Good bye 2016 and welcome 2017

Yet another year comes to a close! Time seems to be flying. It just seems as if 2016 started yesterday and all of a sudden it's time for next year.

Either the earth is rotating too fast around the sun, or we were so busy that we really didn't notice time fly by us. Just goes to show how fast our lives have become. Whatever it is, one more year bites the dust, and we must look back on what impact it has left in our lives.

For me, 2016 was eventful indeed. It started out quite low key but mid year saw some important changes in my life. I switched locations. June saw me relocate from Pune to Hyderabad, an important new chapter in my life. 2016 also saw my son step into uniform and go to school for the first time. An important chapter in his life started as well!

2016 has seen it's fair share of key events. Brexit was just the start. 2016 also marked the completion of two years of the BJP Government under Modi. 2016 saw the biggest global sporting event on the planet, the Olympics, hosted by the most dynamic and vibrant of Brazilian cities, Rio-DE-Janiero. Our contingent showed a lot of promise, but once again failed to live upto it's potential. When all hopes of a medal looked grim, Badminton Player PV Sindhu and Wrestler Sakshi Malik rescued a nation of 1 Billion from potential embarrassment by winning silver and bronze. Deepa Karmarkar also impressed with her gusty performance in Gymnastics even though she failed to win a medal. 

Things really heated up in the second half of the year, with the Surgical Strikes on POK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir) being the hot-topic of debate. And even after all the hullabaloo has died down, Indian soldiers still face the heat at the border, while we celebrate in the comfort of our homes and offices. I salute and applaud their spirit and bravery.

But November happened to be the most eventful month of the year. On November 8th, two events happened simultaneously which shook the World's Oldest Democracy (USA) and the World's largest Democracy (India).

In America, history was made as a rank outsider Donal Trump upset all equations and predictions to become the 45th president of the United States, upsetting the favorite Hillary Clinton.

And in India, NaMo did the biggest Diwali bang by announcing Demonetization. He banned the 500 and 1000 rupee notes in India in a bid to stop Black Money marketeers from thriving. The full impact of the move will be seen in a few months, but there is no doubt that it is a step in the right direction to curb black money and end corruption. Let' see what the great man does in 2017.


As the year draws to a close, I want to thank all my blog readers for taking out some of their precious time this year for reading my blogs. As I said earlier, do stop by my blog a enter a few lines of encouragement; just to show that you care. I hope the new year brings you and your loved ones great peace and prosperity.

Have a smashing new year!


    

Yet another tryst with destiny !!

It's official! Donald Trump will be the 45th President of the United States of America. After a heated campaign witness to a lot of acrimony, comparable to the Indian assembly polls of 2014, America has finally chosen.

Now this again is history in the making. America, for better or for worse has chosen to alter her destiny. America has chosen a rank outsider to lead her for the next four years.

Trump’s victory is in many ways similar to Modi’s emphatic election win in 2014. Though they both come from different backgrounds (Modi was a tea-seller and has risen from a humble background to hold India’s highest office; Trump is the son of a New York real estate dealer and is a self-made billionaire), both took on an established political hierarchy and triumphed in the end, causing major upsets. While Modi is a seasoned politician having been the Chief Minister of the State of Gujarat for more than a decade, Trump is more of a businessman with little political experience.

At close of polls on November 8^th, Hillary Clinton was forecast as the clear winner. But the results next day told a totally different story. A rank outsider took on a powerful political establishment, and won! Many in America are still shaking their head in disbelief. How could this have happened? How did an outsider, with little experience in Politics take on an established and well-oiled political machinery and bring it down to it’s knees? The answer would lie in Trump’s shrewd business acumen. A seasoned politician he may be not, but he and his entourage were shrewd enough to sense the discontentment of the American masses against the current political and economic setup, similar to the manner in which Modi took on the established Congress party. Call it the ‘Business of Politics’ or the ‘Politics of Business’: both Modi and Trump have been canny enough to tap into the discontentment among the masses caused by the ruling elite and convert them to votes in their favour.

Both men took on the ruling political establishment head on and have come up winners (or should I say ‘come up trumps’ J ). Both men knew that their respective countrymen were sick at the slow progress made over the years, at false promises of development, of corruption and nepotism and mainly about economy and employment. Both men promised the one thing which previous Governments’ committed to but could not deliver effectively: Action! And that’s why are where they are now.

To be fair to Hillary Clinton and the Democrats, they planned, organized and executed well. And for a while, it did look like Hillary Clinton was on the road to become the first ever lady president of the United States. Indeed, not many people gave Trump a whisker of a chance. While Clinton was all about ruthless organization and planning, Trump was all about emotion; empathizing the pain points that the average American felt deeply about: namely corruption, job cuts and out-sourcing to name a few. Clinton made fine speeches and ran a perfectly organized and well-oiled political machinery. Trump, on his part mostly came to meetings unprepared, relying on his wit and huge business experience to tackle tough questions. It seemed a risky move but it paid off in the end, as many Americans preferred Trump’s frank and unprepared impromptu honest logic over Clinton’s organized rhetoric.

Trumps’ victory in 2016 and Modi’s win in 2014 show us one thing. People want change and action more than anything else. People are sick of empty words, false promises and the meaningless drivel which seasoned politicians make. People won’t care about your economic or ethnic background, your social status etc. as long as you can deliver the goods.

Modi’s government has already delivered above people’s expectations. The latest masterstroke in his push to make India a global economic powerhouse is the bold demonetization move, scrapping the Five Hundred and Thousand Rupee notes to eliminate black money. And if Modi is to be believed, more is still to come.

The spotlight is in trump now to deliver. One things for sure. If he (Trump) manages to deliver even half of what he promised during his campaign, then no-one will give a shit even about his views on women and other matters. As I said earlier, people want action, and more importantly people want results. Only time will tell whether America’s choice was correct or wrong.

Cheers to Life, Cheers to Democracy and above all, cheers to change!!