Remember Osama bin Laden?

Sometimes, the passing of a year can make a huge difference! Last year, when I arrived in New York less than a month after 9/11, all I heard was Osama bin Laden this and Al Qaeda that... with bits of terrorism, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia thrown in for good measure.

Now, all I hear is Saddam this and Hussein that, and Iraq, Iraq and even more Iraq...

Whatever happened to bin Laden? Last year, a day did not pass without newspapers publishing something on him or related to him; now, weeks go by without a word trickling in about bin Laden or Al Qaeda. As far as the Americans and US media are concerned, bin Laden could well be dead in the caves of Tora Bora.

Clearly, the Bush Administration has set the agenda, having decided that, even as bin Laden roams unshackled, even as many of the issues that allowed him to acquire a cult following remain unresolved, destroying Saddam Hussein is more important. The scary part is how the US media, touted as the freest and the best in the world, followed suit.

I hope the administration and State Department know exactly what they are doing. Yet, I can't help but wonder if bin Laden will stay forgotten till his next dastardly act.

***

A visit to the US is never complete until one runs into Non-Resident Indians and Persons of Indian Origin. Meeting them is a flashback to the India that existed when they left. One way of finding out is to hear his/her favorite songs; it invariably matches the year (minus one or two) s/he left India. So, if it's Ke pag ghungroo -- the Namak Halal number made famous by Amitabh Bachchan's memorable dance and expressions -- you know this person left India circa 1982 or thereabouts.

Problems stem from the fact that many of them fail to realise the unbelievable changes India has made since then: the rise of consumerism, the availability of almost everything that once seemed remote. The best indicators are Hindi films that are ever popular with the Diaspora. Then, heroines wore saris or churidars-kurtas and leading pairs never kissed on screen (we'd end up seeing two roses tilt towards each other, defying every law of biology we had ever learnt); now, our heroines strut about in minis that seem to get shorter with each passing film and kissing is oh-so-routine!

It goes beyond that, especially in urban India. For instance, parents do not always object when their children marry outside the community despite what is shown in some ridiculous television soaps. But parents in the US seem more rigid and decades away from the India of today on that count. Indians here need to spend more time in India to imbibe the air of liberalism that they no longer carry around with them in this country, touted as the 'Home of the Free.'

While on NRIs and PIOs, I am plied with questions on the state of affairs in India because I happen to be a journalist. How are things, what happened to this politician or that? Answering those queries are easy. The difficult part is when I am asked solutions to India's myriad problems: Kashmir, Pakistan, poverty, illiteracy, communalism, stagnating economy, caste conflicts, alienation of the northeast, the threat of China...

I, of course, have no solutions for my country's imagination-defying problems except to say there are difficulties, things are improving albeit slowly, we are doing our best, there are no instant solutions...

Which last-mentioned is always contested. My hosts (or most of them, at least) all have ready solutions, instant formulas for instant nirvana. Some of these options have boggled my mind: Bomb Pakistan and retrieve the rest of Kashmir (easily the most common panacea for all of India's ills). Adopt a presidential system (even though Pakistan has one). Throw the communists, socialists, Marxists, leftists, liberalists out (I can understand the anti-Red sentiment in a country opposed to the Reds, but why are they against those who advocate liberalism while enjoying the very same liberalism that America swears by?). Enter into an alliance with the US against China, against Pakistan, against Iraq, against Greenpeace, against the world (how that will help India prosper is not clear!). Liberalise all sectors completely even if this means poor farmers could suffer deprivation (hey, ever made an omelet without breaking an egg? And China suffered a few million deaths but look at where she is today! are favorite counterarguments). And so forth...

What's amazing is the advice comes from across the board: overqualified doctors, PhDs in sciences and engineering, the man in the taxicab or street corner shop. Someone once said: Distance makes the heart fonder; I would add: And, often, the mind foggier!

***

It has often been said that what unites India and America is the legacy the British left behind: the English language. Of that there is no doubt. But English, an adaptive language if there ever was one, is spoken so differently in New York, Mumbai and London. For instance, look at the phrase used in restaurants if you want to take your order home: In New York, they ask, 'To go?'; in Mumbai, it is, 'Parcel?'; and in London, they ask, 'Take away?'

While in school -- at least those who studied in English-medium schools and grew up reading Enid Blyton and read about the English countryside and scones (why are they so popular?) -- we knew of US culture through Hollywood and Archie comics (which, again, is an America that exists only in one's imagination). Both are totally insufficient for the real trip to either country. Just as well, books are at best a second-hand experience.

While on English, it is no secret that India has a large pool of people who speak fairly decent English. Which is why most Indians who migrate to the US latch on to the language with far greater ease than migrants from, say, China or Latin America. This advantage can never be underestimated.

Only, one invariably faces the question: how many Indians speak English? Of course, there is no exact estimate, not even in India where English is often a victim of political battles.

But as I never tire of telling anyone who cares to listen, those who speak English are just a small set of those who understand and/or read and write English (Do Indians ever have a problem understanding cricket commentary in crisp, pucca English?). The latter have often been placed at anywhere between 10 and 20 per cent, which is a whopping 100 million to 200 million, clearly making India the second-largest English-understanding country in the world. And if even six per cent of those Indians speak English, that, at 60 million, is more than the number of those who speak English in the UK, making India the second largest English-speaking country.

Watch out America! Add another 10 per cent to those who understand or read/write English and the US would have to satisfy itself with second place!

***

I was very keen to see snowfall. The closest I had ever gotten to seeing the white stuff was when I trekked up to Gaumukh (from where the Ganges river starts), but even there I saw ice, not snow. Otherwise, I quenched my thirst for snow through picture postcards and movies.

Last year, the snowfall in New York was pitiable, too little to even register. I cursed my luck at being in New York during one of its warmest winters.

As if in compensation, this year I'm experiencing one of the coldest winters. Since I landed here, there have been record cold winds, record snow, record below average temperatures, record you-name-it... I witnessed the massive President's Day snowstorm that virtually grounded New York city. The roads were covered in white, the snow fell non-stop and the traffic was so little, you could cross the roads without fear.

Friends never forgot to tell me: "You wanted to see snow, now you've seen enough for a lifetime!''

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh