feel their pulse. Even though both the cities were becoming gripped with the presidential election fever, you could meet people at the restaurants, hotels, street corners and even the airports discussing about the utter failure of President George W. Bush, the uncontrolled inflation, the hike in gas prices, the Indo-US nuclear deal, the anti-terrorist campaign and the looming global recession. But my most interesting experience was the comments and reactions expressed by various journalists and diplomats about South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) which had just finished its 15th summit. The comments quoted below are self expressive.
“ Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal are drag on India’s economic prospects.” – Bonnie Mitra.
“Economic Cooperation in NAFTA and EU has worked because the member states are friendly and like each other. In South Asia all member states are hostile. This will not work.” Shantanu Thakur. Mitra and Thakur are U.S- based journalists.
“If SAARC is a failure, the blame can be placed entirely on India. The sad fact is the Indians do not want good relations with their neighbors. They hate the Pakistanis and have contempt for Nepalis and Bangladeshis.” Saurav Sharma
“The only thing that the SAARC summit always decides is where the next summit should be held.” Little John. Sharma and John are U.K. based journalists.
“SAARC is a stale joke. Lay it off.” Alia Mansuri.
“ Pakistan must be heading to prosperous markets of China, Central Asia, Middle- east, Europe, Turkey and not towards South Asia.” Gohar Ilahi.
Mansuri and Ilahi are Pakistani Journalists.
“ It is a sad fact that as a big brother in the region, India has failed to live up to expectations.” Esjay Thottumkot. Esjay is a diplomat from Rome, Italy.
‘ It is remarkable that except Bhutan and Maldives, India does not have cordial relations with any other SAARC country.” Samundar Dasgupta. Gupta is an Indian journalist.
The above comments should be enough to show what the world thinks about the SAARC.
I have always considered as the United States the cheapest and must reasonable place to visit in comparison to other western countries. But this trip has forced me to change my opinion. The air travels, the hotels, the restaurants and the shopping malls too have become very expensive, almost prohibitive for average American and common visitor like me. Even though I had easy access to road transportation, the exorbitant prices of the gas made frequent long road travels very expensive. True, the laws of demand and supply do play a dominant role to determine the price of a commodity. But the unscrupulous manipulations of the gas cartels who made huge profits at the cost of common man and the total indifference of the state hit the sky making life for the millions of ordinary Americans very miserable. The spiraling inflation exacerbated by the unprecedented rise in the spending causing huge deficits has badly hurt the American economy which influences the economy of the world had threatened the possibility of a looming recession. Unfortunately, it has come to pass. The overwhelming Americans are blaming the Bush administration for bringing their affluent country to such a pass.
(My next installment will cover the Bush regime, Indo-US nuclear Deal, Anti-Terrorism and presidential elections)
Sachin’s World Record
By Sports Correspondent
Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar has become the first cricketer to score more than twelve thousand runs in world test cricket. Indeed this is a record surpassing that of the West Indian cricketer Brian Lara and difficult to break. Sachin is a great batsman no body can deny. But, whether he is the greatest cricketer could be debatable. Looking at the average of Don Bradman and the runs he scored in much fewer number of matches, there should be no hesitation to say that neither Sachin nor Lara can come nearer to him in greatness. Had Lara or Don played the number of matches Sachin has played, no body can say how many more thousand runs they might have scored. But, it in no way belittles the record set by Sachin.
