It was my first Memorial Day weekend – a holiday I was not aware of so far. Even though it was May end, the air was cool. I was only a month old in the US and was starting to feel homesick. My cousin thought this was a good opportunity for me to visit him. Since I was car less till then, the question was how…. A generous acquaintance was ready to drop me. Unaware of the car and driving culture, I was hesitating to accept the offer. After all, how could I travel with this guy? But my cousin convinced me – he is coming this way, anyway, why do you worry? Well, you live near Flint, he has to go to Dear Born – that is more than 20 miles – I remember being worried about the last leg of my journey. Incidentally, I was not worried about the first 300 miles! After some convincing and some coaxing and some down-right threatening (older cousins, anyone?) I was on my way.
The landscape did not change much as we started traveling north. But the “Bridge Freezes before Roadway” signs became more ubiquitous. Even when the road was empty, the speedometer would not cross the mark of 70 MPH. At last, I dared to ask – can we not go faster? The driver laughed. His laughter had American accent but his Marathi was as crisp as someone from Thane was! He went on to explain me why he would not exceed that speed. It wasn’t the speed that scared him. It was the fear of getting a ticket. He explained to an FOB like me how the insurance system worked. How your SSN tied back to the driving history and how the cost of insurance went up, as you became a high risk driver etc. One sentence made an impact on my mind – “They pinch you, where it hurts most.” I took that route several times afterwards and drove around a lot. But never forgot about the first lesson – you get pinched where it hurts most!
Why do I remember this? Well, as you may be aware, my old friend George W Bush (who I claim reads my Blog) was in India last week. His visit brought many CEOs, diplomats, new killer agreement, cooperation in agriculture and tongue-in-cheek blessings to outsourcing etc. It also brought out the Muslims and Leftists to protest, what they considered the grotesque presence of an Islam-hater-mass-murderer. And with that came desecration of public property – be it Mumbai, Delhi or Lucknow. What difference did it make to George W Bush if VT station was defiled or Lucknow burnt? And that’s where I want to pinch the protestors. Sue the hell out of them. Apply the Pottery Barn rule – you break it, you buy it. After all, if VT station or public property in Lucknow is broken, who pays for fixing it? If my taxes do, then what is my fault that some lunatic thought it was a good idea to bring a big stone to this protest meeting? In a world as complicated as ours, we cannot expect everyone to agree. There will be difference of opinion and people will want to protest what they disagree. But do not protest at my cost! If the Communist Party or some Islamic organization sponsored the protests, slap a huge fine on them for the damage caused by riots. After all, do we not hold the parties/unions responsible for the uniquely Indian phenomenon of bandh?
(For the record - I would have written this post even if BJP/Shiv Sena were responsible, any political party for that matter - I dislike them all equally.)
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