Mumbai is drenched ! ~ a Wet Welcome for Visiting US Vice President Joe Biden !
Mumbai is drenched !~a Wet Welcome for Visiting US Vice President Joe Biden !
It’s been pouring relentlessly and incessantly from June 7,2013 with the Sun reminding us, just four or five days in the last 45 days, that it still rises and sets
The Weekend Washout continues into the Week even as I blog past midnight on a Tuesday Night ~ it’s now Wednesday
There’s going to be a lot of absenteeism tomorrow ! ~ you can bet on that !
Son just returned too by rick,train and then a cab from a Sound Studio he works at in the Andheri Suburbs ~ says the Slow Trains are on time but the Fast Trains are Slow ! ~trying to figure that out ! ~ probably means all Trains are now Slow as Tracks are surely waterlogged in some locations
I too just returned from my Tuesday Lord Ganesha Darshan at Siddhivinayaka Temple and Infant Jesus and St Anthony Shrine on the return and quite fittingly in this Heavy continuing Downpour a FM Station was playing “Aye Dil Yeh Mushkil,Jeena Yaha,Zara Hatke,Zara Bachke,yeh hai Bambai meri Jaan ”
There’s Police Personnel lined up every 10 meters on either side of the Road ~some huddled in groups in their Yellow Raincoats and looking bored and kicking imaginary pebbles ~ wondered which visiting VIP was disturbing them on raindays like this with mandatory midnight duty ! ~ Ah ! realised that Joe Biden,the US Vice President was to fly in from New Delhi tonight after having met the PM on Monday and others on Tuesday~ and this was standard protocol
So why is Biden really here in India ! His Wife and he arrived in New Delhi on Monday,July 22,2013 ~the Official position is this as stated on http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/07/22/new-delhi-vice-president-biden-tours-gandhi-smriti and reproduced below
“Vice President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden arrived in New Delhi today, the first stop on a six-day trip to India and Singapore.
This trip is an important opportunity to strengthen our partnerships within the region and reaffirm our commitment to rebalancing U.S. foreign policy toward the Asia-Pacific. Over the next several days, the Vice President will meet with leaders in both countries to discuss a range of issues, from economic growth to energy and climate change to security.”
I just hope India does not get bulldozed or bullied by the US into any more economic concessions in US reaffirming their commitment to rebalancing US foreign policy !~whatever that phrase means!~ and it cannot be a coincidence that Walmart just told the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion( DIPP) in India that it will not be able to comply with the FDI multi brand retail clause of a minimum of 30% procurement of supplies from India itself ~ maybe 20% they say ! ~ not a single application has come in since opening out multi brand retail through FDI was announced ten months ago