Change! The Indian way.

Looks like you are new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!I know, everyone is tired of hearing about, talking about and voting for Change. But here is how India would have reacted to Obama’s message.

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Desis in the new Administration?

Now that the election is over, a host of Indians are expected to be a part of the new administration in various roles.
Here is the CliffsNotes version.
Sonal Shah - Confirmed to be a part of the official transition team.
Preeta Bansal - Part of the personnel operations to staff the new administration / Solicitor [...]

Barack Obama President-Elect

Bradley Schmadley.
In the end it was Barack Obama in a landslide over John McCain. Obama will be 44th President of the United States.
[CNN]
It is but a befitting tribute that we replay the speech that started it all.
Presenting Barack Obama’s keynote speech from the July 2004 Democrat Convention.

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America votes, Über Desi predicts

As Americans take to the polls, the good bloggers @ Über Desi, most of whom are not voting eligible (age is not the factor) attempt their own predictions based on an intricate system involving months of research, media hype, rhetoric, crystal balls, astrological charts and just plain gut feeling.
Here is how we did it. [...]

November 4th in perspective

I’ll start off with this great quote I read on uber blogger Amit Varma’s India Uncut blog.
Under democracy, one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule - and both commonly succeed, and are right.
I agree. With all due respect to the leading candidates, and [...]

Presidential Stars - 2

Barack Obama and John McCain may scoff all they want at Eastern mysticism. But their fates have already been decided, not by the American voters, but by Indian astrologers. Yesterday, we had some Indian astrologers predict a win for McCain [UD]
That should’ve sealed the fate of Barack Obama. But this Presidential race has been interesting [...]

McCain supporters confront religious intolerance at rally

Video footage of volunteers, including some Muslims and a (presumably desi) McCain campaign manager at a McCain rally confronting and driving away people handing out “Obama for Change” stickers with Islamic symbols. [Huffington Post] (link Karthik via email)

These recent events come on the heels of Powell’s rebuke of Islamophobia among some Republican supporters. [UD]
The stickers [...]

Colin Powell endorses Obama

In case you missed it, Republican Colin Powell, a retired four-star general and former Secretary of State endorsed “that one“. [Goog]
I believe his exact words were:
“I think we need a transformational figure. I think we need a president who is a generational change and that’s why I’m supporting Barack Obama, not out of any lack [...]

McCain-Obama 2nd debate

Both candidates picked off from where they left off in the first debate, resulting in the second debate becoming a de facto extension of the first one. Each one did a great job of explaining why the other one should NOT be the next President and consequently a poor job of why people should vote [...]

Biden-Palin debate

In perhaps the only Vice Presidential debate I’ve ever watched, seen a lot of Presidential debates but c’mon Biden v/s Palin is so much better than Cheney v/s Leiberman or Cheney v/s Edwards, watching a winking Palin square off against a fairly circumspect Biden was like watching a boxing match where both boxers circle each [...]

SNL refers to Zardari incident plus fatwa on Zardari

McCain’s run-in with Hollywood has done no favors for his campaign either with shows like “Saturday Night Live” starting to rip his campaign. Of immense amusement is Tina Fey’s portrayal of Sarah Palin which even refers to the Zadari (sic, Sarah Palin’s pronounciation of the name of the Pakistani President) incident. (video below)

Also, in connection [...]

Sarah Palin’s foreign policy experience

McCain’s pick of Sarah Palin gave him the surprise factor he was looking for resulting in a post-convention poll bounce. But of late, Palin with her limited experience on dealing with the mainstream media has turned more into a liability than an asset to the McCain campaign. Palin faltered not once but twice in interviews [...]

McCain suspends campaign

John McCain has suspended his presidential campaign at least for the time being so he could supposedly “help tackle the financial crisis”. [AFP] (tip Karthik on GTalk)
After enjoying a post-convention bounce where he narrowed the gap in polls between himself and Barack Obama, McCain and his campaign have taken a pounding over the current financial [...]

4 more years of the same. Sarah Palin agrees.

From the ABC interview that will air soon. The emphasis, of course is mine.

GIBSON: And let me finish with this. I got lost in a blizzard of words there. Is that a yes? That you think we have the right to go across the border with or without the approval of the Pakistani government, to [...]

Now it’s a Hanuman murti* for Obama

* Murti = idol in Hindi
Them Hindoos currently are nowhere close to being a dominant force when it comes to electorate size in the US [UD]. But that doesn’t stop from trying to influence the outcome of the November elections. Back in April, when Hillary Clinton won Pennsylvania, she was gifted a Ganesh murti [UD]. [...]

Desi joins Obama team

Hari Sevugan, an attorney has joined the Obama team as a senior spokesperson. [Rediff] (tip Sai via email)
Sevugan was previously Communications Director for the Chris Dodd campaign. Here’s a video of Seguvan from Chris Dodd’s campaign.
Web TV provided by Ustream

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Obama claims victory in Democrats primary

After almost one full year of campaigning, Barack Obama claimed victory in the contest for Presidential nominee for the Democrats. [MSNBC]
Historical momentimg: vis MSNBC
A few quick notes:
-First African-Americanindividual of mixed race to run for the November elections
-Every state had to be counted in this primary
-Obama secured enough delegates to declare a victory
-Clinton has refused to [...]

Florida and Michigan delegates to count, with a slight twist

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has voted to seated Michigan and Florida at the DNC convention, but each delegate would only count for half a vote. In Michigan, Clinton got 69 and Obama 59 delegates and in Florida, gave Clinton 105 pledged delegates to 67 for Obama. The number needed to earn the Democratic presidential [...]

Uber Malarial Videos: Vampire uncle and aunty

This one is right up our street. Desi uncle and aunty acting stupid, turning into vampires. Don’t quote me on this but me thinks they’re Gujarati, which makes this the first recorded instance of Gujarati vampires in history. [Remains of the Desi via SAJA]

p.s. In case I suddenly disappear, rest assured aunty vampire has extracted [...]

Obama Clinton split states, again

The ongoing primary duel between Obama and Clinton reminds me of a tennis match with Obama up 2 sets to 1, and on duece in the clinching game for Obama. Then the score goes Duece-Advantage Obama-Duece-Advantage Obama-and on and on. People are ready for the game to conclude and Obama to play the championship game [...]

Uber Malarial Video: Desi kid recites all US capitals

Check out this desi kid who recites the capitals of most US States. Ok not all, he slips up once, on Kentucky, and gets some help from the guy holding the camera, presumably his father. Slightly amusing, when his father repeats a state, Alabama, and the kid innocently, and slightly miffed, corrects him. FYI, the [...]

Obama and Hillary split North Carolina and Indiana

Continuing with the ongoing trend, Barack Obama won with some room to spare in North Carolina and the Ganesh idol brought enough luck for Hillary Clinton to win Indiana by a narrow margin. [CNN]
The bylines to this story:
- Obama leads in delegate count and will most likely win the popular primary vote at this stage.
- [...]

Hillary wins PA, gets Ganesh idol

Hillary Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary on Tuesday and gets a Ganesh idol to show for it, courtesy Sant Singh Chatwal, chairman of the Hillary Clinton for President Exploratory Committee. [via Rediff] (tip Sai via email)
This is great opportunity for a caption. I’ll get started.
1. Hillary: “I won and all I have to show for [...]

Penn Masala rocks the vote during PA primaries

Remember Penn Masala from the movie “American Desi” and the hilarious parody song “Show me the meaning of being desi”? Members of this world’s first Hindi a capella group are working on the U. Penn campus to increase voter turnout during the Pennsylvania primary. [video via CNN-IBN]

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Uber Malarial Videos: Kung Fu v/s Yoga??

Desis are stereotyped not only in the West (think Temple of Doom and Apu in Simpsons) but in Chinese movies also. Granted this seems to be an older Chinese movie but the guy playing the “fakir” appears to be a Chinese dude with blackface, moustache and the customary turban. In the end those wily Chinese [...]