Thank you @PMOIndia @narendramodi,I feel reassured now!

Yesterday, amid a veritable landslide of predictions and speculation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a speech in San Jose, California, mainly concerning his two favourite themes (at least from an international perspective) - "Make in India" and "Digital India". As an Indian student in an American university not far from the Silicon Valley, the atmosphere around the speech, akin to the energy and excitement surrounding the performance by a music band, had me riveted alongside the 20,000-odd adoring fans packed into San Jose's SAP Center and the lakhs watching from my motherland halfway across the world.

The address followed Modi’s meeting with CEOs of over 50 Fortune 500 companies in New York, and his one-on-one soiree with Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and founder of Facebook. While eager to support the Make in India and Digital India campaigns, the corporations were predictably concerned with India’s less-than-perfect governance, the hurdles to doing business, and the lack of adequate infrastructure (on at least two of these concerns, if not all three, China scores much higher, and Chinese President Xi Jinping was in Seattle during the same period to meet almost the same set of industry leaders to make a case for his efforts to further ease up foreign investments in China).

In his speech, the prime minister dealt with the issues of corruption and bureaucratic inefficiency, appealing not only to investors but also to the average Indian who dreams of a better quality of life abroad, mirroring the mindset of most Indian students who travel to the US for education and also hope to work in the US after graduation. Known to be an adept orator, Modi stressed that the Digital India initiative includes within its umbrella the concept of e-governance, allowing the government to implement laws through mobile technology and enabling citizens to have access to their constitutionally-guaranteed rights at the touch of a button. Much to the joy of someone who has spent many hours stuck in the melting tar that is Indian bureaucracy, the prime minister declared that the country, and its governance, has been lazy for the past few decades, but it is finally time to work.

I recall a statement made by Modi earlier that as part of the Digital India initiative, mobile-enabled emergency services will enhance personal security. For a young woman who calls India - a country with an average of 90 rape cases reported every single day and countless others unreported - her home, this thought holds immense potential. As Google CEO Sundar Pichai put it in his welcome video, perhaps it is time for “India’s own revolution” in the digital realm. Perhaps it is time for a change in the mentality of a soon-to-be better equipped and more resourceful population that will be kinder to the traditionally disadvantaged. To paraphrase the prime minister, those who do not want to change will become irrelevant in the 21st century. The hope of job creation is also promising for Indian students temporarily residing in the "Land of Opportunity", especially in view of an American job market that is still unyielding to a majority of foreign students.

Also refreshing was Modi’s optimistic and agreeable take on the somewhat-touchy topic of "brain drain", adopting the perspective that Indians living abroad are improving the image of their birthplace and working on the identity (“pehchaan”) of the nation. However, by viewing the outflow of Indians as a deposit waiting to be cashed in, the words of the prime minister could be construed by NRIs to imply a certain debt owed by persons of Indian origin living outside the country.

Irrespective of the outcome following this much-anticipated speech, it is safe to say that Modi has mastered the art of rallying a crowd with ambitious, desirable goals, the practised voice of assured certainty, and a demeanour powerful enough to dominate a stadium affectionately (and some would say, appropriately) nicknamed the “Shark Tank”. The prime minister’s "victory lap" around the stage, amidst chants of his name, balloons streaming from the heavens, and music from everyone’s favorite inspirational, beat-the-odds saga, Chak De India, reinforced the image of the politician as a celebrity. Modiji "left the building" while reaching out to touch the extended arms of the adoring, and perhaps blindly uncritical, hordes at San Jose.

International Day of Democracy

Democracy is a universal value based on the freely expressed will of people to determine their own political, economic, social and cultural systems and their full participation in all aspects of their lives. 

While democracies share common features, there is no single model of democracy.

Activities carried out by the United Nations in support of efforts of Governments to promote and consolidate democracy are undertaken in accordance with the UN Charter, and only at the specific request of the Member States concerned.

The UN General Assembly, in resolution A/62/7 (2007) encouraged Governments to strengthen national programmes devoted to the promotion and consolidation of democracy, and also decided that 15 September of each year should be observed as the International Day of Democracy. 

Globally, the role of civil society has never been more important than this year, as the world prepares to implement a new development agenda, agreed to by all the world’s Governments. However, for civil society activists and organizations in a range of countries covering every continent, space is shrinking — or even closing — as some Governments have adopted restrictions that limit the ability of NGOs to work or to receive funding.

That is why the theme of this year’s International Day of Democracy is "Space for Civil Society." It is a reminder to Governments everywhere that the hallmark of successful and stable democracies is the presence of a strong and freely operating civil society -- in which Government and civil society work together for common goals for a better future, and at the same time, civil society helps keep Government accountable.

Aylan Kurdi's aunt: this one small life has shown us the way to tackle the refugee crisis

One would argue there are no degrees of death. But the image of the drowned Syrian toddler washed up on the Turkey beach makes you believe otherwise. This death is unacceptable. It leaves you with inconsolable grief for it is untimely, unnatural, and brought upon by the irresponsibility of us adults and our agendas.

The tiny body, in a red T-Shirt and shorts had not dressed that day to be found, lying face down on a beach, dead. No doubt, the image has got itself etched in our hearts as a symbol of our shame and guilt as insensitive, selfish adults.

There is a fair chance, that nature gloved in the waves, washed the body of the three-year-old Aylan Kurdi ashore to make us see the deterioration of our humanity, the degeneration of our purpose, the devastation of our future - all at our own hands. And a big thank you to social media for making it go viral to land a rude knock on every compassionate soul that viewed it.

His family was one of the tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing the war in their homeland, descended on Turkey to board boats to Greece which, to them, could be their gateway to the European Union and also a chance for a normal future.

True, his is not the only life that has been cut short due to strife and war. But his is a death that inspires a gnawing pain and guilt for he had no role to play in bringing the world to this pass. He was neither fighting for the Islamic State nor was he with the Kurdish regional forces. He was just a toddler trying to survive strife and he failed! And in him, we all failed.

The image is a clarion call for all us "thinking adults" on how our children may end up paying for our failures. According to the UNHCR, so far this year, more than 2,500 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean, many of them children and teenagers. And this is only one refugee statistic.

If this does not shake us from our selfish slumber and inane political and religious agendas, God knows what will. Which God would forgive this murder?

Can any God forgive the murder of Aylan Kurdi?

Teachers' Day: To @PMOIndia @narendramodi Sir

 Last year when the Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that he was going to do an interactive session with kids on Teachers' Day alarm bells were raised about his real intent. There were heated, screeching debates in TV studios, as always. So much so one would have thought it was a dangerous idea to get children to attend school for one more day. For weeks there were loud protestations about how schools were being forced to give up a holiday. The cruelty, apparently, was being compounded by the fact that schools were going to be video linked with the prime minister. What could be more outrageous!

Now, the really shocking part is that the same event has taken place and gone by without anyone creating a big fuss about it. It seems usually vociferous TV channels completely missed the day in their calendar. So what has changed in this past one year ? Basically, perhaps Mr Modi reaching out on Teachers' Day has already become so routine that it is no longer threatening us or our children? Or that TV channels have found something even more trivial to discuss?

The ultimate victory for a good idea is when others begin to copy it. And so now we have the Aam Aadmi Party running away with the concept. Only - they brought in the president to deliver a lecture, as deep rivalry would have prevented them asking the prime minister to say the proverbial "do shabd".

One can thus wonder what the fuss was all about one year ago. Perhaps it was a concerted effort, obviously, by anti-Modi parties, to create a panic about how dictatorial things had become! Children were being forced to wake up early and meet the country's prime minister! How terrible!

But now that Narendra Modi spoke for a second year running perhaps this innovation will get noted in our calendar. Just like Yoga Day perhaps.

The real question, therefore, is whether we are resistant to change or, on the other hand, whether all changes can be resisted ? Or has the time come for all of us to become creatures of routine because it is safer. We are far more secure because we certainly do not want even a slight disruption of our lives.

And yet without change no one can evolve. Perhaps that's what the prime minister was trying to do when he decided to interact with students.

And this year he took the corollary still further, because he even attended an RSS function on the same day. Undoubtedly much will be made of it, and oblique references will be made about his childhood.

However, that link could be true, as one always feels that when the prime minister participates in a school function, he is also harking back to his own past when he had very little. He might not have even had a stable school life, and perhaps that is why, one can see his untiring efforts to reach out to school kids.

Nothing wrong with it, except when his intentions are always being questioned. Or, have we, finally as this Teachers' Day shows, got used to Mr Modi?