Skip to main content

Modi's Maidan Visit

That's right.  Maidan.  As in field or a park.  Modi set out from India on his maiden voyage to visit the US on a US invitation after providing him the much denied Visa. A 'Water under the bridge' (where does all this water go is for another blog as is discussion on which bridges are particularly amenable for this type of activity) event was reported before said Visa was granted.

Coming back to the subject at hand  - PM Modi's maiden visit to America included visiting maidans like Central Park.  Also on the agenda was Madison Square garden (which is not a garden or a maidan rather a large arena which may or may not be square - math was not America's strong suit) and some other gardens including Rose Garden which happens to be next to the Oval office at the White House that contains a black President.

Madison Sq Gardens fondly referred to as MSG is where everyone wants to be seen in when visiting America but when it comes to eating food they do not want any MSG in it.  So much so that Modi had hot water (if the same reports were to be believed) at a private dinner Obamaji served in his honor.  I think it is always better to have hot water (fasting or not) rather than find oneself in hot water (fasting or not), perhaps the only excuse might be if he was visiting with the President as they both enjoyed a dip in a thermal spring together.  Besides no spring in fall (thermal or otherwise).  I think that is on the agenda for next year when Obama visit's Modi in India and they go to the Himalayas for this event.

Sorry for dithering all over -- but as readers know this blog has always been true to dithering - Same reports indicate Modi enthralled the Indian diaspora in all venues (maidans that contained maidens and those that did not) where the diaspora were allowed.

Indians have diasporas like nobody's business and they are eager to be enthralled no matter what.  I think the term  diaspora has been exclusively crafted to define the expat Indians including the term expats.  Both expats and diaspora are heard more in conjunction with defining Indians living abroad rather than any other ethnicity (in any city).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A few good books

 On an informal mission to read one book a week as long as the eyes allow for such ambition. Fiction or non is not important as long as it entertains and /or educates. To that end the past few weeks have brought a bounty in the form of some wonderful and then not so engaging literature. Among the notables are - Non fiction category: 1. Good arguments by Bo Seo (how to handle a dispute or debate the most efficient way possible) 2. Genesis by Eric Schmidt (and former US Secy of State Henry Kissinger, who recently passed) - how AI might affect our lives as we know it 3. One in a billion - Zarna Garg (an autobiographical look at an Indian born American woman with a bindi narrated in a standup format - yes it is at times cliched but still funny) Fiction: 1. Personal by Lee Child (a vigilante story with Jack Reacher the giant, nomad protagonist of Child's novels goes hunting for a sniper) 2. Ramayana unraveled by Ami Ganatra (she might disagree about it being a work of fiction but oh wel...

Back in DC

This time for a tech conference in the realm of what else? AI. But applied to an oft neglected space called Knowledge Management. The latter is a community of practice that focuses on analyzing, organizing and making available reams of data that have been gathered over time by various functions within an organization for anyone in the company to utilize. This function or process is ripe for applying AI agents (or agentic AI framework) and optimize for better outcomes. It was informative. More rewarding was getting acquainted with folks who practice this craft as well as learning of what they see in the corporate or public sectors. Since the venue was Washington DC it also afforded me the chance to take evening strolls albeit the weather was trying. With wind chill in the single digit it still is a glamorous place to perambulate through history absorbing what this country has been through since its founding days. I was able to visit the place Lincoln was killed along with his monument t...

Costa Rica

 Our first foray into Central America. That elongated isthmus that forms the geographic boundary between two vast continents of North and South America. Specifically landing for NYE 2026 in San Jose, Costa Rica. Capital city for this region that does not have its own army, instead relying on its big bro the Estados Unidos to the north is a metropolis of approx. 500K people. Largely wilderness and with both a Pacific and Carribean/Atlantic coast the country is rich in bio diversity. In Spanish it means the rich coast so named by Columbus landing in early 16th century and being mesmerized by the local tribes sporting gold jewelry.   Our stay included visiting the foothills of a large strato volcano called Arenal and enjoying the naturally heated thermal baths for a while.  Lunching amidst lush forest and watching indigenous species of avian noise makers fly overhead. Toucans, some sort of pea hens, multiple song bird species completed the spectacle. Iguanas and a lonel...