End of Foreign Visits And Review of Center, State Election Results

                     The never ending great expeditions come to a halt some time. My back and forth with the foreign nation also came to a halt with no further chance of making a rotation again. You read it right and let me make some disclosures. I mentioned in the last post about my situation and hope to make the journey to U.S. once again. All these hopes are dashed in this week after my application is denied the permit to work. It is a simple extension of visa from 3 to 6 years which I was told quite possible before applying but did not get through the approval. So, as it emerges, this is the real face of the nation - to deny assistance to people who require it the most. After spending all my money and going nearly bankrupt, I at least deserved a helping hand for all my good work and an opportunity to cover up my losses. But I was denied three times and this is the fourth time I was shown the cold blooded nature of the nation. I mentioned it clearly in my last post how desperate I am and how hopeful I am for a better future. But still they are hell bent in giving a nod in disapproval. After robbing me of all the money, efforts, hopes in the first three times, they robbed me of monetary investment I made in the application fourth time. I still remember how pathetic I felt when providing the huge amount which I took as credit for the application. It will take years of hard work to repay all this and the poor nation of India has to bear the brunt of all my terrorizing actions all the while.

                     Leave alone one-time investment of money, and look at how much energies I spent thereafter to stage a comeback. These last seven months have been really hectic as I mentioned to make every effort required to make the cut. I almost ran a presidential campaign and once again lost the race and got nothing in return. This is single biggest waste of my effort, time, planning etc. I had also mentioned how important I felt is the transition from one place to another. I am stuck at my home and home city for very long and present working location for quite some time. A shift in all these places will bring a sigh of relief which I dreamt of happening. Leave alone other benefits, they did not even give way for this shift of places to happen and blocked me from where I am. What shall I do now and where shall I go from here. I know from my experiences it is not the mistake of the people but their poor processes which are to be blamed. All the foreign nationals I dealt with showed some kind heart and comes across as good people but their processes defeated me and failed me. It is not the man who helps me but the process which comes to the aid and the lack of it will make cases like me. All my life the only thing I did is go roundabouts to the U.S. Now I don’t know what to do from here.

                     If I had to be practical, I should not have applied and repent now. I made a mistake and should have detached myself from the country instead of living attached to it. I did not learn from the mistake of failing thrice earlier. May be I should have tried for plan B or try to go to some other nation. But the big lesson is to never get attached to something too much and feel bad about it later. I had this weakness of attaching myself to something and never get away from it even to the extent of my own downfall. For all my practicality, I still feel the mistake is not entirely mine but that of the U.S as well. A gut feeling says that I had been driven like this by some super natural power and never acted just on my own. If this force is correct for what all I did in the past few months then I should have gained entry. There must be a human error or a process error which has acted upon the aspirations of many to see me flying. I deserve to fly back again and it is the logical option left.

                   But I love H1B visa for all it did to me. I had been on it since the last three years and acted in the way I did by using it as the gate pass. I would have liked to get this H1B for the next three years and might have done miracles with it. But someone did not share the same vision as I do and cut short my journey into half. Hope U.S. will start new fellowships and programs to attract talent like me in addition to the great program of H1B. This write-up is to speak my mind on the subject which has been in the forefront for the past few years. Now that my wings are clipped and I can no longer fly, I will look forward to the new life and think upon erasing these foreign-visiting-obsessive-thoughts from my mind. I will somehow find comfort in homeland for the rest of my life and will think about assimilating here for longer periods getting out of the cycles of rotating between nations. All is not over yet and the debt owed by the foreign nation to me is immeasurable and they should pay me back every penny. My fight will continue to that end till I exist in every way possible.

                   After a long-lasting polls all over the nation for over 40 days, general election results have come out some time back in a single day. I missed out on the results review for past few days since I am not writing a post. But the country has seen some decisive victories. First of all, the ruling BJP has won 302 seats, 20 seats more than what it has won in 2014 elections. This is a thumping victory for the ruling party which has vindicated the approval it has received for the first five-year rule. Though the exit polls predicted a similar victory, it is not an easy re-election to achieve as it seems to be. You have to please the 35 states and union territories, 543 constituencies all over the country with the work you do in the initial 5 years. If it affects them all and everyone thinks they are going to get benefitted, then alone are they going to vote for you. Moreover, this is the first time ever a non-congress party has been elected for a second 5-year term. This is unprecedented considering the nature of clean politics at play. India has voted for an onward and upward march of its government and it would be a huge task cut out for it in the second term. Everyone witnessed the eventful first term in which many major decisions and reforms have been taken and wishes the best as the government resumes the second term which is not going to be an easy one.

                    Among the 29 states, there is one state called AP and very interestingly people have voted the incumbent chief Minister and its ruling party TDP out of power. This is a significant development and one that should not go unnoticed. I mentioned in the earlier post that incumbent CM Naidu is the best possible option for the state considering the larger picture. He campaigned equally harder across the state and everyone thought his grip is still tight on the state. He is by nature a finest seasoned politician and when he was playing at his best, he is a formidable opponent and one of the toughest ones to defeat. To overcome this tall hurdle and bag 151 out of 175 seats is by no means a meaner feat. In the context of these great elections fought, winning the elections is half the battle won. To win the battle against this kind of opponent by routing comprehensively is full battle won. So even before taking charge, Jagan won a major administrative battle and he is in no mood to let the guard down and inclined to wage many more battles and win many more of those. I miscalculated the mood of the state and went through a theoretical picture in my past post but the people know the best and are the ultimate king-makers in the democracy. The common people have a sense of their own well-being and judges the correct person based on what works for them the best and who serves them the best. They have come a long way from living in dark, ignorant days to casting a knowledgeable, empowered, enlightened vote for a better tomorrow. They are the architects of their own bright future and no longer gets deceived by the leaders. If they vote a person he is bound to serve them and he works best for them. They ditched Naidu thinking he does not fit in their better prospects. They had chosen a young CM who they thought augurs well for the state. Such a decisive mandate people have given who are clever than their clever leaders.

                     But then why was the existing CM rejected is a tough question to ponder. One answer is he might not have performed as well as he should be. Just for instance, the large irrigation project Polavaram is yet to be finished in five years even after getting national project status and all the assistance from the center. On the other side, another big project Kaleswaram is completed in 3 years by the Telengana Government through their mettle and resolve by their own funds without the help from center. When they can do it in 3 years, you could have done a lot better in 5 years and shown at least some results through much better project management. You did not find the right person for the project and you could not deliver it on time. Many of these small things made the big difference to his administrative performance and went against him in re-election. It is not just the brand that people look at but the work you do has a huge bearing. In the hindsight he might have taken some wrong steps as well like breaking the alliance with well-functioning BJP. All these deviations went against him and ultimately he had to come out of the face saving elections. On the other hand, Jagan worked meticulously for the last five years and put forth his credentials to the people. To put forward his hard work, he walked for 3600 kms on foot for 341 days covering 13 districts and interacted with nearly 2 crore people from 2017-19. He walked for 15-30 kms daily since November 2017 and went to CBI court proceedings on every Friday to attend the quid pro quo case. This kind of work ethic will brush aside any competition. Everyone wishes the best to the young and dynamic CM for his upcoming 5-year term.

                     To move a little bit of east from here, we move into the south-eastern state of Orissa where state elections are held in the month of April. Like the results this year, one needs to be astonished by the results since 2000. The simple CM Naveen Patnaik and his party Biju Janata Dal have been winning assembly elections for the last five consecutive terms. Contrary to AP, where Naidu keeps changing after every 5 years, Naveen Patnaik is the constant C.M. for the last 19 years. This is a significant passage of period for the state and the Naveen Patnaik himself. The state and its people which believes in its C.M. for many long years and the C.M. who delivers to his state quietly and calmly looks beautifully binded together. This state should teach some lessons to all its neighbour states regarding running a single stable government for a quarter century. The way he acted in a swift manner during the last cyclone and evacuated a million people also won lot of applauds.