Saturday, February 26, 2005

Sania and Hillary

It’sn’t often I get to see TV at prime time. At that time, I am in office, putting together the paper I work for. Today was a compensatory off I availed of for having worked on Republic Day. And, I got to see two programmes I enjoyed. One, Walk the Talk with Sania Mirza. And, two, Hillary Clinton’s address and the subsequent Q&A at the India Today Conclave.

It is so nice to see someone so young as Sania perform so well, on and off the court. There is also probably another reason why I like her. Sania looks so much like a friend of mine (also from Hyderabad) who is now in the US. When Shekhar Gupta asked Sania what was her ambition: she very realistically said that she would like to come within top 20 or 25 in the next two to three years. I hope she does.

I am in awe of the Clinton family. A remarkable couple – each a celebrity in his/her own right. I was closely following the flood of articles in the US media at the time of Monica case. Some were on how much the scandal affected the family, how the two drifted apart, how they came back together and the many reasons for that…

When Bill and Hillary were courting, she was a fledgling lawyer, and she was among the few “brightest lawyers of America” handpicked to assist in the impeachment proceedings of Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal… That was… when… in 1972. She and others were actually locked up, cut off from outside world for a few days (because of the secrecy surrounding the case) and so Bill, apparently had a real tough time, forget meeting her, even getting to talk to her…

Their life history is very interesting… they had real tough times… personal and political (the constant Republican hounding) and they always survived… including the Monica thing… which Clinton firmly believes (even after all his confessions) was a Republican set-up.

Will Hillary become the first woman President of the US? It is easy for Rabri Devis and Phoolan Devis to be elected to high offices in India. In the US it is tough even for a Hillary. A woman US President is a mental block, which the Americans will have to first remove, before even assessing Hillary’s credentials.

But given this lady’s capabilities, I wouldn’t be surprised if she creates history in 2008.

4 comments:

  1. I'm afraid Hillery will never be Present of the US, and it has nothing to do with the fact she is a woman. She is an extremely polarizing figure and she would never gather the necessary support from the center of the political spectrum given her extreme liberal leanings. If you are looking for the best candidate for first woman Present, look no further than Dr. Condoleezza Rice.

    P.S. The Monica episode was not a right wing conspiracy, no Republican (or anyone for that matter) made Clinton lie under oath.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks a lot, Mark, for reading my blog and leaving your comments. Hope you will come back again!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I enjoy reading you blog. I'm always interested in looking for different global perspectives, and I am particularly interested in India. Keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mark, Thanks for the encouragement. And, it's interesting to know that you are interested in India.
    You can email me on:
    bpradeepnair@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete

I appreciate your comments. Thank you.
If your email ID is enabled in the Blogger profile, I'll reply to your comments via email because you won't have to come back here or look through email notifications to read my reply.
I might copy-paste the replies here if I feel they might be of interest to others as well.
For everyone else, I'll reply here.