I'm home on a Saturday night and "all I wanna do is have some fun." Ultimately, that means, blogging. But when I got down to thinking about what I wanted to write about, I found myself debating between two issues that were disturbing me. And then I thought, great! I'll just do a blog post about both. Woohoo! Okay, so issue #1: Obama in India. Now obviously, the entire country is split between sheer joy and plain disinterest in the arrival of President Obama, but ultimately it is Colaba residents who are most disturbed. The President will be staying at the prestigious Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai and during his stay, residents of the area have been given guidelines to adhere to which included the prevention of lighting fireworks during the last two days of Diwali. And that isn't even the beginning. Closeby stores and restaurants have told to shut down while locals have had to stop their entire lives for the President. Colaba, I've been told, has never been so quiet or dead. Amidst the disruption in routine, the city's security has beefed up. In fact, security is so tight in the city, that locals claim the city has never been this safe...ever. So ultimately, this is what it takes: a foreign dignitary. The mere entrance of the American President on Indian soil puts the country on high alert. However, for their residents and citizens, this would never happen. The government would never go through such extremes to ensure the safety of their own residents and yet a gair (foreign) man comes in and badda-bing, the country becomes a safety shaft. And this from the country who couldn't protect its country from some "amateur" terrorists in 2008's 26/11 catastrophe. Its just plain sad, I tell you. For those people to whom Obama and Indian politics is hardly a priority, this becomes a huge problem. These people want to be able to get to work, get home and make a living. Forget office personnel's. Obama's visit will obstruct the lives of hawkers, beggars and even the thousands of pigeons that loiter around The Gateway of India waiting for people to feed them. This is plain unconstitutional and idiotic. Irrespective of whether or not a big politician comes to the city, realize that the aam aadmi (common man) are as important. Obama better make some huge promises and live up to them, especially after all the inconvenience he has managed to cause. 
Okay issue #2. A few days ago, a friend of mine and I had a discussion about a person we both love immensely: Shilpa Shetty. We actually only became fans of the actress post her stint in the Big Brother house. Her nonstop rebuttals, one liners and basic attitude really allowed her to attain a rock star status and we couldn't help but gush over her. But the question we both debated was simple: was the so-called Racism Row, her claim to fame? She actually reiterated those very words, "Claim to Fame" on the show to villain Jade Goodie. After their standoff, it was the prior who received more praise for her dignified stand on the issue. Jade of course, looked like a complete idiot. BUT who came out on top? Shilpa for sure. She claimed the maximum amount of fame possible. This is not to say that Jade's actions and comments towards her were ever acceptable. Never. In fact, Jade clearly was delusional about the consequences. However, despite her "dignified" posture on the situation, and her statement saying she didn't believe the issue was racist, it clearly was, and she eventually gained exposure, fame and won the show. Smart woman, I must say.
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