For Velle Hello!! Velle, this post is especially for you since you requested it! And also thanks to you, I got myself a tag board! So tag me, people!

Weell...it had been a long while and I've missed blogging but it was a much-needed silence. So many things have happened and I just needed to get away from blogging for a bit. But well, now I'm back in full force, a wiser person for the absence.

So I'm now in India and I have been here for the past 2 months. It's wonderful to be back home on many counts but my stay here which for me, is pretty long considering I usually come to India for a month-long visit at best, has opened my eyes to many things.

Yesterday was voting day for Tamil Nadu and although I'm not eligible to vote here yet (I'm considered a NRI - non-resident Indian and as far as I know, am not eligible to vote) I have been following the campaign trails of many a politician and I've also been tuning in to NDTV's (New Delhi Television Network) extensive election coverage.

Politics in the best of countries is a tedious and complicated subject. In India its mind-boggling. Here it basically boils down to 2 parties and I've listened to what they both have to say about the country, the direction in which we're headed, each other and I've also heard what the nation's top sephologists have to say - and i'm still thoroughly confused. It seems to me that its a choice between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea!

I guess it's a good thing i'm not allowed to vote - I'd have been thrown out of the election booths for extensive dithering!

My hopes for my country now stand as such;
1) I just really hope that all this religious tension abates - it is so unnecessary and there's really nowhere to pin the blame. Each side acts just as silly. I feel like standing up and saying Listen here, just stop already. It's crazy - you're both just different paths to the same goal. Really. Noone's any better so get off it and get on with life! There's so much more to it. I know I sound a little preachy but this is really getting stupid.
2) Globalisation is great. It's good that India's opening up - our foreign reserves are the best it has been for a long time, the rupee is strengthening. we're really opening up and that's been good for our economy so far. But please, don't forget the small industries. They need to survive too and they're struggling for their lives at the moment. I know it takes time, but don't let them die out altogether.
3) Education. I feel that education is the key to rooting out social evils. And we've got plenty of them - female infanticide, the dowry system, child marriages,the caste system and animal abuse to name just a few.
4) The water crisis is really killing. For God's sake do something soon before everyone just dehydrates to death. As it is people all over this country are fighting for water. Ground water's practically non-existent and everyone's been talking of joining up rivers and water purification forever now.It's about time someone did something.

I could go on but it's late and I just realised that I dedicated this post to Velle! So velle, i'm terribly sorry if I've bored you with my griping but this stuff's really been bugging me!! hey once again, thanks for the tip with the tag board!!! Oh - and I love your blog!! take care!  ¶ 5:55 am