Visa Power

The first ever blogger, I read, was given a pass to visit the White House after they were innundated with mails asking for the same. He allegedly described the experience as 'surreal' and 'anti-climatic'..hmmm.. no Hindi movies on this one.

I was watching an episode of the 'Big Fight' on NDTV last evening. People, particularly the host, were yelling (I'm told by some that it's either a debate or a discussion - I refuse to accept either description) about one Mr. Modi's lack of visa approval to one far-off barbaric land called the USA. I found that the panelists had wasted a good part of their Saturday evening raising their blood pressure about nothing.
The brainiest comment came from the host himself - He said "When Narendra Modi spoke in Gujarat, he attacked Bush and his policies outright. But when he spoke to the US over satellite, he was very reserved and did not address the issue." The host's facial expressions told me that he expected a response from the BJP representative on the panel... I wonder what he would have said, had he answered it. Perhaps, 'Rajdeep, your understanding of diplomacy and basic tenets of inter-country relations is akin to that of a 5 year-old with serious attention-span deficiencies.'

Now, at no stage do I think that Modi has a brilliant human rights track record or anything in that region, but the whole discussion is pointless when you're arguing about a country's sovereign right to deny entry to a person they believe can cause problems. It's very simple, some chap from some god-forsaken nation in the South Pacific with a penchant for causing riots in his nation wants to enter your country. You are genuinely scared (or paranoid, for that matter) that he might do the same here. It's your right to tell him to buzz off. This is not to say that I support the US' decision. A CM of a State should certainly be allowed to travel to countries, it's goodwill among nations. The US have, of course, done their homework. The Government at the Centre has its hands tied, because any sort of major complaint in the press or brouhaha about this and it will be construed as condonation of the Gujarat riots. Hats off to Uncle Sam.

I've just broken yesterday's resolution of not writing blogs in the morning..but..I'll take it.

'My grandfather told me that there are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try and be in the first group - there's less competition there'

- A treat for the person who guesses who said this.