bush backlash

The backlash from Bush's comments on the food habits of Indians is still reverberating, particularly in southern Tamil Nadu. Lawyers here are very active and quite fond of burning effigies. A famous Madurai lawyer that I just interviewed a month back burned an effigy of Bush yesterday in Madurai, and there were also Bush effigies burned in other southern cities, including Tirunelveli. According to The Hindu:

"TIRUNELVELI: The police on Tuesday arrested seven Democratic Youth Federation of India functionaries for allegedly burning the effigy of US President George Bush for his reported comments against the food habits of the Indians. The protestors burnt it near Gandhi Statue even as the police tried to snatch it."

Unfortunately photos are not available at this time but I am working on this. I don't think it's entirely accurate to say that Bush was commenting "against" Indians eating food. He was merely pointing out, using a very poor choice of words, that there are more middle class Indians than the entire population of America, and more middle class Indians means that more food is going to be consumed in India. It's a fact. But to blame the Indians (and Chinese) for soaring food prices is of course ridiculous. His comments, however, are being interpreted as "Americans don't want Indians to eat."

Details are sketchy at present, but I was rather alarmed to hear that here in Madurai "some foreigners were put under house arrest" in nearby Puthur, in response to the Bush comments. Putur is about a 10-15 minute bus ride from my house. I am not aware of any "foreigners" in Putur but my guess is that they could be part of some NGO and more likely Europeans than Americans. But here "American" usually means any person who is white, so it is unfortunately very likely that non-Americans are being put under house arrest for Bush's comments. I cannot imagine that they are very happy about this.

Hopefully no gangs are going to show up at my house. Somehow I doubt my neighbors are very concerned about the machinations of Bush and Co., or at least I hope they aren't. Only time will tell. Hopefully with the burning of the Bush effigies, tensions that had flamed up have now died down. Besides, the Madurai public has been distracted with a number of disturbances of late, and tensions between various groups are simmering almost as much as the summer heat. Lately a select few rowdies among the Madurai youth, with nothing better to do during summer break, have taken to desecrating the statues of various caste leaders, besides the one already desecrated two weeks ago, and then exacting revenge upon vehicles, public and private. Buses had to be taken off the roads again yesterday.

It is interesting to note that when the cut-out of Ambedkar here in my neighborhood was torn to shreds a few weeks back, just before Ambedkar's birthday, no one in Madurai uttered a peep. The cut-out was replaced (without any fanfare whatsoever) with a much smaller and less substantial poster of Ambedkar which was recently torn to shreds by miscreants yet again. Why is it when the Dalit leader's image is desecrated the public is silent? It is either because cooler heads prevail in my neighborhood, or those individuals who are offended are too intimidated to speak out. I think it is perhaps a mixture of both.

I wonder if the folks holding the Putur "Americans" under house arrest
would be willing to consider ankle-monitoring devices
to afford them a little more freedom.

Rice on rice

Perhaps you have heard of the latest diplomatic gaffes made first by Condoleezza Rice and then President Bush. It is an ironic twist that a woman named Rice is criticizing a developing country for eating too much rice. She alleged that the "apparent improvement" in the diets of the people of India and China are to blame for global price rise. This caused a big stir in India, and Bush followed up her comments with inflammatory comments of his own.

"....When you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food, and so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up," Bush said. Wow. Looks like someone majored in econ. Of course Indians, like most people with any sense, are attributing the global price rise to high energy prices and the diversion of huge amounts of arable land towards biofuel production. Bush, in his infinite wisdom, admits that biofuel is a part of the problem but added: "I simply do not subscribe to the notion that it is the main cost driver for your food going up." Looks like your classic ostrich response to world crises.

Our "leaders" not only blame global warming on everyone but us, but now they are blaming the global price rise crisis on people who are suddenly able to afford nutritious food. Imagine. The nerve of a country eating sufficient food. What Condi and Bush don't understand is that India is not a food importer! They grow their own food. So it's not like they are eating up the global food supply and taking it out of other people's mouths.

The Indian media is understandably up in arms over these comments. And India doesn't need another reason to feel resentful towards the United States because they apparently already have PLENTY of reasons. One of them is the civilian nuclear deal between the US and India which is STILL like a lame duck in the water and hasn't been approved. This is a source of resentment for India (the handing over of FREE nuclear assistance, go figure) because everyone here assumes that Washington will try to ask for something in return. The way the media and some politicians talk about the U.S. here you would assume that America colonized India and not Britain. But that's another blog. And given Bush and Condi's insults of late, I cannot imagine relations between the two countries improving very much in the near future. Way to go!

Let them eat cake,

provided we get the biggest piece.